Talking Animals

Animal Farm was written as a satire to the communist government of the Soviet Union. This novel was actually rejected by three different publishers in Britain and George Orwell was told by some American publishers that "Animal stories didn't sell." The story was written in 1945 but because of the paper shortage during the war, publication was delayed until the following year. Despite the derogatory responses from the publishers, Animal Farm ended up selling over 600,000 copies from 1946 to 1950. Critics consider Animal Farm to be one of the greatest political satires of all time. It is even observed that the corrupting nature of power illustrated in Animal Farm still applies in the world today even after the breakup of the Soviet Union (Court).

Jessie, the dog is the main character in the story who gives the whole account of how the animals revolt against Jones who is the owner of Manor Farm after being inspired by a pig named Old Major who convinced them that Man was their enemy and that they must overthrow the oppression that the farmers were putting them through. After the death of Old Major, a pig named Snowball begins to step up and lead earning the respect of many of the animals, but is then driven out by a pig named Napoleon. Napoleon then assumes total control of the farm and destroys the vision that Old Major had of animals bearing no resemblance to Man. He becomes a harsh dictator and orders the death of any animals who oppose him. Ultimately the animals revolution was for nothing since they overthrow one oppressor only to put another in place.

Works Cited

Animal Farm. Dir. John Stephenson. Perf. Kelsy Grammer, Ian Holm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Julia Ormond, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Scofield, Patrick Stewart, Peter Ustinov. 1999. Halmark Home Entertainment, 1999. DVD.

Court, Ayesha. "George Orwell." Bookmarks July/Aug. 2004: 14-19. SIRS Renaissance. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 March 2010.

Major Works

Animal Farm is one of George Orwell's most well known pieces. The scene is set with barnyard animals being oppressed by the farmers and are inspired by a pig named Old Major to rebel against them. After successfully driving out the farmers, a pig named Napoleon becomes the leader and then becomes a tyrant himself. He trains a group of dogs to be his army and oppresses the other animals ordering the deaths of any who will oppose him. Ultimately, this makes the animals' revolution fruitless because they are no better if not worse off than they were before. This is comparable to the Soviet Union while governed by Joseph Stalin.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is another one of George Orwell's major works that illustrates the dangers of a totalitarian government. The story takes place in London, which is part of a superpower state called Oceania ruled by a totalitarian ruler called Big Brother. The people are kept in line with the slogan "Big Brother is watching" and anyone who is found to be thinking about opposition is subject to arrest. The ministry of truth is the government agency in charge of altering historical records and claiming that the world's present state is how it has always been. No one is entitled to think any differently or they could be arrested by the thought police.

Works Cited

Animal Farm. Dir. John Stephenson. Perf. Kelsey Grammer, Ian Holm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Julia Ormond, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Scofield, Patrick Stewart, Peter Ustinov. 1999. Halmark Home Entertainment, 1999. DVD.

Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1949. Print.

Themes

George Orwell is well known for his anti-totalitarian views. This was the main theme illustrated in his 1945 novel Animal Farm depicting a farm where animals drive out oppressive farmers then allowing a pig named Napoleon to take total control. This novel earned Orwell a great deal of popularity. George Orwell also published nemerous essays in newspapers expressing his opposition to totalitarianism. The essay that achieved the most recognition was titled "Politics and the English Language" written in 1946. Some have even regarded this to be the best political article of all time. The article condemmed the distortion of words as a means to hide what was actually going on in the political arena (Stade).
George Orwell is regarded as one who can "create an art out of political journalism" (Court). One interesting fact is that although Orwell was very critical of communism, he still favored socialism. His work that he titled The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius in 1941 was part of his effort to persuade the British to adopt socialism (Stade). The Road to Wigan Pier was one major work that illustrated George Orwell's favoer for socialism. This story is considered a classic portrait of the working class as it gives a detailed acocunt of poverty and unemployment that coal miners and industrial workers were suffering in Wigan, Liverpool, and Sheffield. While the story supports socialism, it also includes some of Orwell's skeptical views about its potential (Court).


