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Young Life
Young Life
There are many who know the name George Orwell. However, many people are unaware that the true name of the author is Eric Arthur Blair. On June 25, 1903 he was born at Motihari in Bihar, India. He soon moved to England with his mother, while his father stayed in India until 1911. It was in England that he would recognize his family's economic status as being "lower-upper-middle class".
The recognition of his economic and social status became prominent to him when he began to attend school at St. Cyprians. While attending the school, he was witness to the staff favoring the rich children over all others, such as those within his economic status. The favoritism and unfairness at the school made Orwell "feel like an alien in a foreign land"(Zehr). It was during this time that Orwell began to form his disdain of authoritarian and institutionalized rule. The disapproval of that type of rule would eventually become a detrimental focus in his writing.
In 1917, Orwell would move on to a new school, Eton, on scholarship. He claimed to have felt more free to express and shape himself at Eton. Orwell stated that he experienced the "tolerant and civilized atmosphere which gives each boy a fair chance of developing his individuality"(Zehr) at the school. A rather compelling fact about the school is that it gained a reputation for being outspoken and a bit uncooperative with authority. Such a school would be another influence on Orwell's views of the government and voicing his opinion.
Instead of attending college like others around him, Orwell took the examinations for the Indian Imperial Police. He would then be stationed in Rangoon, Burma as a Superintendent of Police for five years. It was the time he spent here that would convince him of how impossible it would be for him to accept a society that has been conformed by the government. It may have been his views that contributed to why other police officers thought it was strange for someone from Eton to join the Indian Police force (Kumar).
Becoming George Orwell
Becoming George Orwell
In 1927, Orwell decided to leave India and head back home to England in order to pursue a career as a writer. He decided to move to the East End of London in order to learn more about the lives of those in poverty. An act driven by his continued focus on social and economic class. Later on in his life, Orwell would divulge that his "bad conscience" from being in the police force in Burma influenced his decision to live among the poor.
He made his first attempts at writing while living in London, but those first essays and novels were rejected. Even with his first published novel, Down and Out in Paris and London, he did not sell many copies. However, the book did receive praise from critics which allowed Orwell to be recognized as a writer (Hopkinson). The book followed a man who lived in poverty within London, and he had to work hard and long hours to make some money. It reflected the lifestyle that Orwell was researching, but rather than just reporting the life, he added fictional story elements that enhanced the experience.
Orwell continued to express his own experiences through his work with his next novel Burmese Days. The protagonist of the novel, like Orwell, stays in Burma despite disagreeing with the imperialism. The character can also be seen as somewhat weak for not trying to fight back against the injustice, but this could demonstrate more of Orwell's personality since Orwell prefers to change society through writing.
1936 was a year that drastically impacted Orwell's life. He got married, but he also joined a combat unit in Spain during their Spanish Civil War because he wanted to fight fascism. This pushed him further to more driven socialist ideologies which would be expressed too much in his writing, and some works got rejected for being too political.
Final Years
Final Years
Orwell became a truly well known author after publishing one of his most famous works, Animal Farm, in 1945. With the book, he wanted to expose the totalitarian rule of the Soviet Union. He has refused to accept that rule all his life, and he wants to truly highlight the difference between the rich land owners and those in poverty. Orwell had written the book in 1943, but his wife sadly died during an operation for cancer before the publishing of the novel. She would not get to see the massive success or financial security that the book would provide them.
Not long after his wife passed, Orwell himself would be hospitalized for tuberculosis. This occurred as he was in the midst of writing his other most famous work, 1984. The book was Orwell's way to show society the harsh reality of allowing the government to have too much power. Throughout his life, Orwell wanted to influence society through his writing and bring attention to the fate of the world. Not long after the publishing of 1984, Orwell died of tuberculosis on January 21, 1950, at the age of 46.
His works are still highly respected and have become some of the most famous in all of literature. One can only imagine the great novels that he could have continued to write if he did not pass away because he was seemingly in his prime of his writing ability just before passing. He has left behind a legacy that has changed the views of government and society as a whole. While George Orwell focused on politics a lot, he gave his views through well crafted stories that will be remembered forever.
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