, Research Paper
In his short life, George Orwell managed to author several works which
would inspire debate across
the political spectrum for years to come due to his extreme views on
Totalitarianism as exemplified in
his novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell is now regarded as one of the
finest essayists in Modern
English literature because of his inspired common sense and a power of
steady thought.
Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Bengal on January 23, 1903. He
lived with his two sisters,
mother and father who was a minor official in Indian Customs. Orwell?s
childhood has been an
influence on his later life and writing. British Writers by Ian
Scott-Kilvert quotes Orwell as saying:
Looking back on my own childhood, after the infant years were
over, I do not believe
that I ever felt love for any mature person, except my Mother,
and even her I did not
trust, in the sense that shyness made me conceal most of my
real feelings from her? I
merely disliked my own father, whom I had barely seen before I
was eight and who
appeared to me simply as a gruff-voiced elderly man forever
saying "Don?t."
Early in his childhood, he was sent to a fashionable preparatory school
on a scholarship. The other
boys were much better off than Orwell was. Looking back on his school
years, British Writers by
Ian Scott-Kilvert again quotes Orwell as saying:
I had no money, I was weak, I was ugly, I was unpopular, I had
a chronic cough, I
was cowardly, I smelt? The conviction that it was not possible
for me to be a success
went deep enough to influence my actions until far into adult
life. Until I was thirty I
always planned my life on the assumption not only that any
major undertaking was
bound to fail, but that I could only expect to live a few
years longer.
At the age of 13, Orwell was rewarded with not one, but two separate
scholarships. Orwell decided
upon Eton, which was the more distinguished and prestigious of the two.
Of his time at Eton,
Modern British Essayists by Robert L. Calde quotes Orwell as saying, "I
did no work there and
learned very little and I don?t feel that Eton had much of a formative
influence on my life." However,
a majority of English students does no work at Universities but instead
broaden their outlook on life
and acquire a new sense of self-confidence along with an ability that is
far more valuable than
academic learning.
After Orwell?s time at Eton, the natural thing for him to do would have
been to go on to Cambridge
and continue his career there where he could easily have gained a full
scholarship. Instead, Orwell
was advised by a tutor to break away and begin his own career. Orwell
took this advice and took
an open post in the Indian Imperial Police where he spent the next five
years of his life. It was there
that Orwell began his writing career and wrote about his life
experiences in Burma and India.
Orwell felt very guilty about the actions which he took part in during
his time in India so he sought to
escape the guilt in England. When that did not work he instead traveled
to Paris, supposedly to
write, but an unknown author in a foreign country is not likely to make
much of a living so his motives
most certainly must have been otherwise. It is thought that he went to
Paris to face the
down-and-out lifestyle that he was brought up to fear and to experience
a level of pain and failure to
which very few people were subject. It is also believed that Orwell did
this as an act of public
defiance against those wealthier than himself who had humiliated him
during his school years. Orwell
also referred to the time as:
A feeling of relief, almost of pleasure, at knowing yourself
at last genuinely down and
out. You have talked so often of going to the dogs, — and
well, here are the dogs, and
you have reached them, and you can stand it. It takes off a
lot of anxiety.
Eventually, Orwell accepted a friend?s offer of a job and money. After
this job was over, he made
enough money as a private tutor to keep himself afloat. After years of
tutoring, he got a job as an
assistant in a bookshop. It was during this time that Orwell married his
first wife, Eileen
O’Haughnessy. In addition, during this time, Orwell became very active
as a Socialist. After writing
some more in England he grew tired of it and then traveled to Spain.
Upon recalling his reasons for
going, Orwell was quoted as saying:
I had come to Spain with some notion of writing Newspaper
articles but I had joined
the militia almost immediately, because at that time and in
that atmosphere it just
seemed to be the only conceivable thing to do.
The unit which Orwell was recruited into was at first peaceful but
before long they were involved in
heavy fighting and Orwell was hit in the throat, mere millimeters away
from his windpipe and carotid
artery. The wound ended Orwell?s fighting career but because of the
injury, he got an opportunity to
see a new side to the fighting while recuperating. After another number
of months passed, Orwell
and his wife managed to escape with a few friends back to France.
