Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Gordon is a roughly 30-year-old poet who comes from a once affluent middle-class family that has become impoverished. He is a talented writer who published one poetry collection, Mice, and is struggling to finish the second collection, London Pleasures. Declaring war on money itself, Gordon refuses to accept a high-paying job, even leaving a copywriting job at the advertising firm New Albion. Still, he is not interested in socialism, believing its implementation would mean “[f]our hours a day in a model factory, tightening up bolt number 6003” (88).

Orwell describes Gordon as physically unimposing but proud: “Gordon was not impressive to look at. He was just five feet seven inches high […] he carried himself very upright, throwing a chest, with a you-be-damned air which occasionally deceived simple people” (5). His attitude toward money is the result of his upbringing—especially the bullying he endured at boarding school because of his poverty. Because of this, Gordon has deliberately sought out poverty, hoping to make a living from his writing.

Despite his resentful attitude and stubborn commitment to his beliefs, Gordon does feel guilt for his actions. After leaving New Albion, he experiences “a hateful feeling of having behaved perversely and ungratefully” (56).