GEORGE ORWELL

George Orwell was born Eric Blair in Motihari, Bengal in 1903. His parents were Richard and Ida Blair.

In 1911, he was sent to boarding school on the Sussex coast. He was withdrawn as a boy and had a morose childhood.

He served as superintendent of police in Burma for five years. He left Burma in 1927 to pursue writing.

He took the pen name George Orwell to hide his identity and because he did not like the name Eric. He wrote 2 documentary works: Down and out in London and Paris(1933) and The Road to Wigan Pier (1937).

Orwell became a teacher in 1932. He wrote about his teaching experience in A Clergyman’s Daughter in 1935. He married Eileen O’Shaughnessy in 1936

He fought in the Spanish Civil War He fought in the Spanish Civil War. During the war, he was shot in the throat by a sniper. He wrote about the experience in Homage to Catalonia. He and his wife adopted a son named Richard.

He began writing Animal Farm in 1943 and finished a year later He began writing Animal Farm in 1943 and finished a year later. The novel was rejected by almost 20 publishers because the book was interpreted as a direct attack on the Stalin regime in Russia. It was finally published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Orwell’s wife died in 1945. He married Sonia Brownwell in 1949. They were married for 3 months.

In 1949, the book Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. It was set in the future and was the last book written by Orwell. Orwell died January 21, 1950 of tuberculosis.

Animal Farm A political fable- based on the story of the Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin. The animals on a farm overthrow their human masters and set up a egalitarian society of their own.

Egalitarian- the belief in equal political, economic, social, and civil rights for all people. Eventually the leaders, who are the pigs, form a dictatorship that was even worse than their former human masters.

Animals and Historical Figures Karl Marx- Old Major Major is the originator of the idea that becomes the animal rebellion-however, like Marx, the ideals behind it were soon forgotten. Josef Stalin- Napoleon- Exemplary of the tyranny that overtakes all humans when they accumulate too much power. His greed for more power and wealth overtakes any ideals that he initially- like it did with Stalin who ultimately can be connected to the deaths of millions of his own fellow citizens.

Leon Trotsky- Snowball Trotsky escaped from the Soviet Union after losing a power struggle with Stalin. Trotsky went into exile in Mexico, where he was later murdered by Stalin’s agents. The KGB, or secret police- Dogs The KGB was the enforcer of the Communist Party, and was deeply feared for their ability to carry out orders.

The “Proletariat” (laboring or working class)- Boxer Boxer is symbolic of the working class who does not have enough information or education to understand the ramifications and implications made by their bosses or leaders. Boxer believes Napoleon and refuses to question what doesn’t seem right.

Pravada- The newspaper that worked as the propaganda source of the Party- Squealer Pravada was the propaganda arm of the Communist Party prior to the entrance of radio and television. Information was highly controlled.

Czar Nicolas II- Mr. Jones Nicolas shows the income disparity between Russia during the revolution and the farm in the novel. Nicolas lived in luxury while thousands of unemployed peasants struggled to survive. Those who did work, suffered abuse and had to work long hours for low wages.