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The Orwell Foundation is delighted to make available a selection of essays, articles, sketches, reviews and scripts written by Orwell.

This material remains under copyright in some jurisdictions, including the US, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of  the Orwell Estate . All queries regarding rights should be addressed to the Estate’s representatives at A. M. Heath literary agency.

The Orwell Foundation is an independent charity – please consider  making a donation to help us maintain these resources for readers everywhere.

Sketches For Burmese Days

• 1. John Flory – My Epitaph
• 2. Extract, Preliminary to Autobiography
• 3. Extract, the Autobiography of John Flory
• 4. An Incident in Rangoon
• 5. Extract, A Rebuke to the Author, John Flory

Essays and articles

• A Day in the Life of a Tramp ( Le Progrès Civique , 1929)
• A Hanging ( The Adelphi , 1931)
• A Nice Cup of Tea ( Evening Standard , 1946)
• Antisemitism in Britain ( Contemporary Jewish Record , 1945)
• Arthur Koestler (written 1944)
• British Cookery (unpublished, 1946)
• Can Socialists be Happy? (as John Freeman, Tribune , 1943)
• Common Lodging Houses ( New Statesman , 3 September 1932)
• Confessions of a Book Reviewer ( Tribune , 1946)
• “For what am I fighting?” ( New Statesman , 4 January 1941)
• Freedom and Happiness – Review of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin ( Tribune , 1946)
• Freedom of the Park ( Tribune , 1945)
• Future of a Ruined Germany ( The Observer , 1945)
• Good Bad Books ( Tribune , 1945)
• In Defence of English Cooking ( Evening Standard , 1945)
• In Front of Your Nose ( Tribune , 1946)
• Just Junk – But Who Could Resist It? ( Evening Standard , 1946)
• My Country Right or Left ( Folios of New Writing , 1940)
• Nonsense Poetry ( Tribune , 1945)
• Notes on Nationalism ( Polemic , October 1945)
• Pleasure Spots ( Tribune , January 1946)
• Poetry and the microphone ( The New Saxon Pamphlet , 1945)
• Politics and the English Language ( Horizon , 1946)
• Politics vs. Literature: An examination of Gulliver’s Travels ( Polemic , 1946)
• Reflections on Gandhi ( Partisan Review , 1949)
• Rudyard Kipling ( Horizon , 1942)
• Second Thoughts on James Burnham ( Polemic , 1946)
• Shooting an Elephant ( New Writing , 1936)
• Some Thoughts on the Common Toad ( Tribune , 1946)
• Spilling the Spanish Beans ( New English Weekly , 29 July and 2 September 1937)
• The Art of Donald McGill ( Horizon , 1941)
• The Moon Under Water ( Evening Standard , 1946)
• The Prevention of Literature ( Polemic , 1946)
• The Proletarian Writer (BBC Home Service and The Listener , 1940)
• The Spike ( Adelphi , 1931)
• The Sporting Spirit ( Tribune , 1945)
• Why I Write ( Gangrel , 1946)
• You and the Atom Bomb ( Tribune , 1945)

Reviews by Orwell

• Anonymous Review of Burmese Interlude by C. V. Warren ( The Listener , 1938)
• Anonymous Review of Trials in Burma by Maurice Collis ( The Listener , 1938)
• Review of The Pub and the People by Mass-Observation ( The Listener , 1943)

George Orwell’s Five Greatest Essays (as Selected by Pulitzer-Prize Winning Columnist Michael Hiltzik)

in English Language , Literature , Politics | November 12th, 2013 8 Comments

Every time I’ve taught George Orwell’s famous 1946 essay on mis­lead­ing, smudgy writ­ing, “ Pol­i­tics and the Eng­lish Lan­guage ,” to a group of under­grad­u­ates, we’ve delight­ed in point­ing out the num­ber of times Orwell vio­lates his own rules—indulges some form of vague, “pre­ten­tious” dic­tion, slips into unnec­es­sary pas­sive voice, etc.  It’s a pet­ty exer­cise, and Orwell him­self pro­vides an escape clause for his list of rules for writ­ing clear Eng­lish: “Break any of these rules soon­er than say any­thing out­right bar­barous.” But it has made us all feel slight­ly bet­ter for hav­ing our writ­ing crutch­es pushed out from under us.

Orwell’s essay, writes the L.A. Times ’ Pulitzer-Prize win­ning colum­nist Michael Hiltzik , “stands as the finest decon­struc­tion of sloven­ly writ­ing since Mark Twain’s “ Fen­i­more Cooper’s Lit­er­ary Offens­es .” Where Twain’s essay takes on a pre­ten­tious aca­d­e­m­ic estab­lish­ment that unthink­ing­ly ele­vates bad writ­ing, “Orwell makes the con­nec­tion between degrad­ed lan­guage and polit­i­cal deceit (at both ends of the polit­i­cal spec­trum).” With this con­cise descrip­tion, Hiltzik begins his list of Orwell’s five great­est essays, each one a bul­wark against some form of emp­ty polit­i­cal lan­guage, and the often bru­tal effects of its “pure wind.”