When World War II began Orwell frantically tried to join the army but
was not allowed due to his
injuries, however, he was able to land a job in the British Broadcasting
Company into which he
threw himself completely. A man in full health might have been stressed
from the activities but to a
man in already bad shape the conditions were near fatal. Added onto this
was also the tragic news of
his wife?s death during a very minor surgery.
Following the end of World War II, Orwell worked for two more years in
London before retreating
to the remote island of Jura off the west coast of Scotland in order to
rest and to get on with the
writing of Nineteen Eighty-Four which he had by now drawn out in his
mind. However, life on the
island was extremely rough on his already poor health and he was forced
into the hospital several
times. By 1949, he entered a sanatorium and a few months later he was
moved to University College
Hospital in London where he finished the writing of Nineteen
Eighty-Four.
While once again in London, Orwell married a second time, this time to
Sonia Brownell who was an
editorial assistant on a magazine which had been involved in the
publication of some of Orwell?s
many essays. Together, they discussed plans for future works and he had
even roughed out the plans
for a new book with her. The book was scheduled to be a complete break
from his propagandist
way of writing and would have instead concentrated on the treatment of
human relationships.
Unfortunately, the book was destined never to be completed because
Orwell died on January 23,
1950 a few minutes following a tubercular hemorrhage.
Orwell wrote many intriguing works through his years as an author, among
those are many essays
that are mostly political in nature. One of his first essays, "Shooting
an Elephant" tells of a story in his
life in which he was forced to hunt down an elephant which was running
amok throughout the
countryside. The essay is "an example of his prose style at its most
lucid and precise." Another essay
written by Orwell is "Wells, Hitler and the Soviet State" which
discusses H.G. Wells?
misunderstanding of Hitler and World War II. In all, Orwell released
four books of essays: Inside
the Whale (1940), Critical Essays (1946), Shooting an Elephant (1950)
and England Your
England (1953).
Orwell?s early books were mostly about his life experiences and
political perceptions. His novels
include Down and Out in Paris and London, which tells of his years among
the dogs in Paris,
Burmese Days which tells of his police years in Burma, Homage to
Catalonia tells about the years
he spent in Spain and of the political movements there, and finally,
Road to Wigan?s Pier tells of his
trip around England and was placed on the Left Book Club?s officially
recommended reading list,
but is today considered one of his worst works.
By many people?s figuring Orwell?s finest book was published in May of
1945. The book had a very
difficult time coming into print, going through four separate publishers
who refused it on the grounds
that it was not wise to print a book attacking an ally of the nation
during wartime. However, the
timing could not have been better and Animal Farm was an instant best
seller in Britain and in the
United States. Animal Farm is a satire on Stalinist dictatorship in
which pigs play the role of leaders
and overthrow the current leader, Farmer Jones. However, after the
threat of Jones? return is past
the pigs are forced to focus the animals? attention on other threats to
keep them working at maximum
levels. Finally, after a time of this the other animals figure out that
they?re getting the short end of the
stick which leads to the theme statement of the book, "All Animals are
Equal" and below that in
another handwriting "But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others."
Orwell?s other very well known book was Nineteen Eighty-Four which is
Orwell?s version of the
future awaiting mankind. The world is completely controlled by
Totalitarian governments that have
rewritten history and extracted any and all sense of freedom. Every room
is watched remotely via
cameras and the dreaded Through Police keep track of any and every
person?s actions to ensure
that there are no thoughts or actions which might be viewed as harmful
to The Party. This book shot
to the top of the best seller list in 1984 as people rushed to see how
the prophetic book compared
with the reality in which they lived.
Although a few of his earlier books gained some amount of popularity, it
was not until Animal Farm
that Orwell gained the recognition which would ensure that his name
would live on past his death and
into decades to come. Beyond monetary value and international renown,
Orwell gained a sense of
contact with ordinary people for the first time. Nineteen Eighty-Four is
also considered to be one
of the best futuristic novels of all time due to Orwell?s great insights
into the true nature of
Totalitarianism.
