Marrakech sample body paragraphs and quotations Flashcards
“corpse”
The passage opens with the harsh reality that meets Orwell as he realises the true nature of Marrakech, he is greeted with a “corpse” moving down the street, this word choice creates a matter of fact tone in the passage, and acts to dehumanise the person whom that body used to belong to. They are no longer a person in the eyes of Orwell or colonial society. They are merely flesh that is no longer able to serve them. The word choice also implies that Death is so commonplace in Marrakech that Orwell has become desensitised towards death. He sees it daily and this conveys the injustice and suffering that are synonymous with marrakech and other colony properties.
“all men and boys, no women”
The opening of the passage elicits ideas of the patriarchy and injustice against women in Marrakech as the word choice of “no women” eludes to the fact that women are absent from this setting as they are viewed as inferior to their male counterparts. This emphasises that even in this place of great suffering and pain ideas of the patriarchy are still prevalent. Orwell sees this as partially a result of colonialism as we have spread our societies views of male superiority and spread misinformation that has led to women in other parts of the world being treated in this way.
“what really appeals to the flies is that here the bodies are not put in coffins”
This creates an effective opening to the text, Marrakech by George Orwell was a Non-fiction text written in 1939 on the cusp of the start to the second world war. The text explores the experiences of Orwell as a man with a position in the Colony’s ranks as he visited the Moroccan city of Marrakech. Orwell notices the severe wealth inequality, poverty and suffering of the people that live here, and also explores themes that were heavily contested at the time such as gender inequality, and anti-semitism. Orwell uses techniques such as word choice, symbolism and imagery to convey his point about the rampant corruption and injustice that go in hand with colonialism.
“Fling”
The in the opening of Marrakech Orwell shows us the suffering present in the setting and the way in which residents of Marrakech view death. Their funeral processions are described with short simplistic word choices such as “fling” this alludes to the fact that the residents of Marrakech experience death on a day to day basis and have become completely void of care towards death itself. This highlights the issue of colonialism as colonial powers have come to this location and worked people to death without so much as allowing them enough money or food to celebrate a funeral properly. We have warped and twisted their culture into serving our needs, and yet society still shuns them for their treatment of the dead. We as a reader subconsciously compare how we treat death here to how death is treated in Marrakech and look down on them with disgust, however orwell points out here that we are the ones that should be ashamed of how we have treated the residents of Marrakech as we are the cause of their toil and struggle.
“are they really the same flesh as yourself? Do they even have names?”
In the opening of the text Orwell brings to light the racist views that are allowed to prosper in a colonial society as Orwell asks the same questions that run through any colonisers mind “Are they really the same flesh as yourself? Do they even have names?” This use of rhetorical questions brings to light the views of society at the time. We can see the extent of the racist ideas of society at the time. Orwell emphasises the corruption of power that is synonymous with colonialism and makes society question what we are doing to treat others in this way. The questions are dehumanising this implies that the only way that colony’s can justify their existence is if they view themselves as superior to the people that they are colonising.
“They rise …. they sweat …. they starve …. they sink back to the ground”
Orwell here furthers his point about the suffering that goes hand in hand with colonialism as he explains the life cycle that most of the residents of marrakech will live. “They rise …. They sweat …. They starve …. They sink back and die”
The simplicity of the word choice here conveys the normality of the situation signifying how we have condemned these people to be born, word, live in poverty and finally die. We see from Orwell’s description how void of joy their lives are as every waking moment that these people have must be spent trying to get the food they need to survive and make ends meet. We see the struggle that we force these people to undergo simply to further our own selfish goals and desires.