One spe­cif­ic exam­ple of the lat­ter comes next on Hiltzak’s list  (actu­al­ly a series he has pub­lished over the month) in Orwell’s 1949 essay on Gand­hi. The piece clear­ly names the abus­es of the impe­r­i­al British occu­piers of India, even as it strug­gles against the can­on­iza­tion of Gand­hi the man, con­clud­ing equiv­o­cal­ly that “his char­ac­ter was extra­or­di­nar­i­ly a mixed one, but there was almost noth­ing in it that you can put your fin­ger on and call bad.” Orwell is less ambiva­lent in Hiltzak’s third choice , the spiky 1946 defense of Eng­lish com­ic writer P.G. Wode­house , whose behav­ior after his cap­ture dur­ing the Sec­ond World War under­stand­ably baf­fled and incensed the British pub­lic. The last two essays on the list, “ You and the Atom­ic Bomb ” from 1945 and the ear­ly “ A Hang­ing ,” pub­lished in 1931, round out Orwell’s pre- and post-war writ­ing as a polemi­cist and clear-sight­ed polit­i­cal writer of con­vic­tion. Find all five essays free online at the links below. And find some of Orwell’s great­est works in our col­lec­tion of Free eBooks .

1. “ Pol­i­tics and the Eng­lish Lan­guage ”

2. “ Reflec­tions on Gand­hi ”

3. “ In Defense of P.G. Wode­house ”

4. “ You and the Atom­ic Bomb ”

5. “ A Hang­ing ”

Relat­ed Con­tent:

George Orwell’s 1984: Free eBook, Audio Book & Study Resources

The Only Known Footage of George Orwell (Cir­ca 1921)

George Orwell and Dou­glas Adams Explain How to Make a Prop­er Cup of Tea

Josh Jones  is a writer and musi­cian based in Durham, NC. Fol­low him at  @jdmagness

by Josh Jones | Permalink | Comments (8) |

Related posts:

Comments (8), 8 comments so far.

You can’t go wrong with Orwell, so I feel bad about com­plain­ing. But how is “Shoot­ing an Ele­phant” not on here?!?!

YES. Total­ly agree!

And “Down and Out in Paris and Lon­don” is one of the best com­ments on home­less­ness EVER!

Good arti­cle. In this selec­tion of essays, he ranges from reflec­tions on his boy­hood school­ing and the pro­fes­sion of writ­ing to his views on the Span­ish Civ­il War and British impe­ri­al­ism. The pieces col­lect­ed here include the rel­a­tive­ly unfa­mil­iar and the more cel­e­brat­ed, mak­ing it an ide­al com­pi­la­tion for both new and ded­i­cat­ed read­ers of Orwell’s work.nnhttp://essay-writing-company-reviews.essayboards.com/

Very thought pro­vok­ing

i am crud­butt

i am crud­butt!

I think Orwell would have been irri­tat­ed at your use of how instead of why.

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10 of the Best Works by George Orwell

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

George Orwell (1903-50), born Eric Arthur Blair, is one of the most important writers of the first half of the twentieth century, and his essays and novels have continued to influence many journalists and writers since his death. The term ‘Orwellian’ has entered the dictionary, and many terms he coined or popularised – from ‘Cold War’ to ‘ thoughtcrime ’ and ‘thought police’ – have become well-known.

But what are George Orwell’s best works – that is, best novels, essays, and works of non-fiction? Below we select ten of his greatest works from across his career.

1. Down and Out in Paris and London .

This was George Orwell’s first published book-length work, in 1933. It’s a memoir of Orwell’s time spent living and sleeping rough in London (spending much time amongst vagrants and people on the fringes of society) as well as washing dishes and living a life of near-destitution in Paris.

The book was designed to reveal the hidden squalor of working-class (and even lower-class) life to middle-class readers, much as Elizabeth Gaskell’s novels in the nineteenth century had done.

2. Keep the Aspidistra Flying .

George Orwell also wrote well about petty poverty, the writer’s life (see his ‘ Confessions of a Book Reviewer ’, also from 1946), and the English obsession with money, usually with having too little of it. And he did all of these in his 1936 novel Keep the Aspidistra Flying , which focuses on Gordon Comstock, a struggling poet, who has dreams of making it big in the literary world.

Certainly, he spends his days surrounded by books, quite literally: he works in a small bookshop in London. Gordon had had a well-paid job as an advertising copywriter, but he’d thrown it up in favour of a more modest job so he would be free to write poetry. However, he finds it difficult to get inspired and writes virtually no poetry while working at the bookshop.

