35 pages 1 hour read

George Orwell

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1936

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Themes

Capitalism and the Importance of Money

Capitalism—especially capitalist consumerism—pervades the setting of 1930s London. In fact, advertisements play a key role in shaping Gordon’s broader ideas about money: “Curiously enough, it was the advertisements in the Underground stations that first brought [the problems with capitalism] home for him” (43). Later in life, Gordon’s feelings about money compel him to leave his job at the advertising firm New Albion even though he is very good at copywriting: “There was hardly a soul in the firm who was not perfectly well aware that publicity—advertising—is the dirtiest ramp that capitalism has yet produced” (51). Gordon and the other employees’ awareness that they’re contributing to a “dirty ramp” reflects the broader difficulty of avoiding complicity in a capitalist economy. Advertising is itself a mechanism of that complicity since it persuades people to endlessly accumulate consumer goods while padding the pockets of those who produce (or rather, own the factories that produce) those items. 

Capitalism also tends to judge people based on their wealth, often through the ideal of the ”self-made” man—someone whose wealth reflects his perseverance and industry. Despite his war on money, Gordon shares the view that money determines people’s worth (though in his case, he views wealth as the factor that enables virtue, creativity, etc.

Related Titles

By George Orwell

Study Guide

logo

A Hanging

George Orwell

A Hanging

George Orwell

Study Guide

logo

Burmese Days

George Orwell

Burmese Days

George Orwell

Study Guide

logo

Coming Up for Air

George Orwell

Coming Up for Air

George Orwell

Plot Summary

logo

Down and Out in Paris and London

George Orwell

Down and Out in Paris and London

George Orwell

Plot Summary

logo

Homage To Catalonia

George Orwell

Homage To Catalonia

George Orwell

Plot Summary

logo

Politics and the English Language

George Orwell

Politics and the English Language

George Orwell

Study Guide

logo

Such, Such Were the Joys

George Orwell

Such, Such Were the Joys

George Orwell

Study Guide

logo

The Road to Wigan Pier

George Orwell

The Road to Wigan Pier

George Orwell

Study Guide

logo

Why I Write

George Orwell

Why I Write

George Orwell