The gifts for writing that Orwell possessed gave him a very unique
style. His gifts were not those of a
novelist for he had little imagination and little understanding of human
relationships. His gifts were
instead a "very inspired common sense, power of steady thought, wary
refusal to be taken in and the
courage of a lonely man who is not afraid of being alone."
Another style often used by Orwell is to add a very unforgiving essence
to his novels. The author?s
own anger conveys a sense of discomfort to the read, who feels he is
being "nagged at for something
which is only very indirectly his fault and resents that an author of
such uncommon talents should care
so little whether he conveys enjoyment to the readers."
Orwell?s essays show his unique qualities to advantage. He was very
adept at choosing topics that
interested normal people because he himself was nothing more than an
ordinary person and he had
seen life from the lowest possible level. Few other authors were able to
write with the skill, insight
and frightening reality which Orwell constantly was able to muster and
display.
The themes of Orwell?s books are mostly derived from his own view of the
world. Due to his
childhood and years in Paris he was very familiar with the low end of
the spectrum of life. His years
in Spain served to give him a view of Communism at its worst and gave
him the inspiration he
needed to write his two most famous books, Animal Farm and Nineteen
Eighty-Four.
The theme of Nineteen Eighty-Four was derived from another book We by
Zamyatin. There is
resemblance in detail and structure that occurs multiple times
throughout. For example, both books
assume that Utopia will lead to the end of the mere idea of freedom and
a total destruction of history.
However, while Zamyatin explored the technological and mechanical side
of the future, Orwell
instead was able to focus on the cultural and psychological side of
Totalitarianism. Another essential
difference is the timeline on which the respective Utopias took place.
Zamyatin assumed that such a
time and set of circumstances would need thousands of years to develop
whereas Orwell insisted
that less than half a century was sufficient.
Orwell?s themes however serve a purpose other than mere entertainment,
they serve as a warning to
those who dare not see life from the viewpoint which he himself opened
his mind and let himself
explore. Kinley E. Roby, in his biography, quoted Orwell as saying, "I
do not believe that the kind of
society I describe necessarily will arrive, but I believe that something
resembling it could arrive."
All of Orwell?s characters are alike in that they are solitary beings
that seek to make contact with
others but are almost always betrayed or rebuffed. There was Winston
Smith, the main character of
Nineteen Eighty-Four, who was incapable of both showing and feeling love
for any other person
including Julia whom in return did not love him but instead used him for
her own gain. Then also there
is Gordon Comstock from Keep the Aspidistra Flying who gives up a great
opportunity in an
advertising firm and instead goes to work in a bookstore so that he can
be alone and work solely on
his writing. Once again in Coming up For Air, Orwell writes about a fat
good-natured man who
keeps his feelings hidden from those around him in order to protect
himself.
Another attribute which belongs to many of Orwell?s characters is that
of cowardliness, a lack of
courage which plagues them throughout their respective stories. In
Animal Farm, the barnyard
animals, though they easily outnumber the pigs, are too afraid to
attempt an overthrow. In Nineteen
Eighty-Four, the characters have been completely cauterized of any
semblance of courage or
self-expression.
Orwell?s works have gained their fair share of both lovers and haters.
British Writers by Ian
Scott-Kilvert quotes Compton Mackenzie as saying in reference to Down
and Out in Paris and
London, Clergyman?s Daughter and Burmese Days, "No realistic writer has
produced three
volumes which can compare in directness, vigor, courage and vitality of
Mr. George Orwell."
George Woodcock stated in his book The Crystal Spirit: A Study of George
Orwell that "Orwell
possesses an extraordinary ability to so thoroughly entrance a reader
that he feels every bit of the
pain expressed in the text."
