1. George Orwell
Author

2. Orwell Early Background
Born in India in 1903 as Eric Blair
Background & Family
His father was a colonial officer in the British military stationed in India
He was educated at Eton College in Windsor, England
At this school, Orwell developed a very independent viewpoint, especially to values
that people “just accepted”
He tried working for the Indian
Imperial Police (in Burma), but
hated it so he returned to England
to try writing full time
He took the pseudonym “George
Orwell” (from the River Orwell)

3. Orwell as a Writer The Beginning of His Writing Career
Orwell was deeply affected by the poverty he saw in his own life
His travels in East London showed him the “down-and-outers” about which he would start to write
This led to a number of essays and his first novel, Down and out in Paris and London
Orwell continued to live in Europe
(both Paris and London) and write,
composing essays and contributing
to local periodicals (he also wrote
poetry)
He used his experiences with
working for the Burmese police to
write the novel Burmese Days (1934)
which was against British colonialism
He was becoming very political by the time he wrote Burmese Days.

4. Orwell as a Writer and Other Work
His Writing Career & the BBC…
Orwell married Eileen O'Shaughnessy in 1936 and fought in the Spanish Civil War in 1937
He was shot in the throat and the arm while in the war, but survived his injuries
Orwell had a number of illnesses and was often sick, and he was eventually diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1938
To support himself, Orwell wrote a
number of essays, literary criticisms,
and reviews over the years
He eventually worked for the BBC in
1941 as a producer and newsman,
where he eventually found himself
producing propaganda for the
British during WWII
He resigned in 1943

5. Philosophical Underpinnings for Orwell’s Great Works
Much of Orwell’s writing was inspired by and was a reaction to some political philosophies:
--Socialism: property & distribution of wealth are controlled by governments to increase social and economic equality.
--Communism: goal is to form a classless society based on common ownership of the state where everyone is equal. The roots of communism go back to the philosophical work of Karl Marx who believed communism should replace other forms of government.
Marx: “From each according to his ability—to each according to his needs.”
--Joseph Stalin attempted to put Marx’s philosophies into practice after the 1917 Revolution in Russia which established the Soviet Socialist Republic (Soviet Union)
Orwell saw himself as a “democratic socialist,” which, to him, was something much different than what Stalin practiced

6. Philosophical Underpinnings for Orwell’s Great Works
Thomas More (English Author) invented the term “Utopia” in 1516—Utopia translates to no place, and it is a fictional paradise where everyone is equal. In some ways, Communism seeks to achieve this kind of paradise or at least a “workers paradise.” The workers paradise was Marx’s last stage in his vision for his socialist society.
Philosophical Underpinnings for Orwell’s Great Works

7. Philosophical Underpinnings for Orwell’s Great Works
Dystopia is a vision of an often futuristic society, which has developed into a negative version of Utopia. A dystopia is often characterized by a totalitarian form of government. It often features different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and a state of constant warfare or violence.
Look for some of these features in Orwell’s works, especially Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984)

8. The Dystopian Novel

9. Plot Lines
Plot lines follow two directions: terrible things happen to the characters, but the characters either (a) escape their fate, or (b) the “establishment” wins.

10. Structure
Typically, dystopian novels are usually divided into three acts:
Act I: Act I is largely exposition, details the society and introduces the characters. Usually some event happens that introduces the conflict.

11. Act II
Act II contains most of the rising action as it follows the main character attempting to escape or change their society.
The climax occurs either at the end of Act II or the beginning of Act III.

12. Act III
Act III contains the falling action (the aftermath of the action in Act II).
The theme is based upon the happenings in this act.

13. Theme
The theme is derived from the resolution of the plot: if the attempt to escape is successful, or the society is changed, the novel has a positive theme.
If the attempts to escape or change fail, the novel has a negative theme.

14. Common Characters Representatives of the powerful, those in control.
Representatives of the “typical” citizen, perfectly happy with the society or blissfully unaware of its flaws.
**Sometimes these characters are staunchly patriotic and sometimes they naively take for granted that the way things are is simply the way things are.
** Sometimes they are passive: they are aware of the flaws, but the accept them.

15. Common Characters, cont.
At least one character is disenfranchised by the society, who desires to either escape or to change.
**Sometimes these characters begin the novel loving the society, but events lead them to change.
**Sometimes they begin the novel already disliking the society.

16. Point of View
The narrative point of view is almost always from an insider.
**Rarely will an outsider offer a convincing evaluation of the dystopian nature of the society.

17. Common Philosophical or Thematic Traits
1) The individual is worth nothing more in the novel than his or her value as part of the governmental machine.
2) Power can belong to a single dictator or in a larger governmental organization.
3) Forms of control include communication, education, mass media, and popular culture.

18. Common Philosophical or Thematic Traits, cont.
4) Military control can be a factor.
5) The controlling body often uses pop culture to distract its members and control them (e.g. drug and alcohol use, sexual promiscuity, etc.).
6) The controlling body finds and uses a scapegoat to deflect blame for the suffering of the people.

19. Orwell and His Great Works
His Writing Career & 1984…
In 1949, Orwell published arguably one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century, Nineteen Eighty-Four (or 1984)
The novel is the essence of dystopian as it paints a disturbing vision of a world made up of three nations who are at constant war
Really the novel is about Orwell’s theory on what a society would be like if it controlled every aspect of a person’s life
The technology described is far ahead of its
time, and some might say it is quite
prophetic given the technology we have
today and the possibility that it could be
used by a government to spy on its citizens
The novel was a massive success and lives
on today, even though Orwell died just a
year after it was published in 1950