George Orwell Matters! discussion

Hello, fellow Orwell readers!

I just came across an Orwell essay in which he discusses the holidays, happiness, and even A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens! This was one of the essays published in Tribune, and so is quite short.

I'd be delighted to discuss it with others! I will read and post some of my thoughts here over the next couple of days and see if anyone joins in. It's an essay that may make for a fine (if belated) addition to your seasonal reading selections!

Can Socialists Be Happy?
"The thought of Christmas raises almost automatically the thought of Charles Dickens, and for two very good reasons..."
>> Available online for free on the Orwell Foundation's website: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-...


"Mr. Scrooge!" said Bob; "I'll give you Mr. Scrooge, the Founder of the feast!" by E. A. Abbey. American Household Edition (1876), fifth illustration for A Christmas Carol, via Victorian Web
https://www.victorianweb.org/art/illu...

Fantastic! Thank you Jennifer 😊

Brilliant! I am a Bernie Sanders socialist and yet this has given me pause! Is Orwell saying that war, pestilence, plague, and many other strife's are necessary before a temporary happiness can be experienced? That thought is sad, yet we must admit life is always a struggle that ends in the death of ourselves and all that we love. I watched with horror and sadness the death of my cousin's wife recently. She was his right arm, the love of his life, and after a few months of illness, she was taken away from him. It raises questions like is there a God? does prayer work in convincing this God to be merciful? You might conclude that man is on this earth to experience pain and suffering! The sins of Adam, bullshit!
Jennifer, I thoroughly enjoyed this essay by Orwell, thank you, enjoy your holidays and keep sharing these thought provoking messages 1 minute ago

"Moreover and Dickens’s understanding of this is one of the secrets of his power their happiness derives mainly from contrast. They are in high spirits because for once in a way they have enough to eat. The wolf is at the door, but he is wagging his tail. ... The Cratchits are able to enjoy Christmas precisely because it only comes once a year. Their happiness is convincing just because Christmas only comes once a year. Their happiness is convincing just because it is described as incomplete."

Do you agree with Orwell's assessment regarding happiness? That it is by definition incomplete, and involves a comparison to the past?

I read something today that made me think of Orwell's point:

I never felt growing up that we were poor. In fact, I felt just the opposite. I felt rich because each year we were slightly but consistently richer than the previous year. As long as you’re not actually poor, the key to financial happiness is to get richer slowly and steadily.

In simpler terms: Happiness = Reality – Expectations, and your brain’s money-expectation is exactly whatever you just spent last year. Spending a tiny bit more this year than last year feels like living in luxury.

- Jacob Falkovich (WIRED Magazine, LessWrong, putanumonit.com), "Get Rich Slowly" https://putanumonit.com/2017/02/10/ge...

Jennifer, I also noticed the sentence, "The wolf is at the door, but he is wagging his tail." I love how Orwell can deliver a realistic message with humor!

I really don't think there is such a thing as a true utopia because different people need different things to be happy, and a variety of experiences keeps our minds active. If we start regulating what we receive for happiness, then we end up with a situation like in "Brave New World" where everyone is drugged to keep them from thinking, forming opinions, and acting out, but no one is truly happy. "Brave New World" is really a dystopia, run by dictators, who are turning people into robotic beings.

People don't have to be starving for much of the year to appreciate a good dinner on Christmas or any other day. An ideal world would have at least minimal food, shelter, and health care available to the sick and needy. We should expect to have "ups" and "downs" in life, but it's good to have a safety net so the "downs" don't become too enormous. However, happiness can come from more than money or things. Love, companionship, and good experiences contribute to our happiness.

It's interesting that Orwell was writing this article during World War II when there were so many people dealing with hunger, cold, lack of shelter, death of loved ones, and horrific injuries from the war. That's quite a distance from utopia!

What an excellent, thought-provoking article. Thanks, Jennifer.

I too loved the line "The wolf is at the door, but he is wagging his tail." That's one of the best descriptions of Christmas celebrations that I have heard. Yes, we know we can't afford it, we know it's temporary, we know awful things are happening everywhere, but for now, we're going to wag our tails. And the Cratchit family celebration is a great example of this.

I found Brave New World an excellent warning of how stifling a utopia could be. Generally I agree with Orwell that it's human brotherhood we should be going for, not perfection. They don't go together!

"Swift has shown where man’s folly and scoundrelism lead him: but take away the folly and scoundrelism, and all you are left with, apparently, is a tepid sort of existence, hardly worth leading."

I wonder, can we keep the folly, but get rid of the scoundrelism? :-)

Hello, all!
I am sorry to have been quiet late in the discussion. I had started to write a reply to those last two comments, and then life intervened!

Kathleen, I think you made as good a concluding comment as I can imagine with, I wonder, can we keep the folly, but get rid of the scoundrelism? :-) We have not found a way to do that, but Orwell's work certainly invites us to keep looking. And yes, "human brotherhood" sounds very elevated, but it really does not imply or require perfection.

Connie, I too appreciate Orwell's combination of idealism, realism, and humor.

I am looking forward to our next Orwell read, Down and Out in Paris and London. I have only ever read a selection, so the book in its entirety will be a new adventure for me. If you have read it before, please do drop in and share your thoughts. Orwell always seems to me to repay rereading.

Happy January, and happy reading!