George Orwell: Life of the Writer

successful novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and also for Animal Farm. Also,

Orwell’s reputation also rests as much upon his work as a critic of

literature, of manners, of politics- in a word, of life. He was always

concerned with the effects of class distinctions, with socialism- given the

promise inherent in its ideals and the disappointment of its practice.

Eric Arthur Blair (later George Orwell) was born in 1903 in the Indian

Village Motihari, which lies near the border of Nepal. At that time India

was a part of the British Empire, and Blair's father Richard ,held a post as

an agent in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service. In 1907

when Eric had about eight years ,the family returned to England and

lived at Henley, though the father continued to work in India until he

retired in 1912. With some difficulty despite awarded scholarships ,Blair's

parents sent their son to a private preparatory school in Sussex at the age

of eight. During Blair’s time spent at Crossgates, an English prepatory

school, he developed his cynicism towards the social system of England.

As a scholarship student, he was subjected to ridicule from the schoo

. . .
His first novel Burmese Days was almost the

epitome of the kind of books Orwell wanted to write initially in his career :

“enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed

descriptions and arresting similes, and also full of purple passages which

words were used partly for the sake of their sound.

Animal Farm satirized the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Week after week he remained in his unheated bedroom,

thawing his hands over a candle when they became too numb to write. While on leave in

London, he resigned. , Orwell was forced to become a

pamphleteer against totalitarianism. Therefore, Blair had a small interest in school. However, this was untrue to a certain extent: Blair

apprenticed himself to the masters of English prose who most appealed

to him including Swift, Sterne, and Jack London. It is not a horror story of the

imagination but a warning against the effects of a totalitarian drift which

only he among major writers was willing to measure. Constantly he was reminded of his position as poor. He

accurately showed the means by which the Soviets came to power. His

sense of guilt never diminished. Every line of his work from 1936 was

written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic

socialism.

Common topics in this essay:
Imperial Police, George Orwell, Burmese Days, Crossgates English, Nazi Germany, Wellington Eton, London Paris, Civil Service, Partido Obrero, English Literature, george orwell, animal farm, public school, eric blair, imperial police, civil war, life writer, orwell claimed, write age,

Approximate Word count = 1516
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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