George Orwell, aka Eric Arthur Blair, was an English essayist, novelist, critic, and journalist. The works of George Orwell are featured by bitter social criticism, coherent prose, and hostility to totalitarianism, and blunt support of democratic communism.
George Orwell wrote fiction, poetry, literary criticism, and polemical journalism. He is well-known for his most celebrated allegorical novel Animal Farm published in 1945 and a dystopian novel 1984 that was published in 1949.
He also produced non-fiction works that include The Road to Wigan Pier published in 1937 and Homage to Catalonia published in 1938. The Road to Wigan Pier is his personal account of his working-class experience in the north of England; whereas, Homage to Catalonia is based on his first-hand experience of soldering in the Spanish Civil War. These two essays are critically admired for their views on politics and literature, culture, and language. Among the 50 greatest British writers since 1945, George Orwell was ranked 2nd by The Time in 2008.
The works of George Orwell are influential in the politics and literature of England. To describe the authoritarian and social practices, the adjective “Orwellian” is used in the English language. His other coinages are Thought Police, Big Brother, Room101, Memory hole, Two Minutes Hate, doublethink, Newspeak, Unperson, thoughtcrime, and proles.
A Short Biography of George Orwell
George Orwell was born on 25th June 1903 in Bengal in the class of Sahibs. His father serves the British official in the Indian civil services, whereas his mother belonged to French and was a daughter of a teak merchant in Myanmar Burma. Though they belong to the lower-middle class, they have the attitude of “landless legendary.” Orwell grew up in an atmosphere of underprivileged condescension. He returned to England with his parents, and in 1911, he was sent to elementary boarding school on the coast of Sussex. Over there, his poverty and intellectual brilliance mark him distinguished from other boys. He was made to grow up as a miserable, reserved, and bizarre boy in the boarding school. In his essay Such, Such Were the Joys published in 1953, he recounts the miseries of these days.
Orwell secured the scholarships of Eton and Wellington, the two of the leading schools in England. He attended the Wellington School for a short time, and from 1917 to 1921, he attended Eton. He published his first writing in the Eton College in the college periodicals. After completing college, he did not continue his higher education, and following the tradition of his family, he went to Burma in 1922. He was given a position in the Indian Imperial Police as assistant district superintendent. He worked at different stations of the country and gave an impression of an imperial servant.
From boyhood, he wanted to become a writer. He realized that the Burmese are ruled over by the British against their will and treat them as enemies; he started feeling ashamed of his job as a colonial police officer. In his novel Burmese Days, and autobiographical essays “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant,” that he wrote later on in his life, he recounted those experiences and his personal views on imperialism.
In 1927, Orwell went to England on leave, and in England, he decided not to continue his job in Burma. On 1st January 1928, he resigned from the imperial police. As he had taken a decision before, he had already begun a course of action to become a writer. He felt guilty for the status that prevented him from mingling with the Burmese; he went to East England and started living in slums with the poor people
It was his experiences in the slums that he recounted in his work Down and Out in Paris and London. In this work, he rearranged the real incidents into fiction. The book was then published in 1933 that gained him little recognition. In 1934, he published his first novel Burmese Days. The novel establishes his design of the succeeding novels in which he portrayed a conscientious, sensitive, and lonely emotional individual who is against the dishonest and oppressive society. In 1935 he wrote A Clergyman’s Daughter, and in 1936, he wrote Keep the Aspidistra Flying.
George Orwell personally rejected his bourgeois lifestyle and political reorientation in his revolt against imperialism. He called himself revolutionary soon after his return from Burma. During the 1930s, he called him socialist; however, he was not too liberal in his thinking to declare himself a communist.