“although it took the piece of bread I was holding out it did not like me”
In section 2 of the text of Marrakech Orwell describes an encounter that he had with an Arab worker when he was feeding a Gazelle Orwell notes how the gazelle can see through his kindness and see how he feeds it because he later wants to eat it. “although it took the piece of bread that I was holding out it did not like me” This symbolises the Arab worker that later takes a piece of Orwell’s bread. He is grateful for the food however he wishes to be free from the oppression of these colonial powers. He despises the people that have caused him all of this suffering and have treated him like a dog not even paying him enough money to fend off starvation yet still expecting him to work unreasonable hours of back breaking hard labour. Orwell uses this encounter to further themes of irresponsibility of government as it should be the responsibility of government to ensure that all those that work are provided a certain standard of living. We as a reader begin to sense Orwell’s distaste for the colonial system and the injustice and corruption that such a system perpetuates.
“silded slowly towards us”
Orwell conveys the fear of white people that is caused by a colonial system as residents of a colony city such as Marrakech learn to fear the white race as a result of the horrors committed against any who oppose foreign presence in their country. We see the Arab worker “ silded slowly towards us” The word choice of “sidled” implies the timid nature with which the man acted. He was equally afraid of the punishment that he could be given for talking to a white man as he was the possibility of his own starvation without being given the bread. We see how colonialism causes racial divides through the city of Marrakech and how these racial divided cause people to treat one another in different ways. Orwell and the reader can see clearly that the cause of this racial tension and bigotry is colonialism. This furthers the themes of poverty, and racism in the text and allows us to see the negative impacts of colonialism on the world.
“quiet amazement”
Orwell conveys the shock that is elicited when he is seen to be feeding an animal as the Arab worker watched in “quiet amazement” This conveys the shock of the worker that anyone could afford to feed an animal that in some way did not serve his own needs. the actions of Orwell seem almost alien to the man as he works long hours to be able to make ends meet and even working a job is not enough for him to fight off his hunger and escape this cycle of poverty. The fact the Orwell gives the man his bread implies that Orwell feel sympathy for the plight of the man and rage for the establishment that has treated the man in this manner. “This man was an employee of the Municipality” This implies that Orwell blames modern society for the suffering of this man and blames the racist government for mistreating its workers. Orwell feels outraged at our actions in this colony as a working man can not even afford to put food on his plate.
“sore eyed children cluster everywhere in unbelievable numbers like flies”
Simile compares children to flies conveying the suffering, overcrowding and filth in the jewish quarters, the clouds refer to the sheer magnitude of children present and their sore eyes could refer to the abundance of disease and suffering in the region.
“Down the center of the street their is generally a river of urine”
This metaphor conveys the unsanitary conditions in the environment and how the community is treated like animals by the outside world. The stream of urine represents the lack of care the government have for the jewish community in Marrakech as they do not care enough to help the community with drainage.
“turning chair legs at lightning speeds”
The word choice of lighting speeds conveys the skill and hard work of the jewish carpenter. Orwell uses this to contrast with the anti semitic views of colonists that jews were all rich bankers and were unable to be hard working. Orwell uses this anecdote to shut down these ideas that have been born to degrade this community. Orwell shows clearly how these stereotypes have damaged the community and reflects how blatantly untrue these beliefs are
“at his side his grandson aged six already getting started on the more simple parts of the job”
Orwell here uses symbolism as the young boy that has started working already symbolises the generational struggle of jewish people in Marrakech as they cannot afford to have a childhood and must contribute to the income of the house to allow the family to survive. This reflects the desperation and struggle to survive in such a harsh environment where entire communities have been condemned to suffering as a result of their heritage and religion
“There was a frenzied rush of Jews”
The word choice of “frenzied” and “rush” convey the desperation and longing of these jews to have this item of luxury. Their lives have all been so difficult and money has been so scarce that none of them can afford even the slightest luxury as every hour of every day must be dedicated to work to allow their family to survive. Again Orwell refers to them as a collective instead of individuals to emphasise how the government does not see them as individuals and merely a group no more or less than livestock.
“groping the air with his hand”
The symbolism Orwell uses effectively portrays the desperation and longing of the blind man to have a cigarette. This is because a coloniser showing them kindness is a once in a lifetime occurrence this may well be the only moment of joy that these men will ever experience as their lives are simply so miserable as a result of the living conditions that they are forced to endure because of prejudice.
