George Orwell, better known for his novels "Animal Farm" and "Nineteen Eighty-four", also wrote "Keep the Aspidistra Flying", a darkly compassionate satire to which anyone who has ever been oppressed by the lack of money, or by the need to make it, can relate.
Orwell's use in the titular phrase of the aspidistra, a symbol of the stuffiness of middle-class society, in conjunction with the locution "to keep the flag (or colours) flying", is in itself a sarcastic exhortation in the sense of "Hooray for the middle class!"
Apart from being a social commentary of its time - and perhaps of all times - the book (read it here or listen to its audiobook here) was also made into a very entertaining film under the title "A Merry War".
