The BIG Question
When many hear the name, George Orwell, they recognize him as somewhat familiar, yet only understand his novels and life to a mere level of superficiality. When a name such as Gandhi is mentioned, one can instantly recall his date of birth, his date of death and the milestones he achieved throughout his life. Yet, this is something that confuses me. In my opinion, Orwell is not solely a notable. He could be justly called the Savior for our whole population, and will forever be so for the following generations to come.
Most authors write for monetary purposes; they write for their ambition to succeed as a writer. But Orwell, or Eric Arthur Blair in non-pseudonymous terms, wrote because he felt a natural urge to; he wrote because no-one else was speaking out in times of evil in Britain's' societies. He knew that it was his destiny to become an author, as he himself stated, "From an extremely early age, perhaps five or six, I knew that I should grow up to become a writer. From the ages of seventeen and twenty-four, I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature, and that soon, I would have to settle down and write books."
During this period of time between seventeen and twenty-four, in which he describes as trying to abandon the thought of becoming a writer, Orwell served in the Indian Imperial Police and studied socialism, often visiting different slums and members of the working class. Orwell himself also expresses confusion to the reason why he joined the police force in Burma, being that he hated oppression, yet he had joined the largest force of despotism in India. However, after witnessing the hanging of a convict, Orwell's soon made the decision to quit. The man's life had been cut short in full tide, his family and relatives were left devastated, and now there was one less world in our universe. Orwell was shocked at the cruelty of destroying a healthy man and believed that it was "worse than a thousand murders", as he writes in his essay, Shooting an Elephant.
Orwell possessed a humble ideology, one must admit, for he always aspired to get rid of class distinctions, especially for the sake of the proletarians. Orwell self-classified as the usual member of the middle-class, and made a decision to visit the lower classes often, for he found it too frequent that he would forget about their existence. The miners would be black from head to toe with filth that the city had offered them. The slums were filled with dying people that hobbled their way around like cockroaches. He was quite selfless, to say the least, and he, who hated oppression, naturally hated snobbishness too, and this was his own solution to prevent it. Orwell realized the importance of the proletarians: they were the foundation of all societies; they were like the base of a tall building. Without them, the whole structure would collapse. Orwell thanked the muscular men who worked underground and fueled the cities, and Orwell experienced the bleak life of those who had suffered from industrialism.
During his early adulthood, Orwell lived in great poverty amongst the vagrants, the homeless and criminals. His first full-length work, Down and Out In Paris and London, was his personal report of his bleak and miserable time living "down and out" in the two largest cities in the world. Orwell admitted himself that recounting this bleak time was embarrassing, and even more with the chance that his family, especially his parents, could read it. This is the reason why Blair decided to start using his pseudonym, George Orwell. He chose George as it was a regular English name, and Orwell was derived from the River Orwell in Suffolk, which was where he lived. Although he felt ashamed about the way he was leading his early life, Orwell learned a valuable lesson that no-one else could've taught him except for experience. This lesson was valuable, and even as he rose higher in the social hierarchy and grew substantial fame, this lesson stuck with him in his heart and snobbishness progressed no further than a mere seed - "I will never again think that all tramps are drunken scoundrels. Nor expect a beggar to be grateful when I give him a penny. Nor be surprised when men out of work lack energy, nor refuse a hand bill, nor enjoy a meal in a smart restaurant.“
His dislike of snobbishness was birthed from his time at St. Cyprian's, where he attended with a scholarship, being that his family was quite poor. During his time there, which was from the ages of eight to fourteen years old, he was agonized both physically with the riding crop and mentally, by his derogatory beliefs. When he thinks of his school days, he describes it as if it was "to breathe in a whiff of something cold and evil-smelling." Mr. Wilkes, the headmaster of St. Cyprian's, and Mrs. Wilkes, who was even worse, ruled in methods that were harsher than those of dictators, fawning over the rich, yet constantly reminding Orwell of his second-rank position. It was a miserable place filled with humiliating and shameful punishment, of extreme physical cruelty, and even more painful was the mental stress put on students in this cold atmosphere. 'Such, Such Were The Joys' was Orwell's essay on his time at St. Cyprian's, the title being derived from William Blake's rhapsodic 'Song of Innocence' from 'On the Echoing Green' made it bitterly ironic.
Even more than the physical disgust – the slimy plunge-baths, the damp towels that emanated a cheesy smell, and the porridge, which was filled with lumps, hairs and unknown black objects - the disgust of moral unease was even greater. 'Such, Such Were The Joys' opens with the description of young Eric Arthur Blair getting beaten with the riding crop by Sambo, the name the boys had given for Mr. Wilkes. What was the reason for this beating, one may ask. He wet the bed, an unpreventable doing for a young child, but Blair thought of his acts as a sin, thus believing from a young age that he was stuck in a world where he could do no good.