Works Cited

Court, Ayesha. "George Orwell." Bookmarks July/Aug. 2004: 14-19.
SIRS
Renaissance. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 March 2010.


Stade, George, and Karen Karbiener, eds. "Orwell, George." Encyclopedia of British Writers, 20th Century, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 17 March 2010. http://www.fofweb.com

The Mark He Left

George Orwell has made an incredible impact on the world's perspective of government and politics. The term "Orwellian" has come to be used in to describe a totalitarian state that practically has entire control over all activities of the citizens similar to the society depicted in Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty Four ("Orwellian"). In 2002, Iraq held an election in which everyone could simply vote "yes" or "no" for Saddam Hussein to remain the leader and a vote of "no" would jeopardize one's life because criticizing Saddam at the time warranted the death penalty in Iraq (McWhirter). This type of society has been labeled Orwellian (McWhirter). George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four also seemed to play an integral role in transitioning Chile from a dictatorship to a democracy after the novel appeared there in Spanish in 1983 (Shallat).

George Orwell is said to have influenced the English language far more than most other authors could ever claim (Court). The term "newspeak" was used in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and originated from Orwell's wish to proclaim the truth regardless of the cost (Court). The New York Times wrote that Nineteen Eighty-Four is probably the one work that stands out above all others as one that stimulates people's love for freedom and disgust for tyranny (Stade). This is evident in how surveillance systems are often compared to those in this novel. One can quickly make the connection when they see the increase in where cameras are appearing such as at red lights and even the GPS systems in cars. People take comfort to these things in some ways as they increase safety but discomfort in some ways as they feel that they are loosing their privacy.

Works Cited

Court, Ayesha. "George Orwell." Bookmarks July/Aug. 2004: 14-19.

SIRS

Renaissance. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 19 March 2010.

<http://sirs.com>

McWhirter, Cameron. "Yes! Iraqis Get to Vote for President--As Long As It's Saddam." Detroit News (Detroit, MI) Oct. 14 2002: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 01 April 2010.

<http://sirs.com>

"Orwellian." Dictionary Definitions. LoveToKnow, n.d. Web. 02 April 2010.

<http://www.youdictionary.com/orwellian>

Shallat, Lezak. "'Newspeaking' to deaf ears." New Internationalist. 427 (Nov 2009): 19(1). Student Resource Center-College Edition Expanded. Gale. Tarrant County College Lib. Web. 01 April 2010.

<http://find.galegroup.com>

Stade, George, and Karen Karbiener, eds. "Orwell, George." Encyclopedia of British Writers, 20th Century, Vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 17 March 2010.

<http://www.fofweb.com>

Life Overview

George Orwell was born in 1903 in Bengal, India. His real name was Eric Arthur Blair, his mother's name was Ida Amble Limousine and his Father's name was Richard Wellesley Blair. He grew up in England and the early part of Orwell's life was spent in poverty, which he gives an account of in his 1933 book Down and Out in Paris and London (Stade). As an adult, Orwell served as an Imperial Policeman in Burma, India. During this experience, he got a glimpse of the adverse effects of institutionalized force (Stade).
George Orwell considered himself a socialist but did not favor totalitarianism (Stade). This caused the Leftist Party to view him as a traitor (Stade). He openly expressed his displeasure with the rampant political injustices as well as thecommunist style of the Soviet Union (Court). Orwell was labeled the 'wintry conscience of his generation by novelist V.S. Pritchett. Orwell died on January 21, 1950 having lived through a peried in which fascism and communism were on th rise (Court). This period also included the two World Wars as well as the deterioration of the British Empire (Court). The end of his life was right around the beginning of the Cold War (Court). He wrote over 700 works in his life, each with unique ways of expressing his political views (Court).

Works Cited

Stade, George, and Karen Karbiener, eds. "Orwell, George." Encyclopedia of British Writers, 20th Century, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2003. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Tarrant County College Lib., Fort Worth, TX. Web. 17 March 2010. http://www.fofweb.com

Court, Ayesha. "George Orwell." Dookmarks July/Aug. 2004: 14-19. SIRS

Renaissance. Tarrant County College Lib., Forth Worth, TX. Web. 19 March 2010. http://sirs.com