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After posing as a tramp to understand the realities of poverty, George Orwell spends a night in a squalid workhouse, or »spike,« where the homeless seek shelter under dehumanizing conditions. Forced into pointless labor, stripped of dignity, and treated with quiet contempt, he witnesses a system that punishes rather than supports those in need. The Spike is a vivid and unsparing glimpse into the machinery of social neglect, exposing the indifference at the heart of Britain’s treatment of the poor.

GEORGE ORWELL was born in India in 1903 and passed away in London in 1950. As a journalist, critic, and author, he was a sharp commentator on his era and its political conditions and consequences.