Why I Write

In this chapter, Orwell described England’s general, national character. He defined the limits of generalizing, as well as its uses, through examples of generalizations about England. His main points about the English character were its stubbornness toward change, its hypocrisy (particularly in regard to imperialism), and the respect for private, domestic liberties. More than any other characteristic, though, was England’s “gentleness.”

Orwell compared the hypocrisy he saw in the upper classes of English society with the unconscious patriotism of the “common” people. With both classes, there was a desire to pretend that their Empire either didn’t exist or wasn’t hypocritical.

To illustrate the lower classes’ antagonism toward militarism, Orwell discussed military displays and the goose-step march. These inspired many civilians in fascist nations but would utterly fail in England as England drilled according to the sword and the style of the eighteenth century.

Rather than militarism, the English honored the law. This kept English citizens in agreement with one another and saved England from the spread of totalitarianism, as totalitarianism believes in power, not law. The English law system was out-of-date and severe as it still used hanging judges. However, the law was nevertheless a strong connective tissue among the English population.

Even though Orwell acknowledged that the English justice system, objectivity, and the liberty of democracy could be illusions, they were still powerful: “The belief in them influences conduct, national life is different because of them” (22).

Orwell discussed the differences between the aristocracy and the lower classes. The English were divided not only between rich and poor, but among the different “races” of Britain in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, etc. Orwell lauded the strength of tradition and patriotism to keep the British Isles as one thinking body: “Patriotism is usually stronger than class-hatred, and always stronger than any kind of internationalism” (24).

For those of Orwell’s working class, patriotism was a strong but unconscious motive. Orwell presented xenophobia and a dislike of “foreign habits” as particularly strong in the working class over the aristocracy.

Orwell believed that the English had an uncanny knack of banding together and doing the same thing at the same time, almost moving instinctually in line. The English democracy worked insofar as it reflected the mood of the people. Orwell gave the example of Churchill replacing Chamberlain as an act founded on the people’s mood; he coupled this example with his hope that the people would turn to socialism and construct a corresponding government.

Orwell acknowledged that England was a society with deeply rooted classism. He described the ruling class as being hypocritical, greedy, and poor at decision-making, but also responsive to the collective desires of the lower classes. He did not believe the ruling class to be “conscious traitors” but simply unaware and preoccupied with wealth. Orwell ended this chapter with the image of England as “a family with the wrong members in control” and hiding too many skeletons in their closets (30).

In Chapter 4, Orwell described the failures of the English ruling class, its willful ignorance, greed, and sympathy with fascism. Orwell proposed that the decline of an able ruling class began in 1832, the year the Reform Act restructured the electoral system and graduated members of the merchant and working classes into positions of power. The “idle rich” of the aristocracy, who invested and inherited money rather than working “was by any standard unjustifiable. They were simply parasites, less useful to society than his fleas are to a dog” (33).

Orwell’s argument condemning the failures of the aristocracy to adequately prepare society for World War II rests upon his discussion of willful ignorance. Rather than acknowledging the changing times they lived in, the English aristocracy shied away from change and favored tradition. Orwell explained this through an examination of England’s method for preparing for war. Since the aristocracy refused to accept change, modern warfare was impossible to imagine or prepare for. He criticized the training of English soldiers with the bayonet: though useless against modern technology, it continued in the English military as a matter of prideful tradition.

The ruling class ignored the rise of fascism and did not oppose it on economic grounds. National solidarity and emotional unity was the only thing that protected England from fascism.

Orwell partially forgave the willful ignorance and incompetence of the ruling class, noting that those of “the English ruling class are morally sound […] in time of war they are ready enough to get themselves killed” (37). Orwell claimed that they were not “wicked” or immoral but living in a different century.

Orwell discussed two social classes in English society that gained prominence between the end of World War I and the outbreak of World War II: the military/imperial middle class, which he nicknamed the “Blimps,” and the left-wing intelligentsia. Orwell claimed that these classes were symbolic opposites but influenced each other constantly.

With the advent of the telegraph and an increasing centralization of imperial administration, the Blimps’ influence declined rapidly. Working in an imperial post grew obsolete as the Empire’s officialdom became impotent: “Imperialist sentiment remained strong in the middle class, owning to family tradition, but the job of administering the Empire had ceased to appeal” (39). Orwell argued that this decline in officialdom was largely brought about by the intelligentsia.

The intelligentsia were largely distrusted among the English because of their discontent with the established order; they were more Europeanized than the average English citizen; they existed outside of the collectivity and emotional unity that Orwell described as the English character. In order for England to come out of World War II victorious, Orwell believed that classes of people must unite, that “patriotism and intelligence will have to come together again” (41).

With the rise of capitalism, the English middle class and their ideals occupied a wider space in society. Orwell discussed how capitalism lessened the cultural gaps between social classes in England, as the middle class enjoyed a better quality of life and more time for leisure activities. These leisure activities largely intersected with those of the working class: Reading, films, and radio programs slowly dismantled the idea of a “proletariat.” Modern industrial production gave workers more time for themselves, and though there were still wide income disparities, Orwell argued that the “same kind of life is being lived at different levels” (44).

Orwell predicted that World War II would destroy class privilege in England. A horizontal social stratum would develop in which most people stood on equal footing; significantly, Orwell argued that this dismantling of a straited class system would not affect the English national character.