# data[].attributes.body
George Orwell was born  Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India,June 15 of 1903

# data[].attributes.body
He spent his first days in India.His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year after his birth and settled in Henley-on-Thames. His father stayed behind in India and rarely visited

# data[].attributes.body
He composed his first poem at age 4.One of his first literary successes came at the age of 11 when he had a poem published in the local newspaper

# data[].attributes.body
Orwell won scholarships to Wellington College and Eton College to continue his studies.But due too lack of money to pay Instead, he joined the India Imperial Police Force in 1922. After five years in Burma, Orwell resigned his post and returned to England. He was intent on making it as a writer.

# data[].attributes.body
As his family didn't have financial resources to send him to college, he joined the India Imperial Police Force in 1922.
He spent five years in Burma, resigned in 1927 and came back to England.

# data[].attributes.body
At the beginning of his writing career, he couldn't make ends meet and worked as a dishwasher.
He published his first book in 1933 under the surname "George Orwell"

# data[].attributes.body
He kept publishing until December 1936,when he traveled to Spain and joined one of the groups fighting General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. He was badly injured several times.

# data[].attributes.body
He faced several health problems throughout the years. In 1938, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He battled with it the rest of his life, as there wasn't a treatment at the time.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1941, he joined the BBC, where he developed news commentary and shows for the Eastern part of the British empire.
In 1943, he resigned and became the literary editor of a socialist newspaper.
He published his major novels, "Animal Farm" in 1945, and "1984", in 1949.

# data[].attributes.body
He called the school’s proprietors “terrible, all-powerful monsters” and labeled the institution itself "an expensive and snobbish school which was in process of becoming more snobbish.”.

# data[].attributes.body
He once got himself arrested,on purpose.

Before he assumed the pen name George Orwell, Eric Arthur Blair had a relatively normal upbringing for an upper-middle class English boy of his time.

# data[].attributes.body
In 1931, while investigating poverty for his aforementioned memoir, Orwell intentionally got himself arrested for being “drunk and incapable.” This was done “in order to get a taste of prison and to bring himself closer to the tramps and small-time villains with whom he mingled.

# data[].attributes.headline
HE KNEW SEVEN FOREIGN LANGUAGES, TO VARYING DEGREES.

# data[].attributes.subject
HE KNEW SEVEN FOREIGN LANGUAGES, TO VARYING DEGREES.

# data[].attributes.body
Orwell wrote in a 1944 newspaper column, “In my life I have learned seven foreign languages, including two dead ones, and out of those seven I retain only one, and that not brilliantly.”

# data[].attributes.body
Orwell’s first socialist book was an original and unorthodox political treatise entitled The Road to Wigan Pier (1937). It begins by describing his experiences when he went to live among the destitute and unemployed miners of northern England, sharing and observing their lives; it ends in a series of sharp criticisms of existing socialist movements.

# data[].attributes.body
Design by Agent Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)

Animal Farm (1945)

1984

Homage to Catalonia (1938)(
Courtesy of Harvest
Homage to Catalonia (1938)
Orwell’s involvement in the Spanish Civil War in 1936.)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Early Life

Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India, on June 25, 1903. The son of a British civil servant, Orwell spent his first days in India, where his father was stationed. His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year after his birth and settled in Henley-on-Thames. His father stayed behind in India and rarely visited. (His younger sister, Avril, was born in 1908. Orwell didn't really know his father until he retired from the service in 1912. And even after that, the pair never formed a strong bond. He found his father to be dull and conservative.

According to one biography, Orwell's first word was "beastly." He was a sick child, often battling bronchitis and the flu.

Orwell took up writing at an early age, reportedly composing his first poem around age four. He later wrote, "I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued." One of his first literary successes came at the age of 11 when he had a poem published in the local newspaper.

Education

Like many other boys in England, Orwell was sent to boarding school. In 1911, he went to St. Cyprian's in the coastal town of Eastbourne, where he got his first taste of England's class system.

On a partial scholarship, Orwell noticed that the school treated the richer students better than the poorer ones. He wasn't popular with his peers, and in books, he found comfort from his difficult situation. He read works by Rudyard Kipling and H.G. Wells, among others.

What he lacked in personality, he made up for in smarts. Orwell won scholarships to Wellington College and Eton College to continue his studies.

After completing his schooling at Eton, Orwell found himself at a dead end. His family did not have the money to pay for a university education. Instead, he joined the India Imperial Police Force in 1922. After five years in Burma, Orwell resigned his post and returned to England. He was intent on making it as a writer.

Early Writing Career

After leaving the India Imperial Force, Orwell struggled to get his writing career off the ground and took all sorts of jobs to make ends meet, including being a dishwasher.

