The Impact of Stalinism in 1984 Truly one of the greatest anti-utopian novels in history George Orwell's 1984 is a "nightmare vision" into the future of a world controlled by totalitarianism (Meyers 144). Through the character of Winston Smith, Orwell expresses his negative views on totalitarianism in Stalinist Russia and closely links the events in the novel to actual history.
George Orwell, the assumed name of writer Eric Arthur Blair, was born in 1903 in Bengal India. His father, Richard Blair, was a British official in the Indian civil services. His mother, Ida, was a governess and the daughter of a teak merchant in Burma ("Orwell, George." 1019). Orwell had one older sister, named Marjorie, who was born in 1898 (Shelden 15). Throughout his life Orwell and his father had a very strained relationship, until his father's death in 1939 (Shelden 11). As a result of his parents class prejudice, Orwell had few friends as a child because he was not allowed to play with the "common" children.
English: Grave of Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell...
The square in Barcelona renamed in Orwell's honour
English: River Orwell Shore Looking towards Felixs...He eventually invented an invisible friend named Franky to play with (Shelden 19).
In 1911 Orwell was sent to St. Cyprian's, a preparatory school, on the Sussex coast. Known for his intelligence, Orwell was "distinguished among the other boys by his poverty and intellectual brilliance" ("Orwell, George." 1020). After attending St. Cyprian's he attended Wellington college for nine weeks in 1917 (Shelden 59). He won several scholarships and decided upon attending Eton from 1917 to 1921. His first writings appeared in the college periodicals at Eton. After leaving Eton, Orwell traveled to Burma as assistant district superintendent in the Indian Imperial Police ("Orwell, George." 1020). On January 1, 1928, he resigned his position to go to Paris and pursue a career as a writer (Kalechofsky vii).
During the following years he...