Throughout life people make time to do "everything except for the things worth doing" (93). George Bowling in George Orwell's Coming Up for Air realizes he must spend more of his life doing what he enjoys, but his wife, Hilda, prevents him from ever getting enough "air." George needs escape from the worries and responsibilities of his life to relax and enjoy himself. Hilda is always complaining about monetary concerns which causes George to work hard to be successful. He cannot find the peace he needs, even when he eventually goes on vacation seeking fresh "air." His vacation is cut short when he becomes paranoid that Hilda may discover where he is. George exhibits his weakness by living in a capitalistic society and folding to the pressure it places on him. The enjoyment of life he strives for is never found.
             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 secure. The people living on George's street, Ellesmere Road, are constantly preoccupied with material possessions and maintaining their jobs. These people live in a society where there is little time to think about anything but monetary matters. In this type of lifestyle, material things in their lives are necessary for their survival, and they must therefore be concerned with those things first. George states it perfectly when he says, "Nothing's real in Ellesmere Road except gas-bills, school-fees, boiled cabbage and the office on Monday" (277). Even on weekends, people are concerned work waiting at the office for them on Monday. There never is a break in this life. The material things engul...