George Orwell - 1984

Hello!

Today I would like to tell you something about the author George Orwell and his book 1984.

George Orwell 

was born under the name Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, Bengal, India in 1903. His father worked as a civil servant for the British consulate. The Blair family moved from colonial India back to England when Eric was just a young boy and he remained there until after his lackluster academic career was over. Like many notable authors, Orwell began writing at a very young age but despite the quality of his work, he was not immediately able to make a living from his passion. Unable to attend more college because of his lack of winning scholarships, Orwell moved back to India and secured a job working as an administrator for the Indian Imperial Police. He worked this job for only a few years as he began to notice the inequities inherent to colonial rule.

Returning to England, Orwell moved from job to job before finally deciding he wanted to write professionally. He took his pen-name “George Orwell” and began to write his first novels including Out in Paris, London and Burmese Days.  It was during this phase of his life that he met and married a woman named Eileen O’Shaughnessy and his socialist views began to solidify in the wake of several worldwide events. After realizing his political views, Orwell left for Spain where he fought with the United Workers Marxist Party militia. Here he realized that he did not concur completely with the Russian brand of communism, but rather favored the English variety of socialism. Shortly after this experience, he served for the British in the Second World War as a correspondent and it was after this that he wrote Animal Farm. Shortly after, he released 1984 which finally gave him the critical and even commercial success he was looking for. Unfortunately, the majority of the recognition came too late with his death. He died in 1950 from tuberculosis.

1984 (warning! – spoiler alert)

1984 was written in the year 1949. The main characters are Winston Smith, Julia, O’Brien and Big Brother.

In 1984, Winston Smith lives in London which is part of the country Oceania.  The world is divided into three countries that include the entire globe: Oceania, Eurasia, and Eastasia.  Oceania, and both of the others, is a totalitarian society led by Big Brother, which censors everyone’s behavior, even their thoughts.  Winston is disgusted with his oppressed life and secretly longs to join the fabled Brotherhood, a supposed group of underground rebels which is intent on overthrowing the government.  Winston meets Julia and they secretly fall in love and have an affair, something which is considered a crime.  One day, while walking home, Winston encounters O’Brien, an inner party member, who gives Winston his address.  Winston had exchanged glances with O’Brien before and had dreams about him giving him the impression that O'Brien was a member of the Brotherhood. Since Julia hates the party as much as Winston does, they go to O’Brien’s house together where they are introduced into what they thought is the Brotherhood.  Shortly afterwards they find out that O'Brien is actually a faithful member of the Inner-Party and this is actually a trap for Winston, a trap that O'Brien has been cleverly setting up for seven years. As a punishment for their offence, Winston and Julia are sent to the Ministry of Love which is a sort of rehabilitation center for criminals accused of thoughtcrime.  There, they separate Winston and Julia from each other and torture him until his beliefs coincide with those of the Party.  Winston renounces everything he believed in, even his love for Julia. At the end, they release him back into the public where he wastes his days at the Chestnut Tree drinking gin.

Enjoy the sun! (if it also shines at your place) - J.