Orwells Moustache: Part I

orwell’s moustache: PART I the father of big brother whose face can be found on the cover of animal farm or nineteen eighty-four, his two most popular literary achievements--- he stares back at us with a moustache--- a pencil moustache that seems to be grown thicker than a No. 2, so, maybe we could call it a magic marker moustache or perhaps a Sharpie moustache--- regardless, a man has to wonder what inspires other men, most importantly, geniuses of an age, to sport these little rats upon their lip. orwell must have always looked to his relatives on the occasion of any gathering to be constantly holding his upper lip inside his mouth as if anxious to say something or conversely, wanting to keep quiet (so much so that he needed to button it). and though he has not been remembered for his choice in facial hair aesthetics, one cannot deny that the impulse to grow a little rat on the face hasn’t ceased as the years have passed--- still amidst the men on the streets, the chevrons move to & fro as the wind blows, the fu manchus decorate fight clubs across the nation, the lampshades & walruses & painter’s brushes all can be excused for keeping some men warm during cold months, but not many don the toothbrush anymore, since a certain german homicidal maniac drove it out of style round the middle of the last century. all these men don’t find the maintenance of a moustache to be a problem---for if they were just lazy, letting the beard go like the rest of us, then they’d be able to say that they just didn’t get around to it--- but the fact remains, there are men who make the effort to shave round that thin thin line that traces the jaw, extending from the sideburns to the chin (like the fat guy from smash mouth)--- and whether they are trying to attract a woman or a man, they are making a statement to us all--- that there is something to be said for leaving a little rat on one’s face.