Title: Inside the Whale and Other Essays
Genre: Essays
Year: 1962
Pages: 200
Origin: bought in a charity shop for £1.49
Nod Rating: 4 nods out of 5
This volume was read during a visit to hospital during October 2013. Having spotted the book, the nurse referenced George Orwell, all of which led to a fruitful discussion. All of this confirms Orwell’s place as one of
This book – Inside the Whale and Other Essays – brings
together an exciting and eclectic selection of Orwell’s essays. The title
essay, ‘Inside the Whale’, was initially published in 1940, whilst a later
edition – printed in 1957 and later under its current title in 1962 – included
a vast sprawl of essays. These range from ‘Politics and the English Language’ (previously
reviewed by the Worm), ‘Shooting an Elephant’ to an analysis about the impact
of Boys Weeklies.
The title essay is a review of English literature in the preceding
twenty years (concentrating on the 1920s and 1930s). Orwell bemoans the lack of
change in writing style or content, the lack of any real authorial voice in fiction.
However, his writing – its impact and sobering effect – is witnessed in other
sections. These include ‘Down the Mine’ – taken from The Road to Wigan Pier –
what with its outlining of the life of a miner and his arduous journey to and
from work; ‘England Your England’ with its observation of the Second World War
and what it means for the British people; ‘Shooting an Elephant’ which
describes Orwell’s previous life as a policeman in Burma and how he was forced
to kill an elephant in order to appear dominant and brave to the locals (‘I
often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to
avoid looking a fool’); whilst ‘Boys’ Weeklies’ is an odd conclusion to the
book, but one that manages to captivate the reader, with its suggestion that
such magazines were propagating conservative characteristics held by a
different class in a different age.
Orwell is on biting form in ‘Politics and the English
Language’ and ‘The Prevention of Literature’. Echoing themes from his seminal
novel Nineteen Eighteen-Four, he discusses the freedom of thought and how the
contemporary political mood can easily take control. The Worm has previously
pondered ‘Politics and the English Language’ at longer length (read the review
here).
His turn of phrase, the weaving together of words wrapped in
the brutal truth is what makes Orwell such a captivating writer. In ‘Inside the
Whale’ he attacks fellow writers who accept the situation of their
surroundings: ‘To say “I accept” in an age like our own is to say that you
accept concentration camps, rubber truncheons, Hitler, Stalin, bombs, aeroplanes,
tinned food, machine guns, putsches, purges, slogans, Bedaux belts, gas masks,
submarines, spies, provocateurs, press censorship, secret prisons, aspirins,
Hollywood films, and political murders.’ In ‘Down the Mine’ he links coal – the
unknown substance – to making the world go round: ‘In order that Hitler may
march the goose-step, that the Pope may denounce Bolshevism, that the cricket
crowds may assemble at Lords that the poets may scratch one another’s backs,
coal has got to be forthcoming. But on the whole we are not aware of it.’ Whilst
the beginning of ‘England Your England’ makes a sobering impression: ‘As I write,
highly civilized human beings are flying overhead, trying to kill me.’
Inside the Whale and Other Essays is full of enjoyable,
eye-opening debate. It sets Orwell out as an essayist and thinker of social
issues, as well as prominent novelist. Having come to the end of the read the
Worm was full of longing: O, how we could use you now, Mr Orwell.
Buy it here
