George Orwell/Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936) is a novel by George Orwell. It was published in 1936, and is set in 1930s London and elsewhere in England. The protagonist is an aspiring poet whose singular obsession in life is not to sell out. The word aspidistra? in the title refers to a spiny, indestructible houseplant? that at the time was a widely considered a symbol? of [middle class]? British sensibility.