THE AUTHOR HIS TIME SHAPING INFLUENCES CONTEXTUALISING NINETEEN EIGHTY FOUR

THE AUTHOR

Born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903 in Bengal, India Father worked as Administrator in British Opium Department (legal drug in India at the time trade between India and China yielded one-sixth of British revenue from India) Moved as baby with Mother and sisters (2) to England Attended boarding school (St Cyprian’s) and Eton as scholarship student ( ) Instead of following expected academic path to Oxford or Cambridge, joined Indian Imperial Police force and served in Burma (Myanmar) ( )

Returned to England from Burma in 1927 – Dengue Fever necessitated resignation from Indian Imperial Police Began to write in 1928 Between 1928 and 1933 spent researching the poor. Lived in London and Paris, often jobless or in menial jobs. He was interested in altering people’s perceptions of the poor – a factor of his socialist ideals Between 1933 and 1936 he continued to write and worked as a teacher and in a bookshop Married Eileen O’Shaughnessy in 1936 at the age of 33 – they stayed together until Eileen’s death in 1945 at age 39 In 1936 volunteered to fight for left-wing forces in Spanish Civil War against the forces of Franco’s fascist movement. He was shot in the throat and was pursued by Fascist police who confiscated his books, letters and diaries. He returned to England a confirmed socialist

Between he continued to write Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1938 Moved with Eileen to Morocco for sake of his help – financed by novelist L.H. Myers 1939 when war broke out, he tried to sign up but was rejected on medical grounds. Eileen took clerical job in central London and they lived in the midst of the blitz. Their flat was bombed and he retrieved his manuscript of Animal Farm from the rubble During war years, wrote for left-wing paper, was member of Home Guard and resumed favourite boyhood pastime – making explosives

From also worked for BBC Eastern Service as a Talks Producer, writing and producing broadcasts for radio listeners in India – regarded this as a waste of time but used experience of working for large organisation in the business of producing propaganda as material for Nineteen Eighty Four In 1943 he and Eileen adopted son, Richard. Eileen gave up job at Ministry of Food 1945 Animal Farm published – transformed his career as writer and ensured his lasting reputation 1945 Eileen died of heart attack whilst undergoing operation Began The Last Man in Europe (original title for Nineteen Eighty Four).

Between 1947 and 1949 he was very unwell and spent much of his time in hospital. His sister looked after Richard but he was not allowed to visit his father for fear of infection 1949 he proposed to journalist friend Sonia Brownell. They married in a bedside ceremony. January 1950, Orwell died of pulmonary tuberculosis

MAJOR WORKS BY GEORGE ORWELL 1933

1935

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1949

A WRITER IN AN EXTRAORDINARY TIME Orwell described his own time as a ‘tumultuous, revolutionary age: World War 1 – Orwell is aged – Russian Revolution begins – Orwell is aged – Fascist leader Mussolini comes to power in Italy – Orwell is aged – Joseph Stalin rises to power in Communist USSR – Orwell is aged s – World wide economic depression following Wall Street Crash – Orwell is in his late twenties / early thirties 1933 – Adolf Hitler and Fascist Nazi Party come to power in Germany – Orwell is aged 30

– Spanish Civil War between Franco’s right-wing fascist forces and left-wing popular front – Orwell is World War 2 – Orwell is 36 – 41

SHAPING INFLUENCES Orwell was keenly conscious of the capacity for human injustice and cruelty from a young age At St Cyprian’s boarding school he was made to eat cold lumpy porridge. When he was once sick into his bowl, he was made to stand and eat it. He purposely kept his hair greasy because he was often pulled by the hair by his masters. He said of St Cyprian’s that it was there that he started learning to reject ‘every form of man’s dominion over man’ In Burma he saw how it was easy for British colonialists to acquire a false sense of superiority. He witnessed racism and cruelty towards the Burmese

His father was disappointed that he gave up his job in Burma. George Orwell relinquished his family name and went to live amongst the poor, determined to become a writer He was struck by the deeper injustices of the British class system during the Great Depression He was disillusioned by the socialist revolution in Spain and queried Stalin’s involvement. But he never forgot that ‘for several months large blocks of people believed that all men are equal and were able to act on their belief. The result was a feeling of liberation and hope’ His suspicions of Stalin were not shared by British left- wingers who believed Stalin and the Communists offered the greatest hope against the tide of fascism

He deplored the results of the Russian Revolution and saw the USSRs new rulers as little better than those overthrown in 1917 During the 1940s, Orwell called England ‘a family with the wrong members in control...one in which the young are generally thwarted and most of the power in in the hands of irresponsible uncles and bedridden aunts. He called for a socialist revolution to bring about the nationalisation of major industry, a classless education system and a closing of the gap between rich and poor During his time at the BBC during the war years, he experienced first hand the process of war propaganda

Orwell was deeply disturbed by the methods and ideologies of Stalin in the USSR and Hitler in Germany. He purposefully set Nineteen Eighty Four in Britain, though to emphasise ‘that totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere. He wrote in Nineteen Eighty Four ‘if you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – for ever.’

WORKS CITED Middleton, H. (2002). George Orwell. Heinemann: Oxford. Google Images