Language of the characters is used strongly throughout the chapter, providing a stark contrast between Orwell and the tramp, while Orwell refers to tobacco as simply tobacco; the tramp names it ‘baccy’. This amusing exchange of words of what is obviously a clash of cultures continues when the tramp says ‘Dey don’t give you skilly in Romton’, and Orwell simply replies ‘What is skilly?’ This acknowledgement of his naivety in the world of poverty in Britain seems, at this point to not raise him above the ‘subhuman’ level of the tramps, but his apparent helplessness without the tramps knowledge renders him at the same time below even the tramp.
The amusing derogatory phrases continue when Orwell says ‘The Irishman was a friendly old man, but he smelt very unpleasant’. ‘Down in out in London and Paris’ can be seen as a plethora of various types of books, and can in some aspects be seen as a journal. Orwell writes as if acknowledging the characters inability to know what he writes, and so while in reality he is charming and polite, divulges his true opinion to the reader throughout, both engaging the reader, yet somehow repulsing him as well, due to the devious nature of the ‘confessions’.
The tramp himself continues his theme of passive dominance as he tells Orwell ‘You come wid me.’, this not only reinforces Orwell’s unfortunate predicament in defining himself as below subhuman, but also implies that the tramp himself views him as an equal.
Orwell uses various comparisons throughout the chapter in order to give a contrast between privileged, working lifestyles, and those who are truly down and out. He says ‘a small tin-roofed shed in a side-street rather like a village cricket pavilion’ and ‘as different from coffee-shop tea as good Bordeaux is from the muck called colonial claret’. These comparisons show that he still views himself as a higher class human being, and that throughout his travels, compares his current lifestyle with his previous one. This unusual insight into Orwell’s personal views allows a small degree of empathy, allowing the reader to better formulate his own opinions on whether Orwell truly seeks to gain experience from those who are ‘Down and out’, or simply views it as an outsider.
Throughout the chapter, there is a profound absence of names. The tramp he meets is simply referred to as ‘The Irishman’, the woman serving them tea as ‘The Lady’, and the only other character to be mentioned is the ‘Red nosed man’. The absence of names not only greatly generalises and downplays the role of other characters. It accentuates the role that Orwell plays in the book, defining it as a type of autobiography, and forcing the reader to focus on Orwell’s actions rather than allowing their judgement to be affected by his surroundings. Similar to Brecht’s concept of epic theatre, the absence of names, and the generalization of the scenes, given little more information than ‘a small tin-roofed shed in a side-street’ and instead forced to view the events from a detached point of view, unfettered by external stimuli. This presentation of the scene allows us the view the situation with greater clarity, and allows us to achieve what Orwell himself hoped to achieve in its writing, and view those who are truly down and out from an unbiased perspective, and allow our interpretations to be based on their actions, and not simply their situation and class.
