Such Such Were the Joys

“Such, Such Were the Joys”

“Such, Such Were the Joys,” an essay written by George Orwell demonstrates the practices used to educate children during the early 1900s. According to Orwell’s recollection, he was taught under miserable conditions where both his peers and his educators treated him horribly. Crossgates was an educational facility where young children would go, in order to be prepared to gain admittance into a public school, specifically Eton. Orwell saw Crossgates as a terrible place ran by terrible people. Two of the main antagonists in the essay, Bingo and Sim, treated Orwell very poorly during his stay at Crossgates. Orwell notes, “ I hated Bingo and Sim, with a sort of shamefaced, remorseful hatred” (16). A student should never “hate” their educators, and in today’s culture, many of the abuses Orwell suffered would not have been tolerated. The education system at Crossgates was so poorly supervised, Orwell believed that daily canings, reproaches, and humiliations were good for him, and saved him from becoming a penniless, office boy (16).

Although Crossgates, Sim, and Bingo are all fictional characters, they do represent an actual place and real people that George Orwell came across in his actual life. In one of the primary publications of “Such, Such Were the Joys,” Orwell gives the actual names of Crossgates, Sim and Bingo. Crossgates, the fictional school, was actually St. Cyprian's of Eastbourne and Mr. and Mrs. Simpson were actually Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes. Reading “Such, Such Were the Joys” a first time, I never actually thought it was a true account of Orwell’s childhood, but after doing research, I realized how important this essay is. The reason I believe that “Such, Such Were the Joys” is an important piece of literature in modern classrooms is because it shows how different the education system was in the early 1900s, but it also displays that educational facilities have always been a “commercial venture” (16).

Throughout the essay, there...