Hobo Envy

Among the benefits of this project is my newfound opportunity to read some of the amazing books that have been sitting on my shelves gathering dust over the years. Because great literature holds as many answers and wisdom as even the best reality television shows (I'm looking at you, Celebrity Circus), I feel it would be constructive to share with you any books I come across that have a significant impact on the way I view life.

One of my favorite college professors (the quirky and intimidatingly brilliant Anthony DiRenzo), after reading a rough draft of my book, sent me a copy of George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. I was blown away by how insightful it was when it came to poverty, social constructions, and human interaction.

Though written as a fictional narrative, the book is largely based on Orwell's personal experiences living among the working poor in France and tramping with vagrants in London. In typical Orwell fashion, the book cuts straight through to the heart of some mind-blowing universal truths.

Despite being written seventy-five years ago and taking place on a different continent, I found myself nodding in appreciation of experiences Orwell and I shared. Some examples of his insight:

"It is a feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself at last genuinely down and out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs -- and well, here are the dogs, and you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off a lot of anxiety."

"Fear of the mob is a superstitious fear. It is based on the idea that there is some mysterious, fundamental difference between rich and poor...But in reality there is no such difference. The mass of rich and poor are differentiated by their incomes and nothing else, and the average millionaire is only the average dishwasher dressed in a new suit...Everyone who has mixed on equal terms with the poor knows this quite well. But the trouble is that intelligent, cultivated people, the very people who might be expected to have liberal opinions, never do mix with the poor. For what do the majority of educated people know of poverty?"

"Indeed, if one remembers that a tramp is only an Englishman out of work, forced by law to live as a vagabond, then the tramp-monster vanishes. I am not saying, of course, that most tramps are ideal characters; I am only saying that they are ordinary human beings, and that if they are worse than other people it is the result and not the cause of their way of life."

Trust me when I say there's a reason they made this man's name into an adjective. (If that isn't the ultimate sign of respect, I don't know what is. If I had one wish in life, it would be to hear this conversation: "That was positively Orwellian." "I disagree, sir, I would argue that it was more Loganic.")

If you read one book about poverty this year, read The Hobo Diet. (Hey, I'm no Orwell, but a man's got to make a living.)

If you read two, you can do no better than Down and Out in Paris and London.