Orwells such, Such Were The Joys....: Alienation And Other Such Joy :: essays research papers

Orwells "Such, Such Were the Joys...." Alienation and Other Such JoysGeorge Orwell expresses a feeling of alienation throughout "Such, SuchWere the Joys...." He casts himself as a misfit, unable to understand his peers,the authorities placed over him, and the laws that govern his existence. Orwellwrites, The good and the possible never seemed to coincide (37). Though heshows his cogency to enumerate what is good, he resigns himself to apredestined state uncertain of where exactly he fits in society, his attitudeis irreconcilable with what he knows society expects of him. Orwells childhood savvy of society forces him into only one possible direction, failure.This essay is the maturing Orwells response to childhood subjugation, a subtleexposure to the evolution of Orwells thought.     Orwells life as a embarkment school student at Crossgates occupies hismemory of childhood and serves as the platform for his views on life.Repeatedly Orwell describe s the society of the school from which he is outcastThat bump on the hard mattress, on the first night of term, used to give me afeeling of abrupt awakening, a feeling of This is reality, this is what youare up against. Your home might be far from perfect, but at least it was aplace ruled by love rather than by fear, where you did not have to beperpetually taken out of this warm nest and flung into a world of force andfraud and secrecy, like a goldfish into a tank mount of pike. (23)Young Orwell, impacted by this, hard, disorienting situation, realizes he isalone in a hostile, harsh environment. Orwell uses the image of the warm nest,a womb, from which the child is thrown, then innocently forced into adestructive reality. This reality is Crossgates, an educational institution butalso a primary residence, the home Orwell lives in on a daily basis for anumber of years. Far from the love of his familial home, Orwell finds thatCrossgates does not nurture nor raise a boy to manhood, bu t rather destroys allthat he loves and trusts. Hopelessly dominated in this environment, he iscompelled to accept a mentality of insecurity and inferiority and becomes thefodder of others--the winners of society.     Sim and Bingo, the spiritual and emotional guides of Crossgates, feedoff of this regretful mentality and their carefully constructed school environment.By the social standards that prevailed about me, I was no good, and could not beany good. But all the different kinds of celibacy seemed to be mysteriouslyinterconnected and to belong to much the same people.