George Orwell Such Such Were the Joys

330 Words2 Pages
Such, Such Were the Days In chapters 5 and 6 of Such Such were the Joys by George Orwell; he goes into detail about the ways in which the hierarchy was established at Crossgates and the effects it had on him. In chapter 5 Orwell starts off by giving some background as to what he believes were contradictions in the rules and regulations at Crossgates. He mentions the religious contradictions with what he felt at the time was, the criteria to be considered rich. This would be a source of confusion for most but not for Orwell. He relates to those that were viewed as bad or unwanted from the stories in the bible because that is what he was viewed as. At Crossgates to be a scholarship kid denoted that you could not afford the regular price of tuition and therefore didn’t truly belong to be there. Orwell was a scholarship kid and until he left Crossgates was ridiculed by his peers and treated as though he was a second class citizen. The bad treatment he received not only came from his peers but also the administrators. Orwell says “By the social standards that prevailed about me, I was no good, and could not be any good.”(294 APE) When he was to leave Crossgates the head mistress smiled and said goodbye but he read much more into her words and facial expressions than the obvious sentiment given. This was the interpretation of a child’s mind at the time. Orwell then goes on to make one of the most profound statements in the story which was “Only by resurrecting our own memories can we realize how incredibly distorted is the child’s vision of the world.”(300 APE) Orwell in the end grows from these experiences and finds he is a stronger individual for having gone through those tough times. In the end Orwell realizes the trial and tribulations he went through made him the man that he
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