In George Bowling's society, people generally choose a lifestyle that does not permit relation, fulfillment, and enjoyment of life. George Bowling lives with his wife and two children in a suburb of London. It is an average, middle class suburb, but the people living there are working class. The townspeople must be competitive with their respective trades in order to make a living; their jobs are not s

I wondered why it is that we're all such bloody fools. Why don't people, instead of the idiocies they do spend their time on, just walk round looking at things? That pool, for instance-all the stuff that's in it. Newts, water-snails, water-beetles, caddis-flies, leeches, and God knows how many other things that you can only see with a microscope...And all the while the sort of feeling of wonder, the peculiar flame inside you. It's the only thing in the world worth having, and we don't want it. But I do want it" (194).

George knows his friends and neighbors do not want the only thing worth living for, the "flame" inside of our hearts. He has come to the realization that it is the only real thing in the world that is important and he wants to let this flame burn inside of him, but he can never find the chance to get away from his work and material life. This instant marks the first time George questions the meaning of his life and becomes more observant to what really does matter in life. The "flame" he seeks is a burning passion in his life; an intensity about certain things he does not possess.

George is not committed to find what he is seeking. The minute he meets resistant he is willing to give up his whole plan. The pond where he wanted to fish in since a child no longer exists. He thinks about Hilda and starts feeling foolish for what he now believes to be a silly fantasy. George exclaims, "Coming up for air! But there isn't any air. The dustbin that we're in reaches up to the stratosphere...As for my idea of fishing- that was off, of course. Fishing, indeed! At my age! Really, Hilda was right" (257). This is just one instance where thinking about Hilda ruins his plans. He knows that she has called fishing disgraceful, absurd, and only for children(101). He gives in to the capitalistic pressure and allows her to become an easy excuse to justify his actions as ridiculous. George says, "She gets what I've finally decided is definite pleasure out of rocking herself to and fro with her arms across her breast, and glooming at me, "But, George, it's very serious! I don't know what we're going to do! I don't know where the money is going to come from" (8)! She is one of the reasons why George's life has been consumed with monetary worries. Making ends meet frugally is all that is on her mind. Even when George has taken the family for vacation, "The chief feature of a holiday is endless arithmetic to decide how much the boarding-house keeper is swindling you" (100). George might get a chance to get away from his job for a while, but with Hilda along, the vacation turns into a very monetary-oriented time.

The presence of Hilda in George's life makes him very paranoid when he attempts to relax and enjoy himself. Hilda does not believe these activities represent the picture of success to her. George ends up losing a lot of the enjoyment he could have because of Hilda and his fear of her disapproval. When George goes to Lower Binfield, he has to hide what he is actually planning and to do. Hilda finds out that he had a friend postmark a letter from Birmingham to make her think he is staying

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Approximate Word count = 2132
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)