George Orwell. 25 June1903 -21 January 1950. By Jess Branton.

The Life Of George Orwell. George Orwell was born on the 25th of July 1903 and died on the 21st of January 1950 aged 46. Eric Arthur Blair was better known by his pen name, George Orwell. George Orwell was a English novelist and journalist. George’s work was marked by a keen intelligence, a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense opposition to totalitarianism, a passion for clarity in language and a belief in democratic socialism. In the 20th century, George Orwell wrote literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. He was the best known for the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949 and Animal Farm in 1945 and together they have sold more than any other two books by any other author. His other book, Homage to Catalonia in 1938 was an account of George’s experiences during the Spanish Civil War. Early on the morning of 21 January, an artery burst in his lungs, killing him at age 46.

Experiences. George Orwell had loads of experiences like with oppressive political regimes that had a direct impact on his type of style. But his well-known books also reflect on his disagreement to totalitarianism: Animal farm and Nineteen Eighty-four, and in a article it entitled, “Why I Write” he would of explained: “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism...Animal Farm was the first book in which I tried, with full consciousness of what I was doing, to fuse political purpose and artistic purpose into one whole."

Beliefs George Orwell was a communicant member of the Church of England and he also attended the holy communion once in a while and references to Anglican life are made in his book A Clergyman’s Daughter. The uncertainty of his own beliefs in religion mirrored the oppositions between his public and private life. Later it was noted that George Orwell did not accept the existence of an afterlife and believing in the conclusiveness of death while living and advocating a moral code based on Judeo-Christian beliefs.

Websites I Used… Wikipedia : George Orwell. The life of, and Beliefs. Codoh : George Orwell. Experiences