In 1937 Orwell published his first socialist book The Road to Wigan pier. This was his original and nonconformist political discourse. The book is a serious criticism of the prevailing social movements. The time when the book was in printing, Orwell went to Spain to report the Civil War and joined the Republican Militia. He served on the Teruel and Aragon fronts and rose to the second lieutenant. In May 1937, he started fighting against the communist in Barcelona and escaped to Spain to save his life when the communist started killing their political opponents. In 1938, he published Homage to Catalonia, in which he recounted his Spanish experiences and lifelong dread of communism.
In 1938, he returned to England. In the following year, he wrote Coming Up for Air in which he showed unexpected conservative anxiety. Orwell refused to pay any military services in World War II and started a job as a head in Indian head office of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In 1943, he left his job at BBC and started a job at Tribune as literary editor. During that time, Orwell had become a creative journalist and wrote many reviews and articles for newspapers along with serious criticism. He advocated decentralist socialism and liberation. In 1945 he published the most celebrated allegorical novella “Animal Farm.” It is a harsh criticism of Russian Stalinism. Following “Animal farm,” he published 1984 in 1947. He died on 21st January 1950 due to Tuberculosis.
George Orwell’s Writing Style
Typically, the writing style of George Orwell is brief and to the point. In his late works Animal Farm and 1984, Orwell does not use any figurative language, intricate language, and unnecessary words intentionally. His writings are largely based on social and political issues and contain an obscure political message.
According to George Orwell, the language used by many writers of his time was incorrect and was used to trick people. He asserts that modern writers were writing without using the actual term, thus making it easier for the readers to deploy the reality and quite difficult to understand the real meaning from the text.
Through the use of exaggerated language and euphemism, the political writers try to sound well-informed and keen. For example, the fascist regimes of World War II used the word “elimination” to justify their mass killing and exploitation. For Orwell, the English language was insensitive and chaotic. It allowed people to have unethical thoughts and are not able to think freely.
According to Orwell, Literature will become more beautiful when it becomes simple and clear for normal readers. Orwell improved his writing in St. Cyprian School and inspired his writing from the most experienced. His writings reflect the teaching of Mrs. Cicely Vaughan Wilkes. She taught him honesty, simplicity, and avoidance of verbosity.
Orwell offers six rules of writing literature in his book “Politics and the English Language,” which will help the writers to improve their writings as well as avoid the exploitation of modern English. The writing style of George Orwell is also based on these six rules. He did not use the ordinary figures of speeches like simile, metaphor, etc. and the one used by other writers.
According to Orwell, a writer cannot understand the true meaning of the phrase when he imitates others, and the original purpose is lost.
Secondly, he did not use long words where short words can easily be fit. For Orwell, simplicity in literature is valuable. It is better to convey the message in simple language than figurative language.
Thirdly, he wrote short, straight and to the point sentences.
Fourthly, he would write in an active voice and do not use passive voice without necessity. For him, the passive voice creates unnecessary confusion.
Fifth, He did not use any scientific word or foreign phrase if there is an equivalent word in the everyday language. He was very flexible in his writing and also advised the readers and writer not to strictly abide by these rules. If there is a necessity of breaking the rule for better, then break it. In the book, he writes that for certain, you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against”.
In his two most celebrated and well-read novels, Animal Farm and 1984, Orwell reflects his personal beliefs about the English Language. He used language to manipulate and control others in both novels. The elite pigs in Animal Farm use the intricate figure of speeches, propaganda, and songs to twist their meanings of words and make a fool of other animals.
In 1984, the language was made limited, which does not allow people to express their thoughts in words. Thus, Orwell implies that the government can manipulate the thoughts of people. The government uses the ideological state apparatus to spread the discourses in Newspeak.
Moreover, George Orwell has a journalistic and direct style. To illustrate his meaning behind his whole writing, he used extended metaphors and allusions; however, he does not employ them in his writing. He has a dry style and does not use unnecessary imagery. This does not imply that he did not explain the scenery in the setting; it is just that he did not use figurative language.
The major themes of his works are language, loyalty, totalitarianism, poor vs. rich, imperialism, propaganda, love/ sexuality, communism, and technology, etc.