Alex raised her hand again as she studied the new book cover that appeared on the projector.

" Written in 1937, it is a moving account of the heroic revolutionary struggle of the Spanish people against fascism and for socialism. Above all it provides irrefutable proof by an independent living witness to the crimes committed by the Stalinist bureaucracy in Spain and its betrayal of the Spanish revolution. Orwell’s account was a vindication of the analysis that had been made by Leon Trotsky and the International Left Opposition of the Soviet bureaucracy, whose policies had by then become utterly counterrevolutionary on a world scale.

Many workers and intellectuals had moved sharply to the left in response to the tumultuous events of the 1930s, such as the Depression, the growing rise of fascism and the struggles of the working class.

When in July 1936, General Franco launched a military rebellion against the elected republic in Spain its real target was the economic, political and cultural organisations of the working class. Spanish workers responded by revolutionary measures, taking over and running factories, land, transport, and all aspects of military and economic life. When the government refused to give them arms, they got them from soldiers, looted arms stores or improvised them in the most ingenious ways.

Homage to Catalonia is therefore a seminal text and remains an excellent introduction to the Spanish events and the strangling of the revolution by Stalinism. But Orwell could not elaborate a revolutionary alternative to Stalinism and eventually the domination of the workers’ movement by the bureaucracy, combined with the victories this gave fascism, led him to extreme forms of political demoralization as is seen in his book 1984. He ended up supporting the democratic imperialist powers in the Second World War."

After Alex was done talking, she put her hand down and sat quietley in her seat, awaiting for Miss Shwmae to talk again.

"Very impressive, even if you do sound like you've swallowed a text book. 10 points to Slytherin, Alex, for your contribution."

The slide altered once more.



"Anyone know of the significance of the items on the front cover? In particular the pink ornament and the cigarettes?"

Alex blinked several times, not knowing if Shwmae's comment was an insult or a compliment. She quickly snapped back to reality and turned her gaze once again on the slide projector. She studied the book cover carefully.

She raised her hand once again, this time, guessing the answer. "Erm, I suposse that book is his biography and that just shows that he liked to smoke, maybe. I'm really not sure what the pink ornament means though," she said, rasing her eyebrow.

She laughed, audibly. "It says '1984', it's a novel, Alex. Perhaps you have swallowed a text book?" she mused. "The ornament is an object which Winston purchases in the novel in a shop which is in the area where the Proles live. He later hires a room above the shop in order to carry out relations with Julia. The cigarettes are a luxury which the party members are permitted to have however their supply is rationed."

"Nevertheless, we shall now move on to discussion about Orwell. Does anyone know what inspired him to write such thought-provoking novels?"

Mark thought to himself for a while " a tragedy that happened in his family so he wanted to make a novel of it"

Alex blushed furiously when she realized she gave the wrong answer. She hated when she was wrong about something. She quickly raised her hand again. "He wrote such thought-provoking novels because the war made him a strong opposer of communism and an advocate of the English brand of socialism."

"Neither of the novels were really about tragedies. They were more about dystopian socities. Anyone else have a better idea of his inspiration?" she asked, pointedly.

"Now see Alex has the right idea. 5 points to Slytherin." she added, a smile on her face. "Can anyone tell me anything about his background?"[/color]

"his background was not so fine im guessing so he wrote a novel"said Mark

Alex gave Miss Shwmae a small smile and raised her hand again. "You mean, where he was born and stuff right?

Well, George Orwell was born in Motihari, Bengal, India, as the second child of Richard Walmesley Blair and Ida Mabel Limonzin. His father was a civil servant in the opium department and his mother was the daughter of a tea-merchant in Burma. In 1904 Orwell moved with his mother and sister to England, where he attended Eton. His first writings Orwell published in college periodicals. During these years Orwell developed his antipathy towards the English class systems. Also Orwell's years at St Cyprian's Preparatory School in Easbourne were not happy.

At the age of seventeen Orwell had his first experiences as an "amateur tramp" in Plymouth, where he was stranded accidentally without much money. After Orwell failing to win a scholarship to university, Orwell went in 1922 to Burma to serve in the Indian Imperial Police (1922-27) as an assistant superintendent.

Orwell returned to Europe and lived as a tramp and beggar, working low paid jobs in England and France (1928-29), where his aunt lived. He picked hops in Kent as a migratory laborer and once Orwell tried to get himself arrested as a drunk to have some knowledge about life in prison. After forty-eight hours he was released. In 1928 he had decided to become a writer, but his first amateurish efforts arose smiles.

Unable to support himself with his writings, Orwell took up a teaching post at a private school, where he finished his first novel, BURMESE DAYS (1934). In 1936 Orwell married Eileen O'Shaugnessy, a doctor's daughter.From 1936 to 1940 Orwell worked as a shopkeeper in Wallington, Hertfordshire. He was commissioned in 1936 by the publisher Victor Gollancz to produce a documentary account of unemployment in the North of England for the Left Book Club.

His wife died in 1945 - "Yes, she was a good old stick," Orwell said to his friend. In 1949 Orwell married Sonia Brownell (1918-1980), who had been an editorial assistant on Cyril Connolly’s magazine Horizon. Her marriage to Orwell lasted only three months. Orwell died from tuberculosis in London University Hospital on January 21, 1950, soon after the publication of Nineteen Eighty-Four."

Kay raised her hand. "George Orwell grew up during an era of political upheaval in Europe, but he became outspoken after working for a time in a colonial government position in India. Upon leaving his government job, Orwell felt compelled to write on political themes, such as dishonest politics, slipshod language, and totalitarian movements, to counter the tumultuous political environments he encountered on his travels. He saw first-hand the implications of totalitarian movements and he felt that these tendencies were a threat to his generation."