Marrakech

by George Orwell

In this short essay, written in the spring of 1939, Orwell again makes proof of his remarkable ability to turn every aspect of native life into a spectacle of disorder and futility. Having contracted a case of tuberculosis in England, he made his journey south to Marrakech in the winter of 1938, where he started his novel Coming Up for Air. “Marrakech” which sums up his own thoughts about his experience in the city consists of a series of disjointed passages, each mapping out a particular scene of the poverty and dreariness so pervasive in the city. In its fragmentary structure, the essay reflects the lack of homogeneity in the colonial space. It is a space populated by a Muslim majority, a Jewish minority and even a smaller European community whose colonial authority is served by yet a body of well disciplined Senegalese soldiers. In this heterogeneous community, racial and ethnic differences become not so much signs of diversity as those of conflict and clash. To Orwell’s panoptic eye, this divided, hierarchic society typifies a deplorable order generated by the mediocrity and passiveness of the natives.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

About the author

Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.

Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

Reviews

[Anas Sallam · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Orwell has definitely carried it out in this one, short yet thoroughly interesting.

[Hiba · Rating 4 out of 5]

"where the human beings have brown skins their poverty is simply not noticed."

"One could probably live here for years without noticing that for nine-tenths of the people the reality of life is an endless, back-breaking struggle to wring a little food out of an eroded soil."

"She accepted her status as an old woman, that is to say as a beast of burden. When a family is travelling it is quite usual to see a father and a grown-up son riding ahead on donkeys, and an old woman following on foot, carrying the baggage."

"But there is one thought which every white man thinks when he sees a black army marching past. ‘How much longer can we go on kidding these people? How long before they tum their guns in the other direction?’"

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but straight to the point. Knocked it out of the park.

[Darcel Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cinematic gaze through a documentary form and not a travel brochure.

[Nuruddin Azri · Rating 2 out of 5]

“All people who work with their hands are partly invisible, and the more important the work they do, the less visible they are.”

– Marrakech, George Orwell

[—✮ Mery · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Bella · Rating 2 out of 5]

This essay really interested me in its discussion of orientalism, and how the Occident admires the places they colonise purely for its exotic beauty, whilst ignoring the immense suffering that lies beneath. I also liked how it discusses the insecurity of the coloniser, and the constant fear that at any moment, the Orient may turn on them, and thus, the Occident must constantly assert its control. I didn’t like it as much of his other postcolonial works, though, because there was not as much forward momentum.

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marrakech by George Orwell is 6th on the list of Essays, which holds the 917th position on the Greatest Books of All Time site, where Nineteen Eighty Four is 6th, and Animal Farm 54th, not to mention that Homage to Catalonia also makes it in the first few hundred – for now, there are two caveats here, first, the algorithm changes the hierarchy, and second, more importantly, the future will have changed this, at least in the view of some (maybe most) critics, who say that The Essays will stay relevant, while the others might be forgotten – for my take on more than five thousand of the best books and movies, you may wish to have a look here http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...



9 out of 10

The sign of a luminary, Magister Ludi must be that he can pack so much in such a small space, Marrakech has just a few pages, but you have a look at a dazzling universe, Arabs, Jews, Black Africans and Europeans together

‘Brevity is the soul of wit’ comes from Hamlet https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and concise, simple writing is what sets George Orwell apart, if I am not mistaken
Nineteen Eighty Four https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... would be the magnum opus contested by some, apparently, the novel that depicts authoritarianism so well

Marrakech opens with a burial, and the habits are strange, we would say, unless we realize that what we do in our parts is bizarre, even abominable – in one book, there is this funny situation where even dancing was condemned
The flies get to this corpse, which is carried by four men, then buried in a place – it would not be a cemetery, not by ‘our’ standards – where ‘graves’ are unmarked, nobody would know where their relatives are

The donkeys of Marrakech – and the poor countries in general, I would say – get attention here, just like they did for William Faulkner https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
From this essay, we find that the donkeys in those places are as big as a Saint Bernard, extremely loyal, and badly mishandled, tortured really – they are left with the weight on them for weeks, and when they die, dogs eat them, before they are cold

A cow and donkey work the land, because two cows would be too difficult to feed, and two donkeys cannot manage, what with their size – women are in this formidable work, but in reality, and now this happens – and they are not much better treated than donkeys, they carry wood, while men ride the animals
The Jew as the rich financier, controlling the banks and well, everything is debunked in this small space: the narrator, who is Orwell, he went to Marrakech – is walking through the Jewish district, where everyone is poor

Not just impoverished, but destitute – a small river of urine is there, kids are together like flies, when the author lights a cigarette, most f those around ask for one, even a blind one, though they work hard for twelve hours…
A smoke is aspirational, like the Arabs, they do all the métiers, selling fruit, butchers, all, expect for agriculture – anyway, the land is terrible there, the effort to have a crop appears not just immense, but overwhelming

Orwell takes on the problem of imperialism, just like he delved into the life of the poor in The Spike https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... where he plunges into the workhouse

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

[Carolin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“But where human beings have brown skins their poverty is simply not noticed. What does Morocco mean to a Frenchman? An orange-grove or a job in government service.”

