George Orwell- on his life and his work

George Orwell's real name was Eric Arthur Blair. He came from Benghal and is considered one of the most individualistic and influential British authors ever. He was the great idealist. He wrote several novels, essays and documentaries. His work made him famous and respected all over the world.

George Orwell wa born in Motihari, on 25^th June 1903. He had an older sister- Marjorie- and a younger one- Avril. His father- Richard Walmesley Blair- worked in the department of opium as a civil servant. His mother- Ida Mabel Limanzin- came from the family of tea merchants from Burma. George used to write, that his family of origin was 'upper-lower-middle-class'. Together with his mother and sisters, Eric moved to England in 1904.

As a young boy, he became a student of St. Cyprian's School. He was given a scholarship and his parents clould pay only half price for his school. He was such a good student, that he could choose between Wellington and Eton collages afterwards. At first he decided to go to Wellington, but he changed his mind after the first term and moved to the other school. In Eton Eric won the King's Scholarship. As an adult man, he used to day that he was a 'relatively happy' teenager. The students of Eton were given little independence. He said that this school made him hate the class system of England.

Eric Blair didn't manage to get the scholarship to any university, and in 1922 he decided to go to Burma. He worked in the Indian Imperial Police there. After 6 years, he came back to Europe. He knew already that he wants to be a writer. But the beginnings of his writing career were poor. He spent several years as an unemployed and homeless person. He tried to write different things, but his work was not valued at all.

In 1933 Eric decided to assume the name- George Orwell. He was writing for New Adelphi at that time. His choice of the name was very careful, as he wanted it to mean much. The first name- George- was chosen after the patron of England, and the last name- Orwell- to remind about his most favorite place in England- River Orwell in Suffolk.

In the 1930s, George became fascinated with socialistic ideas. He was the reporter from the Civil War in Spain. He decided to join the United Workers Marxist Party militia. He got injured in the neck in the fights. When the situation became too hot and many of his friends were put into prison, George decides to escape. When the war started, he already was a great enemy of communistic ideas. He wanted England to establish its own form of socialism.

During the war, Eric Blair was a sergeant in the Home Guard. He started to work for BBC, Tribune and Observer as a journalist. In Tribune, he worked as a literary editor as well. As the war was over, George was sent to Germany, to write about situation in this country for Observer and The Manchester Evening News. In none of his reports any word about the extermination camps was mentioned.

George was married twice. In 1936 he became a husband of Eileen O'Shaugnessy. As they could not have children, they adopted a son- Richard Horatio Blair. Unfortunately, Eileen died in 1945. In 1949, Orwell married Sonia Brownell. Nevertheless, the second marriage lasted only a few months. Eric Blair was ill with tuberculosis. He died the University Hospital in London on 21^st January, 1950.

Nowadays, George is most popular as an author of several novels, essays and critiques. His political engagement and satire is recognizable for many people from different parts of the world. Nevertheless, as he was alive, people knew him as a great journalist. He worked in many British newspapers, and was an author of the books of reportage. In one of such books- 'Homage to Catalonia'- he expressed his respect for countries in which no class structure was developed. He saw such society, when working as a reported during the Spanish Civil War. In the other book- 'Down and Out in Paris and London'- Orwell described his own experience of being a poor, homeless and unemployed person. But it is important to remember, that in reality George Orwell was never really short of money and truly poor- his parents and sisters always supported him. So his experiences were rather experiments and investigations of the different life. Orwell wrote: "The Paris slums are a gathering - place for eccentric people - people who are fallen into solitary, half-mad grooves of life and given up trying to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behavior, just as money frees people from work."

George Orwell had also several ideas about the political implications of the use of language. He wrote and essay- "Politics and the English Language", where he described the strong effects that the position in society and in some social cliche has on the styles of writing. He was wondering, how the language we use changes and creates the reality we live in. In the novel '1984', he illustrated his ideas on this matter. The language Newspeak is invented by people living in the unreal country in Oceania. Many of the phrases invented by Orwell became so popular, that people in many countries use them. The most popular are: 'Big Brother', 'memory hole' or 'newspeak'. The most successful and widely-known novels by George Orwell are "Animal Farm" and "1984". These novels are based on similar ideas. They express the protest against what was happening in many countries those days. Orwell makes fun of people believing in the words of political leaders. He showed, how dangerous some events may appear. He opposed against the corruption of truth and limiting free speech. He wanted people to stop believe in the wonderful future, that they were promised to have, if they followed the leaders.

In "Animal Farm" Orwell in grotesque and satire describes the Russian Revolution. The animals from the farm, with their leader- Pig (allegory of Stalin) rebel against the people on the farm. They win the battle and want to live on the farm alone and establish their own rules. However, the pigs want to become leaders. They explain to others, that " all animals are equal but some animals are more equal then others". Orwell shows his own attitude towards socialism in this book. In his opinion the socialistic ideas and the system are very good, but the problem lies in individuals, who are corruptive and want most for themselves. He illustrates, how great and noble ideas- of happy life, fairness, freedom and equality- are changing into totalitarianism; and how easily such society dies, when the leader lets down.