However, Sambo's heart wasn't satisfied yet with Blair. After his beating, Blair told another boy that the riding crop's wrath "hadn't hurt at all." This was a big mistake, for Sambo had overheard the whole conversation. This lead him to receive a beating again, yet this time with such savagery and vicious contempt that the riding crop had snapped. The tears Blair shed then was of pure shame, a feeling that he had sinned. Orwell described that he felt as if he committed an ill-bred clumsy thing, looking at the expensive object ruined. Sambo had told Blair that he had made him break the riding crop, and so Blair, young and naïve, believed that.
Orwell hated Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes, but he also knew that they were his benefactors, for they had provided Blair with a scholarship. "St Cyprian's was an expensive and snobbish school which was in process of becoming more snobbish, and I imagine, more expensive" - This was the fault of most private schools, and in his essay, Orwell had directly pointed it out.
This time from St. Cyprian's to his experiences in the Indian Imperial Police, was the section of Orwell's life that contributed the most to his most famous novel, or masterpiece as many call it now, 1984. Mr. and Mrs. Wilkes's brutality, his time living down and out and witnessing a hanging – These key experiences were all part of Orwell's 1984. It is often that we read a book, think of the plotline as interesting, then chuck it somewhere and completely forget about it. However, when one thoroughly learns about the author's life then completes one of their works, it is a whole different experience, one may admit. An author's life and beliefs heavily impact their writing; in Orwell's instance, these frightening and ruthless experiences added on with his political bias as a leftist constructed most of his works.
Demonstrating his hate for oppression and fascism even further, Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War, leaving in 1936 with many other men after feeling the menace of fascism grow closer. He travelled through Spain to lend his support to the cause of the Republic, battling against a right-wing coup. The Spanish Civil War, and the time Orwell spent there, was eye-opening for a man who had only lived quite an ordinary life in the folds of Britain and India. However, his time there was also a very close brush with death. One morning, Orwell was out of the tent in a trench on a windy ridge near Huesca. This was when a sniper shot cracked through the air and passed through Orwell's neck, leaving him with a paralyzed vocal fold.
Orwell was lucky. Extremely lucky. He had only just managed to escape the tightening grasp of Death. Because the nature of the wound was caused by a high-velocity jacketed military round, Orwell was able to survive and live a few years longer. His recovery course took around a year to complete, in which he followed the usual procedure a person with a paralyzed vocal fold would undergo. 'Homage to Catalonia' was Orwell's own account about his time in the Spanish Civil War, in which he describes his extraordinary and unique experience about getting shot and its aftermath. Homage to Catalonia could now justly claim to be one of the most important books regarding the Spanish Civil War.
But Homage to Catalonia wasn't the only piece of work birthed from Orwell's experiences in the war. There was a far greater one, talking fame-wise. Animal Farm. Animal Farm has steadily grown in popularity over the years, numerous times having been praised by critics, and now, it could arguably be the best political satire ever written. Like all of his other books, Orwell wrote for a specific cause with a specific political bias. He wrote Animal Farm because he was disturbed by the fact that the British's left was getting whitewashed by Joseph Stalin's tyranny. Orwell feared that if Stalin's lies were accepted as truth and his dictatorship was approved and admired, it would start to undermine the democracy that had been established in England. His wish was to bring public attention to the abusive ways of Stalinism, and being that he had written this novella in 1945, this was during WW2 where Britain and the Soviet Union were allied against the Nazis, and because of this, support for Stalin's and the Soviet Union would've reached its strongest point. This troubled Orwell, and led him to craft one of his most finest works - a political allegory filled with wit throughout. At the time, Animal Farm had a massive impact, kicking reality back into everyone - that democracy was always superior and that people should fight to drive Russian communistic filth out of Britain completely.
Shortly after the publishing of Animal Farm, in May 1946, Orwell left to Jura, a calm place of nature where he was unencumbered to write this new novel of his. He was now free from the irritation of London; the bustling streets and the cacophonic breath of industrialism was cleanly left behind. After years of neglect and indifference the world was waking up to this political genius. The problem that had arose now was that Animal Farm had brought Orwell too much success. Just a little too much. "Everyone keeps coming at me," Orwell complained, "wanting me to lecture, to write commissioned booklets, to join this and that, etc. - you don't know how I pine to be free of it all and have time to think again."
However, now that he was at Jura, a remote island in the Hebrides, Orwell could write in a peaceful atmosphere. The pleasure of life on Jura was the free interaction with the beauty of unharmed nature, and Orwell was able to enjoy this with his adopted son, Richard Blair, occasionally fishing, exploring the island and pottering around in boats. But, in August, while Orwell, Richard and some other friends were returning from a long hike on a small motor boat, they were nearly drowned in the notorious Corryvreckan whirlpool.
