Life and works of Walt Whitman

#7 GEORGE ORWELL

George Orwell, real name Eric Blair, was an English novelist, journalist, and political writer who lived from 1903 to 1950.
Orwell received his education at Eton and served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922-1927. In April 1932, George Orwell became a teacher at The Hawthorns High School, a school for boys, in Hayes, West London. He taught at the school for almost five years, from April 1932 until November 1937. During that time, Orwell wrote two books, “Burmese Days” and “Down and Out in Paris and London.” His experiences also made him one of the most outspoken critics of what he perceived to be British public schools’ oppressive nature.
Orwell is most beloved for the novels “Animal Farm” and “1984”. “Animal Farm” is a political allegory about a society of overworked, mistreated farm animals who overthrow their human masters. Orwell’s influence on contemporary culture, popular and political, continues decades after his death. The term Orwellian describes totalitarian or authoritarian social practices. It has entered the language together with many of his neologisms, including the cold war, thought police, Room 101, memory hole, and thoughtcrime.
His novel “1984” depicts a dystopian future in which a totalitarian government spies on its citizens and manipulates the truth. Orwell’s work got considered to be part of the literary genre of ‘social realism.’ It has also been credited as an influence on the genre known as ‘cyberpunk.’
“Animal Farm” and “1984” are two of Orwell’s novels that are still relevant today to understand totalitarianism, censorship, and mass surveillance. He also wrote nonfiction essays on topics like poverty, imperialism, censorship, and war. Orwell joined the Independent Labour Party in 1938. He fought for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War and was wounded but luckily recovered.
Orwell’s health continued to decline after getting tuberculosis in 1947. He passed away at only 46 years old from an artery that burst.