1984 Background Information English B1A 1984 Background Information

George Orwell/Eric Blair George Orwell is the pen name for Eric Blair, born 1903. Born to an upper-middle-class family, Blair was a scholarship student at some of England’s most prestigious boarding schools. Orwell reports that he did not enjoy his time at these schools, which he felt were unnecessarily strict and repressive for students. Upon his graduation, he chose to go to work as a British Imperial Policeman in Burma rather than go to college. Again unhappy with the enforcement of strict rules set by suspect authorities, Orwell, in ill health, returned to England to focus on his writing.

Orwell and Poverty Orwell was inspired by Jack London’s The People of the Abyss (1902), London’s account of his experience in the slums of London, England. He followed suit with a similar social experiment living with the poor, and wrote of his experiences in Down and Out in Paris and London. He also lived for a time with impoverished coal miners in northern England. Both of these experiences led Orwell to favor democratic socialism over capitalism.

Politics Orwell traveled to Spain in 1936 to report on the Spanish Civil War. While in Spain, he gained first hand experience with the horrors of fascist political regimes. Hitler and Stalin both contributed to Orwell’s growing animosity towards and fear of totalitarianism and powerful political authorities. His writing, thus, became more politically minded. He wrote Animal Farm in 1945 and 1984 in 1949

Plot The novel follows protagonist Winston Smith, who lives in Oceania in the year 1984 (which is 35 years in the future for Orwell). The word is divided into three nations: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia. Oceania is constantly at war with one and allied with the other. The government of Oceania is led by dictator Big Brother, who, thanks to constant video surveillance and undercover members of the thought police, knows all and sees all. Any hint of “unorthodoxy” is a crime punishable by vaporization.

Key Points 1984 remains one of Orwell’s most popular works, especially after the Edward Snowden NSA leaks in 2013. Parallels between the novel and the regimes of Hitler and Stalin are clear. His work serves as a warning about the dangers of losing our humanity. Despite the fact that Orwell’s future hasn’t been fully realized, his novel remains relevant because of its scathing commentary on the psychology of power and the abusive nature of authoritarian governments.