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"Such, Such Were the Joys" is a posthumously-published essay by English writer George Orwell, written in the 1940s. It tells a story based on Orwell's experiences at preparatory school between the ages of eight and thirteen in the years before and during World War I and presents various reflections by Orwell on the misunderstandings of childhood.
Background
Secondary education for the dominant classes in England since the early 19th century has been provided mainly by the fee-paying public schools. These have selective entrance by examination and offer scholarships by competitive examination, which offset all or part of the fees. The curriculum in Orwell's time, and for long after, centred on the classics. Prep schools were established from the 19th century to prepare students for these examinations and to provide a broader-based education than the traditional crammer, offering sports and additional subjects. Prep school children were often boarders, starting as early as five or as late as twelve. Boarding was, and still is, for terms of three months. Eastbourne was a popular town for preparatory schools at the turn of the 20h century because its bracing sea air was believed to be healthy, and by 1896, Gowland’s Eastbourne Directory listed 76 private schools for boys and girls. An Eton scholarship was most highly prized, not just for its financial value but because it provided access to the elite intellectual cadre of King's Scholars. One of the leading prep schools of the time, Summer Fields School, set in the university town of Oxford and with which St Cyprian's eventually was to merge, won every year at least five of the available Eton scholarships.
Orwell's mother sent him (as Eric Blair) to board at St Cyprian's School at the age of eight in 1911. The school had been founded by Mr and Mrs Vaughan Wilkes twelve years earlier and it had moved into newly-built facilities in extended grounds in 1906. Although able to charge high fees for better-off parents, the Wilkes supported traditional families on lower incomes, particularly in the colonial service, by taking their children at considerably reduced fees, and Orwell was one of several beneficiaries, who also included Alaric Jacob and Walter Christie. Mrs Wilkes spotted Orwell looking sad on his arrival and tried to comfort him, but noted "there was no warmth in him". Nor did he respond positively to being taken on a picnic the following day. Senior boys in Orwell's first year included Ian Fraser and Bolo Whistler. His early letters home report a normal catalogue of class placings, results of games, and school expeditions.
In September 1914 Cyril Connolly arrived at the school and formed a close friendship with Orwell. The First World War had just broken out, and Orwell's patriotic poem written at school was published in the Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard. The war made life difficult for the school - most of the teaching staff left to fight, although one staff member Charles Edgar Loseby, later a Labour MP, returned for a period while recovering from being gassed in the trenches. The First World War had a significant effect in other ways - there was the increasing roll call of old boys killed in the trenches, Mr Wilkes spent his summer holidays driving ambulances in France, the boys knitted and put on entertainments for the injured troops camped nearby, and food shortages made feeding a challenge. Classics was taught by Mr Wilkes, while the formidable Mrs Wilkes taught English, history and scripture. The long-serving deputy, Robert Sillar, taught geography, drawing, shooting and nature studies and was highly regarded in old boys' accounts. Outings on the South Downs were a regular part of school life, and Sillar led the boys on nature study expeditions. The school had instituted a Cadet Corps, in which Orwell was an active member. Orwell recalls stealing books off Connolly and Connolly describes how they reviewed each other's poetry. Cecil Beaton vaguely recalled working on the school's war-time allotments with Orwell. During his time at school, Orwell surreptitiously collected the saucy seaside postcards that were later to figure in his essay "The Art of Donald McGill".
In 1916 Orwell came second in the Harrow History Prize, had another poem published in the Henley and South Oxfordshire Standard, and with Connolly had his work praised by the external examiner Sir Charles Grant Robertson. In 1916 Orwell won a scholarship to Wellington College, a school with a military background appropriate for colonial service. Mr Wilkes also believed Orwell could win an Eton scholarship and would benefit from Eton College life and so he sat the Eton exam as well. Orwell headed the school prize list in 1916 with Classics, while Cyril Connolly won the English prize, Cecil Beaton won the drawing prize, Walter Christie won the history prize and Rupert Lonsdale won the scripture prize. Henry Longhurst, Lord Pollington and Lord Malden were among the winners of other class prizes. Other activities in which Orwell was involved included narrowly missing winning the diving competition, playing the part of Mr Jingles in the school play, and being commended as a useful member of the 1st XI cricket team. Although he had won an Eton scholarship, this was subject to a place becoming available. Instead of going to Wellington he stayed at St Cyprian's for an additional term in the hope that a place at Eton would materialise. As this had not happened by the end of term, he went on to Wellington in January. However, after he had been there for nine weeks, an Eton place became available.
Summary and analysis
The title of the essay is borrowed from The Echoing Green by William Blake. Orwell describes his early schooling in a highly satirical and bitter account. St Cyprian's was, according to him, a "world of force and fraud and secrecy," in which the young Orwell, a shy, sickly and unattractive boy surrounded by pupils from families much richer than his own, was "like a goldfish" thrown "into a tank full of pike." Bernard Crick notes the allusion to echoes in Blake's poem and suggests a significance in that echoes distort and fade over time.
Orwell makes a series of allegations. The first is that he was recruited purely as scholarship fodder, and stuffed with knowledge for five years with the sole aim of winning an Eton scholarship that would look good on the school's publicity. Secondly, the education he received was "a preparation for a sort of confidence trick," geared entirely towards maximizing his future performance in the admissions exams. Thirdly, this education relied on the use of beatings. Fourthly, being poor, he was discriminated against, with rich boys receiving preferential treatment, including exemption from the beatings. Fifthly, he was constantly reminded of his poverty and dependency in an effort to spur him to further effort. The charge of snobbery is levelled at the owners, other pupils and their parents, and "At almost every point some filthy detail obtrudes itself", although this amounts to the smell of the lavatories, changing rooms and plunge bath and the poor standard of washing up. A chapter is devoted to the consequences of sexual misdemeanours and attitudes to sex at the time.
The story is punctuated with anecdotes - being spotted by a "school spy" outside a newsagent's shop; a "human turd" floating in the Devonshire Baths; the new boy whose teeth turn green through neglect and a squabble with the school rugger hero. The key story is the opening one where, by a series of misunderstandings, the new boy believes he is going to be beaten by an intimidating masculine-looking woman in a riding habit, going by the name of "Mrs Form" - ostensibly for wetting his bed.
In his concluding analysis, Orwell's argument is "how incredibly distorted is the child's vision of the world". He is concerned at the confusions in a child's mind that give rise to appalling misunderstandings, and he states that this is not realised because a child always hides his or her true feelings. He bases his generalisations on what he can recall of his own childhood outlook.
