Life And Works Of George Orwell

In his short life, George Orwell managed to author several works which 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