Aspidistra Symbol
An aspidistra is a large, indoor plant with huge dark green leaves. To American readers, to say that a leafy indoor plant is a symbol of Orwell's contempt for the middle classes seems a bit of a stretch; however, in the 1920s and 1930s in the suburbs of London, where "keeping up with the Joneses" and being seen to have the right kind of lifestyle was more important than actually having it, a middle-class house was not a middle-class home without the presence of a large, potted aspidistra visibly silhouetted at the living room window. To Orwell, the world could be falling down around you but as long as the aspidistra was still there, everything in your life would be seen to be perfectly fine.
Bookstore Allegory
The small bookstore where Gordon works is allegorical; Orwell's Aunt found him a job at a bookstore called Booklovers' Corner in 1934, where he worked part-time, and the owners of which also allowed him to rent a modest apartment nearby. The bookstore is allegorized somewhat savagely in this novel, despite the owners' generosity to Orwell in offering both employment and accommodation.
Bowler-Hatted Sneak Symbol
In one of Gordon's diatribes about the middle classes, he rants that he cannot imagine anything worse than turning into the kind of "bowler hatted sneak" who has a Victorian home in suburbia with an aspidistra in the window. The bowler hatted sneak is a symbol of the middle class man who works in a bank, middle management level, the wearing of a bowler hat being a symbol of management level and not permitted to be worn by lower level employees who were not management. Orwell uses this to symbolize the way in which he views bankers such as these; to get to their position they must have trodden on others to get there, sneaked into a position of power and become clearly and obviously middle class. To Gordon, the bowler hat wearing banker is a symbol of everything he hates about the middle classes and their conventionality.
Philip Ravelston Allegory
In the novel, Philip Ravelston, although someone Gordon considers a friend, is still someone he resents, because of his upper-class and moneyed position in life, and the fact that he is basically able to indulge his own passions for political satire without having to worry about making a living. This character is an allegory of someone in Orwell's own life about whom he has similar feelings to the feelings Comstock has about Ravelston.
Sir Richard Rees was a wealthy aristocrat who talked a good game about being a hard left-wing journalist, but who lived off family money and did not have to worry about whether or not his publications were selling in order to make a living. Orwell was friendly with Rees, but at the same time resentful that Rees made in a month what Orwell made in two years. The flamboyant pseudo-socialist Ravelston is allegorical of Rees, and Comstock's feelings about him allegorize Orwell's own feelings about his wealthy patron.
Rosemary's Pregnancy Symbol
Rosemary's pregnancy, and Gordon's subsequent worry that she will be ostracized by her family, is a symbol of the propriety of the time, and the way in which young women were still essentially forbidden to have sex outside of marriage; in fact the only women who had sex outside of marriage were professional prostitutes or flighty girls from families that the rest of the neighborhood looked down upon. At the time, there was a definite social difference between "good girls" and "bad girls" and although young women from all strata of society had sex before marriage, becoming pregnant as a result was cause to be thrown out of the family home. Rosemary's pregnancy and Gordon's subsequent resolve to commit to her and get married, so to avoid her ostracism, symbolizes the way in which being frowned upon by society was a fate to be avoided at all costs.
