Works Cited
“George Orwell.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#Personal_life.
“George Orwell Biography.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell.
Howells, Coral Ann. The Handmaid's Tale Study Guide. Jonathan Cape, 1998, 2003, 2016.
“1984: George Orwell and 1984 Background.” SparkNotes,
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/context/.
“1984: Historical Context Essay.” SparkNotes,
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/context/historical/why-orwell-wrote-1984/.
“1984: Movie Adaptation.” SparkNotes,
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/movie-adaptations/.
Publication date: 8th June 1949
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Author information/background:
- George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, (born June 25, 1903, Motihari,
Bengal, India—died January 21, 1950, London, England), English novelist, essayist,
and critic famous for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949).
(“George Orwell Biography” https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell)
- George Orwell won scholarships to two of England’s leading schools, Wellington
and Eton colleges. He briefly attended the former before transferring to the latter,
where Aldous Huxley was one of his teachers. Instead of going on to a university,
Orwell entered the British Imperial service and worked as a colonial police
officer. (“George Orwell Biography”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell)
- Orwell’s revulsion against imperialism led not only to his personal rejection of the
bourgeois lifestyle but to a political reorientation as well. Immediately after returning
from Burma he called himself an anarchist and continued to do so for several
years; during the 1930s, however, he began to consider himself a socialist, though
he was too libertarian in his thinking ever to take the further step—so common in the
period—of declaring himself a communist. (“George Orwell Biography”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell)
- Orwell was an atheist who identified himself with the humanist outlook on life.
Orwell's writing was often explicitly critical of religion, and Christianity in particular.
He found the church to be a "selfish [...] church of the landed gentry" with its
establishment "out of touch" with the majority of its communicants and altogether a
pernicious influence on public life. (“George Orwell”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#Personal_life)
- On anarchism, Orwell wrote in The Road to Wigan Pier: "I worked out an anarchistic
theory that all governments are evil, that the punishment always does more harm
“George Orwell.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#Personal_life.
“George Orwell Biography.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell.
Howells, Coral Ann. The Handmaid's Tale Study Guide. Jonathan Cape, 1998, 2003, 2016.
“1984: George Orwell and 1984 Background.” SparkNotes,
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/context/.
“1984: Historical Context Essay.” SparkNotes,
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/context/historical/why-orwell-wrote-1984/.
“1984: Movie Adaptation.” SparkNotes,
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/1984/movie-adaptations/.
Publication date: 8th June 1949
Publisher: Harvill Secker
Author information/background:
- George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, (born June 25, 1903, Motihari,
Bengal, India—died January 21, 1950, London, England), English novelist, essayist,
and critic famous for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949).
(“George Orwell Biography” https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell)
- George Orwell won scholarships to two of England’s leading schools, Wellington
and Eton colleges. He briefly attended the former before transferring to the latter,
where Aldous Huxley was one of his teachers. Instead of going on to a university,
Orwell entered the British Imperial service and worked as a colonial police
officer. (“George Orwell Biography”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell)
- Orwell’s revulsion against imperialism led not only to his personal rejection of the
bourgeois lifestyle but to a political reorientation as well. Immediately after returning
from Burma he called himself an anarchist and continued to do so for several
years; during the 1930s, however, he began to consider himself a socialist, though
he was too libertarian in his thinking ever to take the further step—so common in the
period—of declaring himself a communist. (“George Orwell Biography”
https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Orwell)
- Orwell was an atheist who identified himself with the humanist outlook on life.
Orwell's writing was often explicitly critical of religion, and Christianity in particular.
He found the church to be a "selfish [...] church of the landed gentry" with its
establishment "out of touch" with the majority of its communicants and altogether a
pernicious influence on public life. (“George Orwell”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#Personal_life)
- On anarchism, Orwell wrote in The Road to Wigan Pier: "I worked out an anarchistic
theory that all governments are evil, that the punishment always does more harm
