奥威尔在写这段悲惨经历的时候，仍然时见幽默。比如他和一些外国人被围困在涉外高档酒店里面，外援断绝，但是酒店的酒窖里面藏有葡萄酒。这些“体面”的外国人在一个封闭的系统内，仍然遵循市场经济公平买卖的结果就是We were drinking older and older wines at higher and higher prices. 大家是先买便宜的酒开始喝，便宜的酒喝光了，再开始买贵一点的酒……
奥威尔夫妇在巴塞罗那最后的日子里，第一次有空看了高迪的圣家族教堂。他是这么写的：I went to have a look at the cathedral – a modern cathedral, and one of the most hideous buildings in the world. It has four crenellated spires exactly the shape of hock bottles. Unlike most of the churches in Barcelona it was not damaged during the revolution – it was spared because of its ‘artistic value’, people said. I think the Anarchists showed bad taste in not blowing it up when they had the chance.
虽然我同意圣家族教堂很丑，但奥威尔在这里对无政府主义者未能抓紧时机将教堂摧毁感到遗憾，仍然令我吃惊。这其实也显示出：一个受过大英帝国精英教育，沐浴过自由民主的阳光，万中选一才华横溢的作家，当他自认为是人类正义事业的参与者时，他其实和阿富汗那些留着大胡子的塔利班无异。
对那些受过精英教育，自诩为人类良心，热心推进社会“进步”的像奥威尔一样的人士，人民得永远保持警惕！
在西班牙，奥威尔深刻领教了媒体颠倒黑白的强大力量，这也成为他今后创作的启发和源泉。…were manufactured by journalists at a distance, and were not only inaccurate in their facts but intentionally misleading. As usual, only one side of the question has been allowed to get to the wider public. 奥威尔的哀嚎和今日美国屁民的怨恨何其相似？
他更目睹了媒体如何将POUM污名化成为法西斯分子。一直和法西斯在前线对峙（有些人浴血奋战，但不包括奥威尔）的POUM，居然被政府控制的媒体证据确凿地刻画成为一支和法西斯阴谋合作的邪恶势力，从而使政府对他们的镇压显得合理合法。把法西斯的帽子当做一件威力强大的武器，扣在敌人或者持不同政见者头上，希望从道义上摧毁之，这不就是普金在乌克兰和左派在美国现在经常做的事情吗？
