Born Eric Blair in India in 1903. As a small child, he was taken to England by his mother, and was educated at Eton College. He could not stand the lack of privacy, the humiliating punishments, the pressure to conform to the values of the English public school tradition. At Eton he began to develop an independent-minded personality, indifference to accepted values, and he professed atheism and socialism. He passed the India Office examinations for the Indian Imperial Police, opting to serve in Burma (now Myanmar), where he remained from 1922 to 1927. In 1927 he went on leave and decided not to return; it was not simply that he wished to break away from British imperialism in India: he wished to 'escape from [...] every form of man's dominion over man’.
After a period in Paris, where he worked as a dishwasher in a hotel, he decided to begin publishing his works with the pseudonym of George Orwell. He chose 'George' because it had an Englishness, and Orwell' because it was the name of a river. Down and Out in Paris and London (1933) was his first non fiction narrative. It was followed by Burmese Days (1934). In December 1936 Orwell went to Catalonia with his wife to report on the Spanish Civil War and wrote about it in Homage to Catalonia (1938). In 1941 he joined the BBC, but in 1943 he resigned and became the literary editor of The Tribune an influential socialist weekly. He also began writing Animal Farm, which was published in 1945 and made Orwell internationally known and financially secure. Orwell's last book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, was his most original novel; it was published in 1949 and soon became a bestseller. Orwell died of tuberculosis the following year.
Indebted to Charles Dickens in his choice of social themes and the use of realistic and factual language, he conveyed a vision of human fraternity and of the misery caused by poverty and deprivation. He insisted on tolerance, justice and decency in human relationships, and warned against the increasing artificiality of urban civilisation. Above all he strongly criticised totalitarianism, warning against the violation of liberty and helping his readers to recognise tyranny in all its forms.
The novel describes a future world divided into three blocks: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. The world of Oceania is ruled by 'the Party, which is led by a figure called 'Big Brother, and is continuously at war with the other two States. Free thought, sex and any expression of individuality are forbidden, but the protagonist, Winston Smith, illegally buys a diary in which he begins to write his thoughts and memories, addressing them to the future generations. At the 'Ministry of Truth, where he rewrites historical records to suit the needs of the Party, Winston nofices an attractive dark-haired girl staring at him, The girl's name is Julia; she proves to also have a rebellious attitude, and they begin a secret affair. One day O'Brien, a member of the powerful 'Inner Party, summons them to his luxury flat and tells them that he too hates the Party and works against it as a member of the 'Brotherhood' led by Emmanuel Goldstein. O'Brien gives Winston a copy of Goldstein's book, the manifesto of the Brotherhood. Winston is reading it to Julia in their room when some soldiers suddenly break in and arrest them. He is taken to the 'Ministry of Love, where he finds out that O'Brien is a Party spy. O'Brien tortures and brainwashes Winston for months, until his will is broken and he is released to the outside world. He meets Julia, but no longer loves her. He has completely given up his identity and has learned to love Big Brother.
The setting of the novel is Oceania, a large country including the Americas, Australia, and other nations as well as England. The story takes place in a terrifying London in the year 1984. The shortages, the bomb sites, the regular failure of things to work properly, the prevailing squalor, were drawn from real life. Oceania's political structure is divided into three segments: the Inner Party, the ruling class, consisting of less than 2 percent of the population; the Outer Party, that is, the educated workers, around 18-19 percent of the population; and the Proles, or the proletariat, the working class.
The overwhelming impression of Nineteen Eighty-Four is a sense of loss, a feeling that beauty and truth, and all finer emotions and values, belong to the past. Winston is 39 and physically weak; he experiences alienation from society and feels a desire for spiritual and moral integrity. His main concern is the manipulation of history by the Party, and he greatly fears the moment when no one will have any memories of actual history. He is in love with Julia and he remains loval to her until his last torture experience. Julia is more naïve and is pessimistic about the Party, since she believes that it will never be overthrown. She is not much concerned with historical. O'Brien is a member of the Inner Party who tricks Winston and Julia into believing that he belongs to the secret Brotherhood, which is dedicated to overthrowing the Party. He is a mysterious character, with little background information revealed to the reader. O'Brien is the main agent of Winston's torture.
Nineteen Eighty-Four is a satire on hierarchical societies which destroy fraternity. The dictator is called 'Big Brother' but he actually does not watch over his people as a brother should do: so 'watching here does not mean 'taking care of' but “controlling”. Orwell believed that if man has someone to trust, his individuality cannot be destroyed because his identity arises from interaction, not autonomy or isolation.