For every person who enjoyed Orwell?s texts there were without a doubt
another who could not
stand it. Orwell?s preoccupation with the present acted as a handicap to
his understanding of the
past and his perception of the future. Mr. Scott-Kilvert in British
Writers also said that Orwell was
never quite capable of making the close contact with the working class
that he so desired.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is Orwell?s warning to the world of how the future
could be unless everyone
puts forth an effort to keep their freedom. The book is set thirty five
years in the future from the time
of writing in 1949 in England which is then known as "Airstrip One." The
government is broken into
four separate branches also known as ministries, the Ministry of Love
maintains law and order
through the Thought Police, the Ministry of Plenty which keeps the
citizens rationed and down to the
barest necessities, the Ministry of Peace which is in charge of the war
efforts and the Ministry of
Truth which is in charge of education and news which includes the
deleting of history and the
changing of news to fit the Party?s schemes.
Three separate countries constantly wage war against each other. At the
time of writing, Oceania
and Eastasia are allied against Eurasia but the text of the book leads
the reader to believe that these
alliances switch back and forth every few years. Indeed, there may in
fact not be any war at all but
instead just a large propagandist ploy to keep people occupied and to
give them someone to hate so
that they will not turn against The Party.
The book is an example of Totalitarianism at its finest. The government
controls every aspect of
people?s lives and the mere thought of freedom has completely been
erased from people?s minds.
The Party is then controlled by the secret ?Inner Party? that controls
the Party?s direction and
decisions.
The main character of the story is Winston Smith who uses the attic of
an old bookstore to keep a
diary in which he documents his anti-Party thoughts. He meets Julia in
the hallway of the Ministry and
they proceed to make love in the open and arrange many more such
meetings. After several of these
meetings, he trusts her and tells her about his feelings towards the
Party, they plan together and in the
end confide in the wrong person who reports them which results in
Winston being beaten until he
gives up and finally betrays Julia who had long since already betrayed
him.
This novel has a very strong message for those who care to read into it.
If society is not careful, it
could easily fall into a trap such as this. As fewer and fewer people
care about the state of the
Nation and about freedom, the world that Orwell wrote about becomes
closer and closer to reality.
If mankind does not take a stand for what it believes in then there are
those who will happily take
advantage of that fact and use it in their interest to create a society
like Orwell?s in which everything
is run by a select few people and everyone is so far gone that they
don?t believe there is any way
out.
For a book written in 1949, Orwell did a very good job of writing about
the future and about the
technologies that might be developed. Orwell wrote of ?Telescreens?
which would allow The Party
to keep track of everyone. Even the people of Orwell?s novel seem a lot
like the people of today in
that they do not care as much as they should and they fail to even
recognize what freedom is being
taken from them. However, it is possible to find differences in their
world from ours, namely in the
technological devices, while there are the Telescreens, the people still
fight with rockets and Tommy
guns and there are no cars or other vehicles for transportation
mentioned in the story.
This novel was really enjoyable because it is very thought provoking and
it really has the quality of
making oneself look at the world around him and think about just how
easy it would be for
something like this to happen. Many of the pieces are already in place
and others are not far away,
all it would take is one good leader and a strong push. This book should
be read by everyone to
make him or her aware of the future ahead of mankind if they are not
careful.
The novels which Orwell wrote will continue to inspire and spark debate
for years to come and
hopefully they will also serve as a constant reminder and warning of
what is to come if our society
continues its current trend of not caring. Orwell will forever be
remembered for his keen insight and
his great ability for thinking a situation all the way through and
predicting all possible outcomes.
Bibliography
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Literature, vol. 4, New York:
Chealsea House Publishers, 1987.
Bloom, Harold, ed., "George Orwell." Classic Science Fiction Writers,
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Publishers, 1995.
Caldo, Robert L., "George Orwell." Modern British Essayists, first
series, Gale Research Inc.,
1990
Frederick, Karl R., "George Orwell: White Man?s Burden." A Reader?s
Guide to the
Contemporary English Novel, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1972.
Reilly, Patrick, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Boston, Twayne Publishers, 1988.
Roby, Kinley E., ed, George Orwell, Boston, Twayne Publishers, 1987.
Scott-Kilvert, Ian, ed., "George Orwell." British Writers, vol. VII,
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