George Orwell räumt sehr gründlich auf mit Kolonialismus, Rassismus, Antisemitismus und sorta of sogar Sexismus (I know, he really went for everything). Natürlich können 6 Seiten nicht Jahrhunderte systematische Gewalt und Unterdrückung beenden, aber er bringt es sehr prägnant auf den Punkt und zwingt den Leser seine eigenen Denkmuster zu hinterfragen. Orwell geht von vorne bis hinten alles durch, was sonst in Reiseliteratur unter den Tisch gefallen lassen wird, weil es so schrecklich unangenehm ist und man ja gradezu Fehler einräumen müsste…

[abdelali · Rating 3 out of 5]

George Orwell depicts in this passage the oppression of colonialism. Probably, in his essay, cannot help devoting a few paragraphs to the donkeys, it is probably a reference to his book "The Animal Farm"

[Classic reverie · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Orwell’s “Marrakech” published in 1939 is a stark reality of his observations while working in Asia and Africa. What value is human life that toils and suffers? Racism is addressed and his thoughts about empires. Orwell’s concern for animals is noted and the plight of the poor man. As I read this I thought of how hard life can be and how some have a very hard and depressing life. Only Christ can lead one to a much better life!



➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖➖
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 52
When you walk through a town like this—two hundred thousand inhabitants, of whom at least twenty
thousand own literally nothing except the rags they stand
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 52
up in—when you see how the people live, and still more how easily they die, it is always difficult to
believe that you are walking among human beings.
Page 55
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 55
“Yes, mon vieux, they took my job away from me and gave it to a Jew. The Jews! They’re the real rulers of
this country, you know. They’ve got all the money. They control the banks, finance—everything.”
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 55
“But,” I said, “isn’t it a fact that the average Jew is a labourer working for about a penny an hour?” “Ah,
that’s only for show! They’re all moneylenders really. They’re cunning, the Jews.” In just the same way, a
couple of hundred years ago, poor old women used to be burned for witchcraft when they could not
even work enough magic to get themselves a square meal.
1
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 55
One could probably live here for years without noticing that for nine-tenths of the people the reality of
life is an endless, back-breaking struggle to wring a little food out of an eroded soil.
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 55
But what is strange about these people is their invisibility. For several weeks, always at about the same
time of day, the file of old women had hobbled past the house with their firewood, and though they had
registered themselves on my eyeballs I cannot truly say that I had seen them. Firewood was passing—
that was how I saw it. It was only that one day I happened
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 55
to be walking behind them, and the curious up-and-down motion of a load of wood drew my attention
to the human being underneath it. Then for the first time I noticed the poor old earth-coloured bodies,
bodies reduced to bones and leathery skin, bent double under the crushing weight. Yet I suppose I had
not been five minutes on Moroccan soil before I noticed the overloading of the donkeys and was
infuriated by it. There is no question that the donkeys are damnably treated. The Moroccan donkey is
hardly bigger
Page 56
Highlight (Yellow) | Page 56
than a St. Bernard dog, it carries a load which in the British Army would be considered too much for a
fifteen-hands mule, and very often its pack-saddle is not taken off its back for weeks together. But what
is peculiarly pitiful is that it is the most willing creature on earth, it follows its master like a dog and
does not need either bridle or halter. After a dozen years of devoted work it suddenly drops dead,
whereupon its master tips it into the ditch and the village dogs have torn its guts out before it is cold.

[Evan Micheals · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an essay written in the lead up to World War Two noticing how the lower classes in society are not noticed by the aristocracy. “People with brown skins are next door to invisible” (p 5). He comments on the mythical control of the Jews of Morocco's institutions and that Hitlerism would be welcomed, despite most Jews in Marrakech being barely slaves. “But there is one thoughts which every white man (and in this connection it doesn’t matter two pense if he calls himself a Socialist) thinks when he sees a black army marching past. “’How much longer can we go on kidding thise people? How long before they turn their guns in the other direction?’” (p 7).

History has shown that post World War Two was a period of Decolonisation. They guns were pointed in the other direction. My reflection – we live in a period of again increasing inequity between the rich and poor. We have a right wing neo-liberal economic policy running alongside a left wing progressive cultural agenda. When will socialism return to being about class, not identity? Anyone can be poor, but we are separated by random measures of Identity and it is not the neo-liberals doing it. When will the guns be turned in the other direction of the people who co-opt the suffering of the poor to further their own agenda? We live in interesting times.

[Lukorito Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dang! Talk about doing away with politeness! I read this because I wanted to understand more about colonialism, particularly the attitudes on both sides.

The essay caused me to compare it with present day Kenya, where those who've made it don't even see those who are still struggling. When wealth builds glass towers while poverty builds shacks just outside, it’s not just disparity, it’s dislocation. The other half becomes unseen, unheard, unfelt. Orwell’s line, “Do they even have names?”, feels like a gut punch. It’s not just about colonial Morocco; it’s about any society, like my country, where privilege blinds people to the human beings beneath their feet.

[Ayman Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's noticable and even special how Orwell could show those scenes that we became familiar with as a tragic reality, which is the truth in fact, Orwell could succesfully remind us of the disorder that we lived in and still, in this very short essay, the most valuable thing that you will learn speacially if you are a Morrocan is that to become familiar with something, doesn't mean that it's appropriate or fine.

[Brian Mikołajczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Orwell visits Marrakech in 1938 when he comes down with tuberculosis.
This essay is his observations in the poor city. They are very imperialist unsurprisingly.
His observations of the Jews are a reflection of what the Marrakechi people thought at the time. His imperialist observations are gross for a modern times but at the end of the essay he has some reflection upon the imperial treatment of brown- and black-skinned people.
Overall an interesting read.

[charli · Rating 3 out of 5]

read March 2021

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[ELMAATAOUI MOHAMED · Rating 1 out of 5]

Biased

[ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All people who work with their hands are partly invisible, and the
more important the work they do, the less visible they are."

[Jaled Rifman · Rating 5 out of 5]

All people who work with their hands are partly invisible, and the more important the work they do, the less visible they are.

[Anna-may Little · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 🌟 read on my first day of Higher English