George Orwell's Essay 'Marrackech'

“Marrackech” is an essay written by George Orwell in 1939. The essay is a story about a few experiences of Orwell’s during his time in Morocco. It’s a story that shows the mediocrity of the lives of those living in the surrounding environment and through the glimpse of the oncoming World War; Orwell creates a vivid picture of the people, the setting, and a view of life almost devoid of meaning. He does this through rhetorical questions and by actively challenging the reader to be aware. The essay begins with a view of the market-place and a description of how those in the town deal with their dead, “No gravestone, no name, no identifying mark of any kind. The burying-ground is merely a huge waste of hummocky earth … “(Orwell 9). He goes on to write about how desolate Morocco is and how bland the lives of the natives are, describing them as sweating and starving for a few years before returning to the earth. …show more content…
A good job Hitler isn’t here” (Orwell 65). After this he ponders that Hitler might be on his way, noting the dark rumors he heard about the Jews. However, all of this pales in comparison to how Orwell shows us how he sees and thinks of the people. “All people who work with their hands are partly invisible, and the more important the work they do, the less visible they are” (Orwell 78). He talks about how unseen the people are and tells a story of how for several weeks, old women carrying firewood would walk past his house but he would not register them in his mind as anything other than firewood passing by. “Then for the first time I noticed the poor old earth-coloured bodies … bent double under the crushing weight” (Orwell 130). Previously Orwell asks the reader, “The people have brown faces—besides, there are so many of them! Are they really the same flesh as