George Orwell and Animal Farm

We have done quite a bit of analysis of Animal Farm in this term and I am sure that everyone knows what this short but interesting novel is about. As we all know, Animal Farm was written by George Orwell to show his dislike of totalitarianism. I will not elaborate further about the content, but instead, tell you a little more of book and its author's history.

George Orwell was born in British India and at that time, his father was a British civil servant (a person working for the government). He attended an Anglican parish school and then St. Cyprian's School for secondary school education. His schoolmates came from better famiy backgrounds and unhappy experiences there inspired him later to write an essay called "Such, Such Were the Joys" which described those childhood memories. At St. Cyprian's, he wrote two poems which won him a prize and thus earned himself a scholarship to the prestigious Eton College. Later, as his parents could no longer afford to send him to university, he joined the Indian Imperial Police after passing the entrance examinations.

He wrote the draft of Animal Farm between 1943 and 1944 after the Spanish Civil War, a war that took place in Spain from 1936 to 1939. Many publishers refused to publish Animal Farm because of the politics which were concerned inside the novel. Finally, one publisher, Secker and Warburg, agreed and published the book in 1945. The first edition was released in England on 17 August, 1945. Many years later, it was featured in the Times magazine and also recognised as one of the "Great Books of the Western World".