Cool Orwell or 1984 Facts

From your research (links from website) share an interesting detail or two that caught your attention. Can be about Orwell or any of his writings.

George Orwell's Real name is Eric Arthur Blair.

--Can someone tell me why?

He wrote 1984 under a penname. Who knows why. Doctor Suess is a pen name as well.

George Orwell was a Patriot who entered the Spanish War to fight fascists. In his memoirs he wrote that he was shot through the throat while fighting communists. I just thought that was pretty interesting and sad.

Whoa thats kinda weird....wouldnt he have bled to death? That shot would have ruptured his jugular vein and carotid arteries?

I found that Orwell served as a Colonial Policeman in Burma for a while and he fought voluntarily against Franco in the Spanish Civil War, during which he was wounded. I think that these experiences probably influenced his writing, expecially 1984 as it is about governments and politics.

Orwell had two sisters, one younger, and one older. He wasn't very close to either of his sisters. I wonder if this maybe affected his writing in any way.

I found that Orwell was sent to a Anglican convent school in Henley at the age of 5 (exactly like his sister).

1. George Orwells real name was Eric Arthur Blair
2. "Doublespeak" is never used in 1984
3. Aldous Huxley was Orwell's French teacher for a term early in his Eton career
4. His wife Eileen was once a student of J.R.R. Tolkien
5. Before settling on "George Orwell", Eric Blair had considered using the pseudonyms "P.S. Burton," "Kenneth Miles," and "H. Lewis Allways"
6. He joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma and came to hate imperialism, returned to England in 1927 and resigned, determined to become a writer. He later used his Burmese experiences for the novel Burmese Days and in such essays as "A Hanging" and "Shooting an Elephant"
7. He wrote much of the 1984 novel while living in a remote farmhouse on the island of Jura, off the coast of Scotland
8. Died of tuberculosis in 1950

How about this for a fact?

Orwell decided to get himself arrested as a drunk so that he could experience jail. He got off in 48 hours.

In a response to grlcela's question, he changed his name because he wanted to start a new chapter in his life. He was going from living in India as an Imperial Police officer to living an extremely poor life in England.

Animal Farm is based on the Russian communist revolution, Orwell was influenced greatly by the behavior of communists in the Spainish Civil War in which he fought.

In 1936 he traveled to depressed industrial areas in Northern England for research on a series of essays. This experience cemented his firm belief in socialism, although the resulting essays seemed rather critical of the working class. Thus, he gained the reputation as, "an awkward and critical fellow-traveler of the Left Wing." I thought this was interesting because he was a firm believer in socialism, yet he hated communism, and the two are closely associated. This is also interesting because the 1984 government strikes me as somewhat communist, however not socialist, because the government abandons the "proles" and socialist governments take care of all their people. This is a really fascinating portrayal of communism without socialism, since the two are usually hand in hand.

in 1922 Orwell joined the Indian Imperial police, and he also got drunk and got arrested to see what prison was like, i wonder if he wrote about that experience anywhere?

in 1922 Orwell joined the Indian Imperial police, and he also got drunk and got arrested to see what prison was like, i wonder if he wrote about that experience anywhere?

He served for the Imperial Police, but was concerned about social injustice.
He wasn't extremely religious, but he believed that something had to replace religion in its decline or totalitarianism would prevail.

He was a priviledged schoolboy who focused on the plight of the poor
He was a patriot who knew the dangers of nationlism (and he wrote about it!)
how is that for ironic!?

George Orwell was a sergeant in WWII
He was a reporter for the BBC, Observer, and Tribune during WWII

- In 1936 he went to fight in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded in duty

- He taught himself to write stories while living in London at the age of 24

- He adopted a son in 1946

I think it's interesting that when Orwell returned from his stint in the Indian Imperial Police, he hung out in the slums and poorest parts of London and experianced the beggars and went to jail.

1. Full name was Charles George Orwell, but original name was Eric Arthur Blair
2. Died in January 1950
3. Went to boarding school as a child
4. Born in Bengal in 1903
5. Had two siblings, was the middle child
6. George Orwell was sent to a small Anglican convent school in Henley when he was five years old, then became a king’s scholar at Eton for many years.
7. George Orwell was homeless for many parts of his life, until he got a job as a teacher. Ill health forced him to quit that job, and he ended up working in a book store.
8. He was 44 years old and was dying of tuberculosis when he wrote 1984, in the year 1984.

he had anarchist ideas nad some of the words he used became a part of the english language

After down and out was rejected by two publishers, Orwell asked for the script to be destroyed. Mabel Firez was supposed to destroy it, but saved it and took it to a publisher, who in the end agreed to publish it after all the swear words were deleted.

Animal Farm wasn't accepted by the publishers because of the British alliance with Stalin