GEORGE ORWELL
journalist essayist
novelist lack of
imaginative power “teaching purpose”
reformer squalor emptiness
working-class life
trust
in socialism
better world Spanish Civil War
World War II
of distrust
disappointment
political formulas
propaganda
slogans
beast fable
Animal Farm
political allegory
anti-utopian novel political satire
wasted idealism epitaph
Gulliver's Travels book 4 – talking animals
(J. Swift) savage satire
pity for human beings' sufferings
Animal Farm
parallels with
Russian Revolution
revolutionary movements destiny
universal political truths
theme betrayal of democracy
CHARACTERS
Old Major (pig) charismatic prophet
dream of
better society
Napoleon (pig) longing
for power
revolution betrayal
despotic ruler
Mollie (white horse)
finery love cause abandon for
sugar lumps
ribbons Benjamin (donkey)
sceptic nothing good
revolution
from
anything else
Boxer (horse)
simple honest
loyal
uncomplaining
others' comfort work destiny
down-trodden working-class
strength
no personal gain
exploitation pigs = intellectuals
GEORGE ORWELL (1903-1950)
father
Customs official (Bengal, India)
fashionable school (England)
Eton (scholarship)
(1917-21)
negative impression
snobbish atmosphere
class consciousness
Such, Such Were the Joys
autobiographical work
Indian Police Burma 1922-27
hatred of
authority
class privilege
English imperialism
Burmese Days novel 1934
Paris (18 months)
dish-washer
school-master
poverty
London
outcast
Down and Out in Paris and London (1933)
A Clergyman's Daughter ( novel, 1935)
failure
Keep the Aspidistra Flying (1936)
autobiographical
marriage (1936)
Eileen O' Shanghnessy active involvment
in socialist party
The Road to Wigan Pier (1937)
life conditions
English poor areas
1936 George - Eileen
journalists
Barcelona fights with Republicans Spanish Civil War
serious wound
back home Homage to Catalonia (1938)
Spanish experiences
Morocco (winter 1938) lung problems Marrakesh
essay
Coming Up for Air novel
autobiographical episodes Inside the Whale (1940, essays)
World War II
BBC wife's death (operation)
The Observer's correspondent
Ger many
Austria
France
Animal Farm (1945)
Critical Essays (1946)
Shooting an Elephant (1950)
articles for
The New Statesman
The Tribune
Nineteen-Eighty-Four (1949)
social allegory
vision
pessimistic
of
consequences
gloomy
of
totalitarian government
loss
of
future world
humanity personality
Orwell's death (1950)