Orwell Essay, Research Paper

George Orwell

Title: Life and Works of George Orwell

Author: Nigel Flynn

Copyright: 1990 The Rourke Corporation

George Orwell also known as Eric Arthur Blair lived from 1903 – 1950. He was a British writer who wrote documentaries, essays, and articles. He was born in Motihari, India. Orwell was educated at Eton College in England. From an early age Orwell said, ” Perhaps the age five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer.” After Orwell did not win a university scholarship at Eton College he joined the Indian Imperial Police. He served with the Indian Imperial police in Burma from 1922 – 1927. At the age of twenty- four, he started to teach himself how to write. After his time as a police officer in Burma he returned to England for a couple of years he went on living in London and then Paris among the poor. Out of George Orwells experiences he wrote about conditions in his life and ordeals that occurred that no one had ever done before.

Orwell experienced many difficulties in his field. First as a police officer in Burma he saw how brutally the people where being treated by the other police officers. He also wrote about his resignations that he had about domination of people over each other. When Orwell returned from Burma he returned as a poor very sick writer trying to find his way. He lived in poverty for several years, before he made his way to London. He would later write a book about his homeless conditions entitled Down and Out in Paris and London.

In December of 1936, Orwell decided to enlist in the POAM, the Socialist military party in Spain, during the Spanish Civil War. Orwell fought for socialism in Spain, but was wounded in the neck and forced to return to England in 1938. After he returned from the war he would wrote about the conditions he encountered in the battlefield. Like all his reasons for writing the main purpose Orwell went to Spain was as he said, ” Was to kill fascists.” Later that year Orwell became ill with Tuberculosis. The disease would later be his downfall in health and in his writing.

He made many contributions throughout his life to humanity; however, his biggest was what he wrote about in his books. That I believe is his biggest contribution to society. Orwell was telling people about the conditions that he encountered such as: what the coal miners where going through. Which he wrote about in The Road To Wagon Pier. In this book he wrote about the evil conditions, foul housing , bad pay, and unemployment that the coal miners had to deal with. By doing this he rose awareness about the situation so they could be helped.

George Orwell was the kind of writer who had to be in the center of activity. He wrote about the things people didn’t want to acknowledge were going on or about political subjects he did not agree with in society. He went wherever he needed to raise awareness about a cause. On January 21st 1950, while working on a series of articles Orwell died of complications from Tuberculosis. After his death he would be remembered most for his influential books and his passion for writing.