|
Did
you ever have a sensation that the author of a book is charting your
behavior, explaining your problems, scoffing at you?
the
English love of flowers
from
England Your England by George Orwell (1945)
But
here it is worth noticing a minor English trait which is extremely
well marked though not often commented on, and that is a love of
flowers. This is one of the first things that one notices when one
reaches England from abroad, especially if one is coming from
southern Europe. Does it not contradict the English indifference to
the arts? Not really, because it is found in people who have no
aesthetic feelings whatever. What it does link up with, however, is
another English characteristic which is so much a part of us that we
barely notice it, and that is the addiction to hobbies and
spare-time occupations, the privateness of English life. We are a
nation of flower-lovers, but also a nation of stamp-collectors,
pigeon-fanciers, amateur carpenters, coupon-snippers, darts-players,
crossword-puzzle fans. All the culture that is most truly native
centers round things which even when they are communal are not
official - the pub, the football match, the back garden, the
fireside and the ‘nice cup of tea’. The liberty of the
individual is still believed in, almost as in the nineteenth
century. But this has nothing to do with economic liberty, the right
to exploit others for profit. It is a liberty to have a home of your
own, to do what you like in your spare time, to choose your own
amuse- ments instead of having them chosen for you from above. |
 |
|
|
|