Invention by experience

Harvee Beltran

Mr. Bates

ENG4U

January 21, 2017

Author Report

Eric Arthur Blair, also known by his pen name, George Orwell, was born on June 25, 1903, in Motihari and later died on January 21, 1950 in a London hospital. Although he had passed away, his point of view toward imperialism, fascism and communism continued to flourish around the world. From the many books he has written, it gave readers the insights toward his political viewpoint from his ideas and opinions which was quite evident from two of his successful novels: 1984 and Animal Farm.

Into his early childhood, at the age of five or six, he had discovered his talent as a writer which greatly impacted his life. By eleven years old, Orwell had published his first work; ‘Awake young men of England’. Orwell’s first written piece of work clearly emphasizes his viewpoint towards war that happened on England, which it did in 1914; Germany was at war with Great Britain. Moreover, when Orwell graduated from his school, Eton, his life began to turn upside down - his family could no longer assist him in paying for his expenses for him to go to University. As a result, his life became miserable; he had no other choice but to apply for jobs experiencing labor works, such as being a dishwasher. However, regardless of the challenges that blocked his path towards his goal; being a writer it did gave him the experience of hardship which was quite obvious from his book, Down and Out in Paris and London, where he lived in the slums, eking. By 1936,  he married Eileen O'Shaughnessy who supported him through his writing careers.

Furthermore, after going to Burma - living in poverty, he decided to go to Spain. During that time, the Spanish together with Orwell, was at war with General Francisco Franco, which was called the Spanish Civil War. After the battle, Orwell and his wife were charged with treason. As a result, both couple had to flee the country. From that point, Orwell’s experience further strengthened his opinions toward politics, and soon wrote literary criticism, and then after - joined BBC. At that time interval, WWII was still happening; Orwell who was still working for the BBC understood the situation of Russia. From his findings, he realised that the people of Russia did not realized the true self of Stalin - recognized as being oppressive, who is the leader of the Soviet Union. This situation lead, Orwell who witnessed the war itself, came to influence him to write two of his successful novels: 1984 and Animal Farm which portrayed the Soviets and Nazi politics.