Who was George Orwell ?

1903 - George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in the Nepalese border where his father supervised Opium growth for the British Government, but shortly after moved back to England .

1922 - Junior officer in Imperial Police in Burma.

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1927 - Left Burma to follow his dreams of being a writer .

1933 - Published first book Down and out in Paris and London he went on to publish 12 other books .

1936-7 Went to Spain to fight Franco and the Nazi party Orwell stated that ' Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism'(Orwell,vii)
Showing that his life experiences really shaped his writing.

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1941-43 Works as journalist for the BBC this is where he began to notice the propaganda that was force upon the nation .


1946 - Animal Farm brought together political and artistic writing.

Orwell had strong political thoughts on the British Labour Party and the Communist party of Stalin , Orwell could see that both movements said they were fighting to help the working class when in fact they were being exploited .

1950 - Died suddenly after long suffering with TB.


Reference : Orwell,G. 1954. Nineteen Eighty-Four.Penguin classics .London.


This short timeline of Orwell's life shows that during his life he was witness to some massive changes in the world . There was a constant war that he was either fighting or reporting on which definitely influenced his writing style.