Riding Down from Bangor is an

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

published in 1946 by the English

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) 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 a ...

. In it, he muses on 19th-century American children's literature and the type of society it portrayed.

Background

The article was prompted by the appearance of a new edition of '' Helen's Babies'' by the American author John Habberton. The novel first published in 1876 was subtitled: "Helen's Babies with some account of their ways...innocent, crafty, angelic, impish, witching and repulsive by THEIR LATEST VICTIM." and was set in New York. The article appeared in ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'' on 22 November 1946.

Summary

The appearance of ''Helen's Babies'' prompts Orwell's thoughts about the impression of the world made by books read in childhood. His impressions of America came down to the barefoot boy in the schoolroom aspiring to become president, and the tall man leaning against a wooden paling making occasional observations. These ideas were derived from books like ''

Tom Sawyer Thomas "Tom" Sawyer () is the title character of the Mark Twain novel '' The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: '' Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), '' Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and '' Tom Sawy ...

'', '' Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm'', ''

What Katy Did ''What Katy Did'' is an 1872 children's novel written by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey under her pen name "Susan Coolidge". It follows the adventures of a twelve-year-old American girl, Katy Carr, and her family who live in the fictional lakeside Oh ...

'', and ''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...

''. He then thinks of the song " Riding down from Bangor" based on a railway journey from

Bangor, Maine Bangor ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's List of municipalities in Maine, third-most populous city, behind Portland, Maine, Portland ...

. Orwell identifies these works as having a "sweet innocence" and "faint vulgarity of language". Although he acknowledges a crude and anarchic element in many American works, he notes that novels set on the East Coast describe a very sedate and prim society governed by etiquette. The characters may seem ridiculous, but they have an admirable integrity and unthinking piety. Orwell regrets that more recent American material such as

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

and other

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

s is no longer suitable for children. Seeing nineteenth century America as a "rich empty country" with few social problems and room for everyone who worked hard, Orwell concludes that "the civilization of nineteenth century America was capitalist civilization at its best."

References

External links

Text of essay ''Riding Down from Bangor''
{{Crimethink Essays by George Orwell 1946 essays Works originally published in Tribune (magazine)

Background

Summary

See also

References

External links