George Orwell was a very Prominent Author in British Literature

During his life, he published two poems, ten books, and twenty-seven essays. He published two very popular pieces of writing, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell was known as “a political and cultural commentator, as well as an accomplished novelist, [and] is among the most widely admired English-language essayists of the twentieth century” (newworldencyclopedia.org).

His life was not always focused on his literature and books, and he also did not grow up wealthy and rich. George Orwell had a life that was diverse with many different events and hardships, but it never stopped him from being successful. Eric Arthur Blair, later known as George Orwell, was born on January 23, 1903, in Motihari, India. (Scott-Kilvert 275). His parents were Richard and Ida Blair. Orwell, along with his sister, Avril, and his mother moved to Britain when he was just one year old. Richard Blair had to stay back in India because he worked in the Civil Services.

Richard worked a lot and was often out of town or in different countries for the job that he had, so Ida was the caretaker and the one who took care of Eric and Avril. At an early age, Eric began school and attended different small schools when he was young. St Cyprian's School, one of the best preparatory schools, recommended Eric to attend this school, so therefore he decided to try it out in Eastbourne, Sussex (georgeorwell.org). Soon after Eric started attending St. Cyprian, he realized he was in a lower state than the other children and figured out his parents only had to pay half of what the other parents did.

The other children often had “gifts and qualities he did not have, [which] set in his mind, he believed, a pattern of failure and depression” (Scott-Kilvert 275). Eric did not give up after all that was going on at his school, it made him work harder. When he was thirteen, he received two scholarships, to Wellington and Eton. Eric first attended Wellington but soon changed to Eton, where for the next four years he was named King Scholar (georgeorwell.org). During his time in school, he made many friends in which some he worked with when he became more involved in literature. After Eric graduated from Eton he started working in 1922 where he became the assistant superintendent at the Indian Imperial Police.

After being in the workforce for a short while, Eric Blair found a job as a school teacher. His time of being a school teacher led him to his first piece of literature, A Clergyman’s Daughter, where he wrote about the many experiences he had prior to the years of 1935 (newworldencyclopedia.org). His first novel was not his favorite, in fact, he disliked it very much and never wanted it to be remembered by anyone.Eric Blair knew that the life of literature for him had just begun and realized he should change his name to George Orwell in safety for himself and for his family.

Orwell, Eric’s new pen name, published his first book, Down, and Out of Paris and London, which described his prior jobs and work ethics in many different places and this book was the reason why he adopted a pen name. After this book was written, he decided to go to war and combat. Around the same time of Orwell being in and out of the war, he was married to a lovely lady by the name of Eileen O'Shaughnessy. In 1944, they decided they wanted a child so they adopted a little boy who they named Richard Horatio Blair (newworldencyclopedia.org). In Eileen’s last few months she was informed she had tumors in her uterus and surgery was needed as soon as possible to save her.

Eileen did not write to Orwell to tell him what was going, but sadly the day of her hysterectomy she died on the operating table due to many complications (Sheldon 377). Back on the war front on an early morning in May, Orwell was out fighting a serious battle and was shot in the neck and was seriously wounded but still was able to recover (Scott-Kilvert 281). After recovery and many tries of going back into the forces, Orwell realized his times in the military were over. Orwell’s next major piece of work that went viral was Animal Farm which was published in 1945. Animal Farm-related real-life groups to the lives of animals and how they are similar to one another.

Orwell uses different animals to symbolize different types of people such as “the naive but hard-working horse represents the ignorant lower-classes; the conniving pigs represent the educated upper crust” (newworldencyclopedia.org). Although this book was a big hit, Orwell knew he still was not finished which is why he started working on Nineteen Eighty-Four. This book was about his vision and knowledge of what would happen in the upcoming years and in the future of all people. While writing the book of Nineteen Eighty-Four, he moved to Jura, for peace for not only himself but also for his son, Richard, to be able to enjoy the countryside (georgeorwell.org).

Orwell got very sick after he moved to Jura, and soon starting making trips in and out of the hospital. He spent days or weeks in hospitals before he got to go back to his home which delayed him finishing and releasing his Nineteen Eighty-Four book. This book was not published until 1949, a year after it was intended to be published. During this time on October 13, 1947, he got married for the second time to a woman by the name of Sonia Brownell who he had known for some years prior due to his literature experiences with her (Scott-Kilvert 185). After he married Sonia, his health went downhill. On Christmas Eve, Orwell was sent to Hairmyres Hospital, in Glasgow where they determined he had tuberculosis in his left lung and was not given much longer to live (historyguide.org).

He suddenly died on the night of January 21, 1950, due to a hemorrhage (georgeorwell.org). He was buried by his real name of Eric Blair in the Thames Valley Cemetery. It was a grieving time for his family and followers after he passed away, and before he died, Orwell believed there would be conflicts over his son Richard. After Orwell passed, Sonia did not bring up anything to do with his son and went her own ways while Avril, his sister, took Richard in for good care at age five (Sheldon 444). Although this was the end of his life, Orwell was still remembered in many different ways.

The University College in London displays The George Orwell Archive, which has many different research studies and all of his works or literature for all the people to visit and explore (historyguide.org). This place, it allows Orwell to be remembered even after he is gone from the earth. George Orwell’s life influenced what he wrote and published whether it was where he worked, his time in the war, his family, or just something he had encountered. He had many obstacles that made things hard and that tried to stop him from being successful but he moved beyond them and achieved great amounts of goals. His life may have been cut a little short at the age of forty-six, but he worked hard in every aspect of life while he was living. Orwell’s legacy will continue to move forward in our world and will always be very influential and important to British literature.

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