BY GEORGE ORWELL
What does this author’s background bring to this story?
Childhood • George Orwell was born Eric Arthur
Blair on June 25, 1903, in Bengal, India. • His father was an official in the Opium Department. • One year after Orwell’s birth, his mother moved back to England taking George and his older sister. • For the next eight years, Orwell would only see his father for three months in 1907. • His younger sister was born in England.
Orwell grew up in Henley, Oxfordshire, a well-to-do
area of England.
His mother wouldn’t allow him to be friends with the
plumber's daughter because the girl was "too common.” Orwell became aware of social class.
Student In 1911, Orwell was accepted to St. Cyprian's, a
preparatory school for the best private schools.
• Owell’s father retired from the Opium Department in
1912. It is the first time Orwell lived with his father in eight years.
• At St. Cyprian’s, Orwell recognized how the strong
students belittled, controlled, and terrorized the weaker ones. Those ideas are seen in two of his most renowned novels, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.
• His grades at St. Cyprian’s were so impressive,
Orwell was accepted to Eton as a King’s Scholar. Eton is one of the nation's most prestigious schools in England. (The scholarship paid for most of his tuition.)
Although he read a great deal of modern writers
(Jack London, H. G. Wells, and George Bernard Shaw), his grades weren’t very good at Eton.
• In December of 1921, Orwell graduated from Eton.
But his grades weren’t high enough to receive a scholarship to Oxford or Cambridge. • His father refused to pay for any more of his schooling.
Policeman • Orwell decided to return to
India and become a police officer. • Orwell requested a position in Burma where there was a great tension between the British and Indian populations.
• Orwell disliked the way the British ruled India. o He was expected to maintain order in a population
that detested him. o But, he sometimes the people he was being paid to protect.
Writer • At 25 years old (1928), he resigned from the Indian
Imperial Police Force and returned to England to become a writer.
• Orwell began "tramping" through London and Paris
to learn about the lives of the lower class. He was troubled that a nation as powerful as England could have so much poverty.
• Even though Orwell could have resided
comfortably with his parents, he chose to live among the lower classes.
• Not only did he dress in shoddy clothes, he sat on
street corners, conversed with tramps, and spent time in the men's shelters around London.
• Orwell worked as a dishwasher in Paris. His
experiences were shaped the book, Down and Out in Paris and London.
• He wrote the book under the pseudonym "George
Orwell," in case the book was a total failure. (The name was chosen for: George, the patron saint of England, and Orwell, for the name of a river he liked in Suffolk, England.)
• The Spanish Civil War was a duel between two systems of
government: democracy, and fascism. • This war dragged many nations into it, with volunteers enlisting and countries sending in aid, arms, and money. oOne man who enlisted was George Orwell. • The Spanish Civil War a changed George Orwell. He returned from Spain with firsthand knowledge of the horrors of Stalinist Russia. o He saw his militia outlawed and its commanders slaughtered, witnessed his friend tortured to the point of death, and was hunted down by Stalinist forces.
• The Spanish Civil War was the source of Orwell’s animosity towards communism and totalitarian states, especially Russia. • He believed the political leaders of the Soviet Union stole the power that belonged to the people. • Orwell wrote Animal Farm in 1943 to illustrate what the Soviet Union was doing. • No one wanted to hear his criticism though. • Animal Farm wasn’t published until after the WWII (1945).
• The attitude of a person who believes it is possible to live according to very high standards of behavior and honesty • SOMETHING THAT IS IDEALIZED • The practice of forming ideals or living under their influence
IDEALISM
• A way of organizing a society that
come into prominence in early 20th century • Radical form of authoritarian nationalism • Government ruled by a dictator o Control lives of people o People not allowed to disagree with the government
• A way of organizing a society • Major industries are owned and controlled by the government • There is no private property • In theory, the community distributes resources evenly to the community.
SOCIALISM
• The theory behind COMMUNISM (It is an extreme form of socialism.) • Written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels • Society should not have classes (The aim was a classless society.) • Everyone should be equal • The Soviet Union was the first country to convert to communism (during WWI)
MARXISM
Identifying the Parallels
The Flag of the Soviet Union The union of the hammer (workers) and the sickle (peasants) represented the victorious and enduring revolutionary alliance. The emblem was topped by a red star that represented the rule of the Communist Party.
The Flag of Animal Farm ‘The flag was green,’ Snowball explained, ‘to represent the green fields of England, while the horn and the hoof signified the future Republic of the Animals which would arise when the human race had finally been overthrown.’
Stalin
Napoleon
Why is Animal Farm a classic? It is: • A satire • An allegorical lesson • A fable • A passionate sermon
IMAGES • • • •
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RESEARCH • •
http://orwell.ru/bio/english/al_crick https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=idealism
BOOK Animal Farm, 50th Anniversary Edition Standard Edition, April 6, 2004 by George Orwell
REFERENCES
