George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair, commonly known under the pseudonym George Orwell, led a fascinating life, from working as a member of the Indian Imperial Police Force, to experiencing poverty firsthand in both London and Paris, to fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell’s diverse life experiences gave him very strong political opinions that carried through to his writing career, during which he addressed issues such as education, poverty, and communism. George Orwell was a master of the modern political satire, through which he powerfully illustrates the political and social issues of the twentieth century.

A Clergyman’s Daughter, published in 1935, is a witty satire criticizing both English society and religious life. Orwell uses the life of the main character, Dorothy Hare, to display social injustices. He was particularly critical of the often very minimal distinctions between different religious denominations in England (Means 55). Additionally, Orwell used the novel to illustrate the negative influence of money on the working class and the education system. Dorothy is treated similarly to a slave by her father, forced into a life of performing chores and menial labor for her father with little return for herself (Orwell A Clergyman’s Daughter 3). Orwell uses Dorothy as an example of the exploitation of the working class in England, which at the time was forced to do strenuous work for minimal pay, the root of much of the poverty in England. At the end of the novel, although Dorothy’s journey is so eye-opening, traveling though poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and education, Dorothy once again ends up in the care of her father, and is sent back into the life of virtual slavery she started with. However, rather than being opposed t...

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Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Times Mirror, 1949. Print

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