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In his short life, George Orwell managed to author several works which
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would inspire debate across
the political spectrum for years to come due to his extreme views on
Totalitarianism as exemplified in
his novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell is now regarded as one of the
finest essayists in Modern
English literature because of his inspired common sense and a power of
steady thought.
Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Bengal on January 23, 1903. He
lived with his two sisters,
mother and father who was a minor official in Indian Customs. Orwell’s
childhood has been an
influence on his later life and writing. British Writers by Ian
Scott-Kilvert quotes Orwell as saying:
Looking back on my own childhood, after the infant years were
over, I do not believe
that I ever felt love for any mature person, except my Mother,
and even her I did not
trust, in the sense that shyness made me conceal most of my
real feelings from her… I
merely disliked my own father, whom I had barely seen before I
was eight and who
appeared to me simply as a gruff-voiced elderly man forever
saying “Don’t.”
Early in his childhood, he was sent to a fashionable preparatory school
on a scholarship. The other
boys were much better off than Orwell was. Looking back on his school
years, British Writers by
Ian Scott-Kilvert again quotes Orwell as saying:
I had no money, I was weak, I was ugly, I was unpopular, I had
a chronic cough, I
was cowardly, I smelt… The conviction that it was not possible
for me to be a success
went deep enough to influence my actions until far into adult
life. Until I was thirty I
always planned my life on the assumption not only that any
major undertaking was
bound to fail, but that I could only expect to live a few
years longer.
At the age of 13, Orwell was rewarded with not one, but two separate
scholarships. Orwell decided
upon Eton, which was the more distinguished and prestigious of the two.
Of his time at Eton,
Modern British Essayists by Robert L. Calde quotes Orwell as saying, “I
did no work there and
learned very little and I don’t feel that Eton had much of a formative
influence on my life.” However,
a majority of English students does no work at Universities but instead
broaden their outlook on life
and acquire a new sense of self-confidence along with an ability that is
far more valuable than
academic learning.
After Orwell’s time at Eton, the natural thing for him to do would have
been to go on to Cambridge
and continue his career there where he could easily have gained a full
