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George Orwell

A modern British Writer 1903 - 1950

Early Life

Born in India, he was educated in England. He studied at Eton, an exclusive school, but he suffered a lot because he was not from a wealthy family like the other students. For this reason he refused to go either to Cambridge or Oxford universities.

He joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma and, when he went back to England, he started a career as a journalist and a writer.

British Raj

Between 1858 and 1947 India was under the rule of the British Crown and that period was called the British Raj (Raj = rule).

After the independence of India, the two countries maintained a close relationship in the Commonwealth. This is an association of 53 countries including the United Kingdom and a lot of its ex colonies.

George Orwell worked as a journalist for the BBC

The Civil War of Spain

Political engagement

George Orwell participated in the Civil War of Spain in the 1930s, like many other left-wing writers. He then described his time in Spain, where he was wounded in the throat, in Homage to Catalonia published in 1938. His tale is affectionnate and critical at the same time.

Animal Farm

Animal Farm

Although he remained a left-wing political writer he was disillusioned by the totalitarian methods of Communism. For this reason in 1945 he wrote a political fable, Animal Farm, a satire of the Russian Revolution. It describes how the animals on the farm rebel against the cruel masters and take control of the place and run it themselves. But the pigs gain control over the other animals and become tyrants. The sad conclusion is that the revolutions are doomed to fail and result in new forms of oppression.

Animal Farm can be considered a great accusation against the corruption of Socialism in the Soviet Union, but it can be interpreted in a more universal way against any dictatorship.

Animal farm: a cartoon of 1954

At the beginning of the story the animals, led by the pigs, rebel against the humans, in particular Mr Jones, the farmer exploiting them. They establish a new government where the animals are equal. Their motto is ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL. As the story develops, the pigs take the control of everything and become dictators, making agreements with men, their old enemies.

Therefore the Revolution of the animals, born under positive ideals, is a failure. The new slogan will be ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS.

What do the animals represent?

Pigs: the leaders of the revolution, corresponding to the leaders of communist Soviet Union

Dogs: the Soviet Police

Horses: the workers who support the pigs, but at the end they are oppressed by the pigs themselves.

Nineteen Eighty-Four written in1948 and published in 1949

Nineteen Eighty-Four

In this anti-utopian novel, George Orwell imagines the world divided into three super-powers: Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia. The UK is in Oceania and is dominated by a dictator that nobody has ever seen: Big Brother. Everybody is spied by microphones and cameras placed everywhere, so that the individual not only is deprived of freedom, but also of personality and intelligence. In a dictatorship man is under the total control of the oppressor.

Big Brother's catchphrases

  • Big Brother is watching you

War is Peace

Freedom is Slavery

Ignorance is strength

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