Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying (first published 1936) is a novel by George Orwell. It is set in 1930s London and the surrounding countryside.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying was filmed in 1997 (released in the USA under the alternative title of "A Merry War") by Robert Bierman based on a screenplay by Alan Plater and starring Richard E. Grant and Helena Bonham Carter.

Summary

The protagonist, Gordon Comstock, is an aspiring poet who, throughout the novel, has "declared war" on what he sees as an overarching dependence on money.

Gordon lives, then, in a one-room flat, earning barely enough money to keep him alive in London in a small bookshop owned by a Scot, McKetchnie, subsisting on a lifestyle which Gordon is simultaneously distasteful of and content with, in that he lives without his self-declared war on the dependence on money, which however, naturally causes difficulty in getting things one needs.

Gordon views to a deep extent the pervasion of money behind social relationships (even going to the extent of sex) too, in that he feels that women will find him more attractive if he was better-off, however at the beginning of the novel, he feels that his only girlfriend, Rosemary, is somehow dissatisfied with him because of his economic status.

Ravelston, a publisher of the magazine Antichrist, a Marxist, and friend of Gordon, agrees with Gordon on principle, but not in practice, as he is considerably more well-off than he. Philip Ravelston has always endeavoured to publish a lot of Gordon's work. Throughout the novel, Gordon continually reminisces on his magnum opus, London Pleasures, with a continuous to-and-fro-ing in admiration of himself and his work, to self-loathing. Gordon also works on a poem which distils his ideas on money, in which he personalizes the idea of a "Money God", representing the pursuit of money and material success.

The book's namesake, the aspidistra (a spiny houseplant) that at the time was widely considered a symbol of dull middle-class British taste, and seems to follow Gordon throughout the novel, and the aspidistra in his apartment which he tries to kill never does die - it becomes indestructible.

As Gordon sends off a poem to a United States publication, he receives a cheque which ends up with him being endowed with ten pounds - a considerable amount. Honourably, Gordon sets aside half for his sister Julia, who has always been there to lend him money and support. He treats Rosemary and Ravelston to dinner, which eventually begins well, but, as the evening proceeds turns black and deteriorates, to which Gordon, well-drunk, tries to force himself upon Rosemary, who has before not had sex with Gordon (previously, they could not since Gordon could not afford protection, and later he reasons that if she does, she will have a baby to which they cannot afford - money again) who rebukes him, and leaves him with Ravelston. Gordon then picks up a couple of prostitutes, and tries to get Ravelston to come along with him (Ravelston complies, but reasons he will pay the woman but not have sex with her). It transpires that later Gordon assaults a sergeant, and ends up in jail.

Ravelston ends up bailing out Gordon, much to his protest, and whist in court, a reporter hears about his case, writing about it in the local papers, with Gordon's job at the bookshop drawn to an end, with Gordon's relatively "comfortable" lifestyle ended also. As Gordon tries to get another job, at another bookshop, his life is also slowly degrading, his poetry stagnating, but Rosemary comes back to him, to his new, dingy apartment, and they make love, but ends coldly.

Later, Rosemary discovers she is pregnant, and tells Gordon, who is presented with the necessity to return to his "proper job" at the New Albion advertising firm, or she will have to have an abortion ("for five pounds in the back of an alley").

Gordon relents however, and returns to the New Albion, and they marry. The aspidistra that has haunted Gordon before, now Gordon demands they buy to decorate their home.

External links

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• Keep the Aspidistra Flying (http://www.george-orwell.org/Keep_the_Aspidistra_Flying/index.html) - Searchable, indexed etext.