'Down and Out in Paris and London' (1933)

Orwell's first major work explored his time eking out a living in these two cities. The book provided a brutal look at the lives of the working poor and of those living a transient existence. Not wishing to embarrass his family, the author published the book under the pseudonym George Orwell.

'Burmese Days' (1934)

Orwell next explored his overseas experiences in Burmese Days, which offered a dark look at British colonialism in Burma, then part of the country's Indian empire. Orwell's interest in political matters grew rapidly after this novel was published.

War Injury and Tuberculosis

In December 1936, Orwell traveled to Spain, where he joined one of the groups fighting against General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was badly injured during his time with a militia, getting shot in the throat and arm. For several weeks, he was unable to speak. Orwell and his wife, Eileen, were indicted on treason charges in Spain. Fortunately, the charges were brought after the couple had left the country.

Other health problems plagued the talented writer not long after his return to England. For years, Orwell had periods of sickness, and he was officially diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1938. He spent several months at the Preston Hall Sanatorium trying to recover, but he would continue to battle with tuberculosis for the rest of his life. At the time he was initially diagnosed, there was no effective treatment for the disease.

Literary Critic and BBC Producer

To support himself, Orwell took on various writing assignments. He wrote numerous essays and reviews over the years, developing a reputation for producing well-crafted literary criticism.

In 1941, Orwell landed a job with the BBC as a producer. He developed news commentary and shows for audiences in the eastern part of the British Empire. Orwell drew such literary greats as T.S. Eliot and E.M. Forster to appear on his programs.

With World War II raging on, Orwell found himself acting as a propagandist to advance the country's national interest. He loathed this part of his job, describing the company's atmosphere in his diary as "something halfway between a girls' school and a lunatic asylum, and all we are doing at present is useless, or slightly worse than useless."

Orwell resigned in 1943, saying "I was wasting my own time and the public money on doing work that produces no result. I believe that in the present political situation the broadcasting of British propaganda to India is an almost hopeless task." Around this time, Orwell became the literary editor for a socialist newspaper.

Famous Books

Sometimes called the conscience of a generation, Orwell is best known for two novels: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Both books, published toward the end of Orwell's life, have been turned into films and enjoyed tremendous popularity over the years.

'Animal Farm' (1945)

Animal Farm was an anti-Soviet satire in a pastoral setting featuring two pigs as its main protagonists. These pigs were said to represent Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. The novel brought Orwell great acclaim and financial rewards.

'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949)

Orwell's masterwork, Nineteen Eighty-Four (or 1984 in later editions), was published in the late stages of his battle with tuberculosis and soon before his death. This bleak vision of the world divided into three oppressive nations stirred up controversy among reviewers, who found this fictional future too despairing. In the novel, Orwell gave readers a glimpse into what would happen if the government controlled every detail of a person's life, down to their own private thoughts.

Essays

'Politics and the English Language'

Published in April 1946 in the British literary magazine Horizon, this essay is considered one of Orwell's most important works on style. Orwell believed that "ugly and inaccurate" English enabled oppressive ideology and that vague or meaningless language was meant to hide the truth. He argued that language should not naturally evolve over time but should be "an instrument which we shape for our own purposes." To write well is to be able to think clearly and engage in political discourse, he wrote, as he rallied against cliches, dying metaphors and pretentious or meaningless language.

'Shooting an Elephant'

This essay, published in the literary magazine New Writing in 1936, discusses Orwell's time as a police officer in Burma (now known as Myanmar), which was still a British colony at the time. Orwell hated his job and thought imperialism was "an evil thing;" as a representative of imperialism, he was disliked by locals. One day, although he didn't think it necessary, he killed a working elephant in front of a crowd of locals just "to avoid looking a fool." The essay was later the title piece in a collection of Orwell's essays, published in 1950, which included 'My Country Right or Left,' 'How the Poor Die' and 'Such, Such were the Joys.'

Wives and Children

Orwell married Eileen O'Shaughnessy in June 1936, and Eileen supported and assisted Orwell in his career. The couple remained together until her death in 1945. According to several reports, they had an open marriage, and Orwell had a number of dalliances. In 1944 the couple adopted a son, whom they named Richard Horatio Blair, after one of Orwell's ancestors. Their son was largely raised by Orwell's sister Avril after Eileen's death.

Near the end of his life, Orwell proposed to editor Sonia Brownell. He married her in October 1949, only a short time before his death. Brownell inherited Orwell's estate and made a career out of managing his legacy.

Death

Orwell died of tuberculosis in a London hospital on January 21, 1950. Although he was just 46 years old at the time of his death, his ideas and opinions have lived on through his work.

Statue

Despite Orwell's disdain for the BBC during his life, a statue of the writer was commissioned by artist Martin Jennings and installed outside the BBC in London. An inscription reads, "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." The eight-foot bronze statue, paid for by the George Orwell Memorial Fund, was unveiled in November 2017.

