Personal experiences Writings George Orwell Personal experiences Writings

Early Life Born in 1903 in Matihari, Bengal, India Eric Blair During time when India was a British colony (link to Passage!) Eric Blair

Family Father worked with a Civil Service department Return to England opium trade Return to England Went with mother at age 1 Separated from his father for 3 years Father visited for a few months; returned to India 2 sisters Middle child

Education Elementary school Excellent student Earned scholarship to St. Cyprian’s Prep school

Education 1917-1921 King’s Scholar Attended school in Eton Liked independence during this period

Back in India Served Indian Imperial Police 1928 - resigned Burma Hatred of imperialism (Think back to the imperialism depicted in Passage!)

New Name 1933 - pen name George Orwell Patron saint of England George V? Orwell River Orwell in England

Tough Times Lived in poverty Worked as a schoolteacher Homeless at times Worked as a schoolteacher Health problems made work load too much Began working part-time at a bookstore

War Spanish Civil War Wrote book reviews after the war Fought against the Nationalist uprising Volunteer Wounded Shot in neck Wrote book reviews after the war

War WWII Worked as war correspondent Served in Home Guard Attempted to enlist support of English colonies/former colonies Including India Used propaganda Worked as war correspondent

Married Life 1936-1945 1949 Married to Eileen O’Shaughnessy Remarried Adopted a son Eileen died in 1945 - complications during an operation 1949 Remarried Sonia Brownell

Politics Against Stalin Political views Expressed in Animal Farm 1949 Turned in a list of writers/actors believed to be pro-Stalin Political views Democratic socialism

Politics socialism |ˈsō sh əˌlizəm|noun. a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.･ policy or practice based on this theory.･ (in Marxist theory) a transitional social state between the overthrow of capitalism and the realization of communism.

Works “A Hanging” “Shooting an Elephant” “Wounded by a Fascist Sniper” Essays Inspired by time in India “Wounded by a Fascist Sniper” Essay Based on wound from Spanish Civil War

Works Major Novels 1945 - Animal Farm 1949 - 1984

1984 Dystopia Negative utopia dystopia |disˈtōpēə|noun. an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.

1984 Other famous dystopias: Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury Brave New World - Aldous Huxley Anthem - Ayn Rand Equilibrium - film - contains elements of several written dystopias

1984 totalitarian |tōˌtaliˈte(ə)rēən|adjective. of or relating to a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state TOTAL control

1984 Newspeak Language used in the novel Words removed from the language Goal: make it difficult for people to complain about/revolt against the totalitarian government

1984 Key words/phrases Newspeak Doublethink Thought police Big Brother

1984

Death 1950 Tombstone Died at age 46 Tuberculosis With birth name His request

Sources http://www.george-orwell.org/l_biography.html Pictures from google images & wikipedia