What are the motifs in Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell?

The value of work is a recurring idea. When the narrator is working endless days as a plongeur in Paris, he feels that his intellect is waning, but he also feels that there is great satisfaction in merely finishing a grueling day's work. At the hotel and the restaurant, each employee takes pride in his work, even if the work is mindless and unskilled.