Orwell describes the experience as having been "bloody cold", and this incident definitely did his lungs no good, being that his violent coughing had already worried his friends even before the whirlpool. In two months, Orwell was terribly ill.
Meanwhile, Orwell was struggling greatly with 'The Last Man in Europe', and by late October in 1947, Orwell realized that his novel was still, "a most dreadful mess and that about two-thirds of it would have to be retyped entirely". He was working at quite a feverish pace; visitors to Jura recounted that the pounding of the typewriter was heard throughout the whole day. When asked about the progress of his novel, Orwell bluntly replied with, "It's an utopia in the form of a book." Orwell, like many other great authors, believed that bad luck was brought if one talked about the novel before its publication.
Unfortunately, in November, Orwell collapsed because of inflammation in his lungs, and then the dreaded news came like a peel of thunder. Orwell and been diagnosed with tuberculosis. "Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness" - This is a sentence taken from Orwell's 'Why I Write', which was published in 1946. The sentence is almost creepily prophetic, as only 3 years later, the process of writing 1984 slowly killed Orwell. 1984 was published in 8 June 1948.
So, you might be wondering what was the difference between Animal Farm and 1984, and why is 1984 considered a 'better' novel compared to Animal Farm nowadays? Animal Farm was written only for that period time around 1945. It was written to bring awareness and show the abuses of Stalinism, and even though the USSR had been allies in WW2 with Britain, they were dictators. Orwell was genuinely worried that British politics and people would accept communism and dictatorship. Animal Farm was essential to British politics at that time, but nowadays, it's just consumed for pure 'reading pleasure.'
However, on the other hand, 1984 will stay in context forever. The terms that Orwell has created, Room 101, Big Brother and The Thought Police, has lasted until this day and has given ordinary citizens, not politicians, nor ministers, an unique opportunity to defy oppression. No author, no-one else in humanity had the courage to speak out. But Orwell did so exactly. He mocked the dictators of the USSR by describing them as pigs, he criticized the British political system, and in shorter words, he snapped reality back into the people of Britain. 1984 still can relate to today; the telescreens that collect every gesture and sound that citizens make in the world of 1984 can now be social media, collecting every movement, comment and purchase that we make in the cyberspace. Big Brother is a fictional character from 1984 that most people mock or joke around about. But now, literal Big Brothers roam this Earth that you and I, regular powerless citizens live. Presidents of countries all possess the will to be the superior country where they crush their opposition with power and nuclear fear, just like Big Brother and Oceania with its brainwashed people.
"A handbook for difficult times", writes Jean Seaton, one of the most well-known professors in medical history. Nowadays, 1984 is literally essential for humanity's culture, wellbeing and ideology. When Trump got elected as president, the sales of 1984 surged in huge amounts never seen before. Trump's presidency truly was hard times, but 1984, George Orwell's literal sweat and blood, was here for all the troubled and stressed people. During Trump's administration, 1984 helped people in finding ways getting to grips with the saddening reality. This is the reason why in countries where tyrannies and dictatorships rule, 1984 is banned, but of course it is pirated frequently.
1984 was the novel that elevated George Orwell to the next level, to a true notable. When we read Orwell's work nowadays, it makes one worried about this bleak future of totalitarianism George Orwell has left us with. This hell that Orwell gave us a glimpse of ….. could come true sometime soon. With 1984, Orwell warned Britain of the dark future it was head to, but now, it serves as a warning to the whole world . With 1984, Orwell could have possibly steered the world into a path that served brighter opportunities for everyone.
Scientists predict that earth will be absorbed by the sun in 7.5 billion years and that the result would be devastating: humanity would be completely wiped out. Environmentalists argue that global warming will be the end of mankind. But, as the BBC reports, "totalitarianism could be the grim fate worse than extinction." And I believe in this statement too. What is much more likely is a battle between 'big brothers' of our world, leading to wars, blood, and humankind's own destruction.
The future is scary, but it is and has always been that way, and when people come to serve out the future that we thought of as 'horrific', they will perceive it as normal. Totalitarianism is scary, one must admit, but it is a future likelier than we think it will be, for one day, a special person born with excessive greed, wit and ambition will rise and rule. Imagine if Hitler had won the race to build the first atomic bomb; what would be everyday life now? When someone warns of totalitarianism as a close future, we might dismiss them as a little out of their minds, then forget about it. However it is true. While we are busy sticking our head into loads of paper, or are busily working our butts off at the office, potential dictators are born and are growing, while politics, politicians and regulations are changing.
But the thing that Orwell did, that no-one else did, was to snap everyone back into reality. He reminded everyone of current politics and gave us an opportunity to realise that a handful of current leaders somehow seemed to resemble Big Brother or O'Brien. As I mentioned before, totalitarianism is a close and likely future, and this is what Orwell taught us of.
