RKS British Literature: British Worship of the Money-God (George Orwell)

“The types he saw all round him, especially the older men, made him squirm. That was what it meant to worship the money-god! To settle down, to Make Good, to sell your soul for a villa and an aspidistra! To turn into the little bowler-hatted sneak-Strube’s ‘little man’-the little docile cit who slips home byContinue reading “RKS British Literature: British Worship of the Money-God (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: Money Worship as New Religion (George Orwell)

“What he realized, and more clearly as time went on, was that money-worship has been elevated into a religion. Perhaps it is the only real religion -the only really felt religion-that is left to us. Money is what God used to be. Good and evil have no meaning any longer except failure and success. HenceContinue reading “RKS British Literature: Money Worship as New Religion (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: One Great Cruelty One Can Inflict on a Child (George Orwell)

“Even at the third-rate schools to which Gordon was sent nearly all the boys were richer than himself. They soon found out his poverty, of course, and gave him hell because of it. Probably the greatest cruelty one can inflict on a child is to send it to school among children richer than itself. AContinue reading “RKS British Literature: One Great Cruelty One Can Inflict on a Child (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: Lorenheim the Lizard Like Lodger (George Orwell)

“On the second floor lived Lorenheim, a dark meagre lizard-like creature of uncertain age and race who made about thirty-five shillings a week by touting vacuum cleaners. Gordon always went hurriedly past Lorenheim’s door. Lorenheim was one of those people who have not a single friend in the world and who are devoured by lustContinue reading “RKS British Literature: Lorenheim the Lizard Like Lodger (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: Never Fat Just Stout (George Orwell)

“He was really horribly fat. He filled his trousers as though he had been melted and then poured into them. But of course, like other fat people, he never admitted to being fat. No fat person ever uses the word ‘fat’ if there is any way of avoiding it. ‘Stout’ is the word they use-orContinue reading “RKS British Literature: Never Fat Just Stout (George Orwell)”

RKS British Literature: Moneyless Unlovables (George Orwell)

“Money, once again; all is money. All human relationships must be purchased with money. If you have no money, men won’t care for you, women won’t love you; won’t, that is, care for you or love you the last little bit that matters. And how right they are after all! For, moneyless you are unlovable.”Continue reading “RKS British Literature: Moneyless Unlovables (George Orwell)”

RKS French Literature: The Capitalist Vultures Circling in on One of their Own Mortally Wounded (Émile Zola)

“He had listened to the various offers. People tried to beat him down, to minimize the value of this splendid prize, this pit that had been completely renovated and refitted, where only a lack of ready cash was preventing production. He would be jolly lucky to recoup a sufficient sum to pay off his creditors.Continue reading “RKS French Literature: The Capitalist Vultures Circling in on One of their Own Mortally Wounded (Émile Zola)”

RKS French Literature: Is the Leader of the French Coal Miner Strikers Corrupted by Bourgeois Refinement? (Émile Zola)

“His education was complete, and he was leaving newly armed, a philosopher soldier of the revolution, having declared war on the society he saw around him and condemned. In his delight at going to join Pluchart, at going to be Pluchart, a leader that was listened to, he started making speeches to himself rehearsing theContinue reading “RKS French Literature: Is the Leader of the French Coal Miner Strikers Corrupted by Bourgeois Refinement? (Émile Zola)”

RKS British Literature: A Frustrated Writer Blames Lack of Creativity on Lack of Money (George Orwell)

“Dull-eyed he gazed at the wall of books. He hated the whole lot of them. Old and new, highbrow and lowbrow, snooty and chirpy. The mere sight of them brought home to him his own sterility. For here he was supposedly a ‘writer’, and he couldn’t even write. It wasn’t merely a question of notContinue reading “RKS British Literature: A Frustrated Writer Blames Lack of Creativity on Lack of Money (George Orwell)”

RKS French Literature: Father Ranvier the Catholic Priest Exploits the Misery of the Striking Coal Miners (Émile Zola)

“He was using the strike-the terrible poverty, the sense of grievance, sharpened by hunger-with the ardour of a missionary preaching to savages for the greater glory of his religion. He said that the Church was on the side of the poor and that one day it would cause justice to triumph by calling down theContinue reading “RKS French Literature: Father Ranvier the Catholic Priest Exploits the Misery of the Striking Coal Miners (Émile Zola)”