"Would he have approved of it? It's an interesting question. I think he would have been reserved, given that he was very self-effacing," Orwell's son Richard Blair told The Daily Telegraph. "In the end I think he would have been forced to accept it by his friends. He would have to recognise that he was a man of the moment."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India, on June 25, 1903. The son of a British civil servant, Orwell spent his first days in India, where his father was stationed. His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year after his birth and settled in Henley-on-Thames.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.biography.com/writer/george-orwell#:~:text=Orwell%20was%20born%20Eric%20Arthur,in%20Henley%2Don%2DThames.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 1928 the young author of this book was not called "George Orwell" yet (literary pseydonum), but Eric Blair. He wrote this book many years before the Animal Farm and 1984 became famous on a global scale, with a unique aura of literary talent, humor and remarkably realistic descriptions of his experiences in the metropoleis of Europe, Paris and London. The author faces hunger, cruel conditions, neglect and indifference on the streets and in the dorms of the homeless. This book is a loud denouncement of the social injustice that sees people die of lack of food and shelter. Down and Out in Paris and London may not belong to his masterpieces, but is of equal importance. It may not be a fascinating conception of the unbelievable Orwellian imagination, but it actually constitutes an accurate depiction of an unbelievably cruel everyday reality, giving us all a powerful punch in the gut.

Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)

Gordon Cosmstock, the hero of this Orwellian novel published in 1936, struggles against the capitalist structure of British society during the Interwar Period. Gordon quits his job in an advertising company, rejects the beliefs of his society and concentrates on writing a book. He lives on the margins of society, not accepting the value of money and the organization of the society. This is one of many Orwellian works where the central character is damaged after his conflict with the dominant system. Orwell uses the character of Gordon Comstock as a means of depicting his own ideas and thoughts on the power of money, the separation of social classes and the economic exploitation of the weaker groups of society. The rest of the book's characters fit the backdrop of a typical middle-class environment, completely expropriated by the system's mechanisms. Gordon rejects their lifestyle, decides not to become a part of the system, a decision however that paradoxically makes him unfree. On the margins of society he cannot write, cannot travel, cannot make love, cannot live. In the end he has to compromise, go back to his job, get married and become completely intergrated in the society he hated. A thrilling journey through a tortured personality, not that far from many people's existential issues and moral questions.

Homage to Catalonia (1938)

Orwell's involvement in the Spanish Civil War in 1936, writing reports for British newspapers, did not happen exclusively within the framework of the journalist's identity, but evolved into a real, active participation, where he took up arms and stood at the front line in support of his own ideals and the common struggle of the Spanish people against Franco's fascism. The book Homage to Catalonia is the description of the author's experiences in this battle for freedom and the quest of a better world.

Animal Farm (1945)

Animal Farm is a unique Orwellian allegory of Stalinism and any totalitarian system. George Orwell was a fervent supporter of socialism, namely anarcho-syndicalism, as well as Trotskyism. Orwell believed that the Soviet Union was far from a true socialist country, but just another form of a totalitarian state. Some years after Homage to Catalonia, he decided to write down his experience and ideas on this subject in a more eloquent, symbolically appealing and all-encompassing way. In said animal farm, two pigs, Snowball and Napoleon, motivated by the revolutionary ideas of a recently deceased pig, Old Major, lead a revolution supported by all animals. Their bosses, the humans, are forced to leave the farm and the pigs start organizing a regime of complete equity. However, Napoleon's thirst for power soon results in Snowball's exile and the creation of a totalitarian regime with the motto: 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'.

When 1984 was first published, it was regarded as the imaginary description of a dystopian society of the future. Now many people believe that this society belongs to the past, claiming that our current situation is even worse. No matter what one's personal beliefs may be on the subject, this novel is undoubtedly one of the greatest of the previous century. Within the framework of the totalitarian regime of the Big Brother, everyone and everything is being watched and recorded at all times via countless interactive televisions. Everything has to be adjusted according to the one and only truth, the one propagated by the Party and its only true representative mechanism, the Big Brother, who has complete control over everyone's actions and consciousness. The ultimate crime is the crime of thought - freedom, language and feelings have to disappear, anyone who resists is sentenced to death. This political manifesto against any and all totalitarian systems has been translated into 65 languages and has sold millions of copies. 'Big Brother', the ' Newspeak ' and 'Doublethink' are unique conceptions of a wonderful mind that history will remember.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Essential George Orwell Books You Should Read

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1928 the young author of this book was not called "George Orwell" yet (literary pseydonum), but Eric Blair. He wrote this book many years before the Animal Farm and 1984 became famous on a global scale, with a unique aura of literary talent, humor and remarkably realistic descriptions of his experiences in the metropoleis of Europe, Paris and London.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/546150/facts-about-george-orwell