1984 has already made its impact; the majority of our population has read it, and many will remember its message. If a bleak future was to come and they were to burn 1984, such as to spread propaganda, still, their efforts wouldn't make a difference. 1984 will last forever in our memories and its warning will be engraved in our hearts. It is a work to be embedded in history together with its genius author, George Orwell. A true genius that changed our world for us, and generations to come.
Orwell didn't become a 'notable' in a forced manner; he felt inclined to write, as times were evil in Britain as Orwell believed, and although he never tried to become one, his works, which he wrote with no purpose in becoming famous or becoming wealthy, has now made him what we consider a 'notable.'
Now, one may start to wonder, then why did I include the story of his early life if 1984 was the only part of his life that made him notable? It is true that 1984 was the largest contribution in order for Orwell to be put into this list of notable people, yet his others works, such as Animal Farm, contributed too. These events in his life that I have mentioned were crucial in helping Orwell come up with the idea for 1984. From his hard time at St. Cyprian's to the near-death experience during the Spanish Civil War – Although he only lived 46 years lived, with the experience he had with the world and its people, he came up with an idea. An idea for The Last Man in Europe, which was decided to be replaced by the title '1984'. "Orwell thrived off adversity", as the BBC reports. And it is true. These cruel and horrifying experiences was what partially helped in creating the dystopia of 1984. When one understand Orwell's hardships and characteristics, it elevates the quality of reading and makes one understand 1984 and Orwell's other works quite a bit more. This why I included a description of his early life, for it is essential to know because it was what fueled 1984.
The quality that differs Orwell from other authors is 1) his lack of arrogance, even after such fame, and 2) his greatly non-monetary based writing. He said it himself too," When I sit down to write a book, I do not say to myself,' I am going to produce a work of art.' I write because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention, and my initial concern is to get a hearing." Orwell didn't write just because of the fact that he had chosen to lead his life as an author, nor because he had a fantastic idea for a novel. He wrote for a political purpose with a specific political bias.
But, why did I choose him? Why not someone like Gandhi, Elon Musk or Steve Jobs? From the moment I first heard of the Notables Program, George Orwell instantly came to mind. People always advise "never pick the first choice" or "your third or fourth idea is always better than your first!" But this has never applied for me, and I have never followed it in my writing, so this time was the same too. I chose George Orwell first and I stuck to my decision.
Already from a couple of years back, maybe when I was Year 4 or so, I was inspired by George Orwell after reading his Animal Farm. Yes, I didn't understand its allegorical and political purpose hidden behind its superficial layer then, yet I was surprised at his lucid prose and the quick-paced nature of it. I absolutely admired him, and instantly, Animal Farm became my favorite book. Earlier on in this year, I read 1984. To say I was enthralled is an understatement. This dystopia that he had masterfully created seemed almost real, being that it included no fault in logic. With such believable workings of the Party and its propaganda, it was natural of it to intrigue curious readers. This is the strength of 1984: it intrigues readers to finish the novel, then leaves them with a strong warning of a horrific future. In order to spread his message across many people, Orwell had to make his novel entertaining. By now, 1984 had replaced Animal Farm's spot. Thus, the choice for my notable didn't even require the least thought. It was immediate.
And during my research period on George Orwell, I think I have realized something. Something very important. I now believe that the main cause for writing is for a political purpose, to spread a message and to sway the ideologies of people. When I ask myself, what does most my writing say or do, the answer is simple. Nothing. Its sole purpose was pure entertainment or practice of some writing skill. A work that entertains only can bring a mere smile on to the face, yet one with political cause has potential to change the world. After this research period, I now feel the urge to write with a political purpose, maybe just as a try, for political drama and political news is everywhere, so there is plenty to write about.
But I'm not the only one that Orwell has inspired. He has inspired thousands, maybe even millions. Orwell introduced the Orwell Prizes: The Orwell Prize for Political Writing, The Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, The Orwell prize for Journalism, The Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain's Social Evils and The Orwell Youth Prize. These prizes awards those who continues to follow out George Orwell's dream - "What I have most wanted to do...is to make political writing into an art." Through the Orwell Prizes, Orwell and the Orwell Foundation have inspired men and women of all ages to write for a political purpose.
After learning of this competition, I hope to enter with one of my pieces next year too, just for the fun of it, even though my ambition is to win of course, as expected. I want to write political works as political works have the most effect on society and the people around us. They can be powerful than any words a human can speak and can be more forceful than any pressure a protest can put. This is why most tyrannies have burnt political books in the past; a political book is the most powerful book.
Countless people have read his works, yet a few, not even a handful, know about his life. I guess it's a pity that his masterpieces have overshadowed peoples' desires to learn more about him. But the more you delve into his life, the more you'll understand, and the more you understand, the more you'll realize something. That George Orwell was a true notable.