A long-suffering ‘girlfriend’ of Gordon’s, Rosemary, and his friend, the upper-class Ravelston (a sort of champagne socialist), are the other chief characters in the novel, as we follow Gordon’s journey through rejection, writer’s block, inspiration, selling a poem, celebrating by splashing out and spending all the money he’s earned, and ending up … well, it would be churlish to offer spoilers now, wouldn’t it?

We discuss this novel in more detail here .

3. ‘Shooting an Elephant’.

This is an early Orwell essay, from 1936. In it, he recalls his experiences as a police officer in Burma, when he had to shoot an elephant that had got out of hand. Orwell extrapolates from this one event (which may well have been fictional), seeing it as a microcosm of imperialism, wherein the coloniser loses his humanity and freedom through oppressing others.

We have analysed this essay here .

4. The Road to Wigan Pier .

Does Wigan have a pier? Many people think Orwell’s title for this 1937 book – a work of journalism documenting his time spent among working-class people in the industrial north of England – is ironic, because the north-west town of Wigan is inland. But there was a ‘pier’ there: Orwell’s title refers to the coal-loading staithe where wagons from the local colliery were unloaded.

Like Down and Out in Paris and London , the book is an important book detailing poverty in the 1930s, and shows Orwell’s commitment to journalistic integrity and first-hand research.

5. Homage to Catalonia .

When civil war between the Republicans and Nationalists broke out in Spain in 1936, Orwell travelled out there, like many left-wing intellectuals (the poet W. H. Auden was another).

But once he was amongst the fighting, Orwell considered it his duty to join the left-leaning Republicans in their fight against Franco’s fascists, and he ended up enlisting as a soldier. He was shot in the throat and was lucky to survive – and wrote this memoir of his time in Spain during this particularly bloody period of its history.

6. Coming up for Air .

Another early, lighter novel, Coming up for Air was published in June 1939, just three months before the outbreak of the Second World War. The novel follows middle-aged George Bowling as he revisits his boyhood town and discovers how much everything has changed.

Although it’s a lighter work, this nostalgic novel still addresses some important social and political themes, notably the effects that capitalism and speculative building were having on rural and semi-rural Britain.

7. ‘The Lion and the Unicorn’.

Subtitled ‘Socialism and the English Genius’, this is an essay Orwell wrote about Britain in the wake of the outbreak of the Second World War. Published in 1941, this essay takes its title from the heraldic symbols for England (the lion) and Scotland (the unicorn).

Orwell argues that some sort of socialist revolution is needed to wrest Britain out of its outmoded ways and an overhaul of the British class system will help Britain to defeat the Nazis.

The long essay contains a section, ‘England Your England’, which is often reprinted as a standalone essay, written as the German bomber planes were whizzing overhead during the Blitz of 1941. This part of the essay is a critique of blind English patriotism during wartime and an attempt to pin down ‘English’ values at a time when England itself was under threat from Nazi invasion.

8. Animal Farm .

Animal Farm is, after Nineteen Eighty-Four , George Orwell’s most famous book. Published in 1945, the novella (at under 100 pages, it’s too short to be called a full-blown ‘novel’) tells the story of how a group of animals on a farm overthrow the farmer who puts them to work, and set up an equal society where all animals work and share the fruits of their labours.

However, as time goes on, it becomes clear that the society the animals have constructed is not equal at all. It’s well-known that the novella is an allegory for Communist Russia under Josef Stalin, who was leader of the Soviet Union when Orwell wrote the book.

Curiously, the book very nearly didn’t make it into print at all. First, not long after Orwell completed the first draft in February 1944, his flat on Mortimer Crescent in London was bombed in June, and he feared the typescript had been destroyed. Orwell later found it in the rubble. Then, Orwell had difficulty finding a publisher. T. S. Eliot, at Faber and Faber, rejected it (you can read Eliot’s letter to Orwell here ).

The novella was eventually published the following year, in 1945, and its relevance – as political satire, as animal fable, and as one of Orwell’s two great works of fiction – shows no signs of abating. We have analysed Animal Farm here.

9. ‘Politics and the English Language’.

The English language is ‘in a bad way’, Orwell argues in this famous essay from 1946. As its title suggests, Orwell identifies a link between the (degraded) English language of his time and the degraded political situation: Orwell sees modern political discourse as being less a matter of words chosen for their clear meanings than a series of stock phrases slung together.

Orwell concludes with six rules or guidelines for political writers and essayists, which include: never use a long word when a short one will do, or a specialist or foreign term when a simpler English one should suffice. We have analysed this essay here .

10. Nineteen Eighty-Four .

This novel often tops the list of ‘books people lie about having read’, with an estimated two-fifths of Brits pretending they’ve read Orwell’s classic dystopian vision in order to look smart. The term ‘Orwellian’, now in common use, shows the influence of this novel, which was initially going to be called The Last Man in Europe .

Focusing on Winston Smith who works for the Ministry of Truth (loosely based on the BBC, where Orwell worked during the Second World War), and featuring Room 101 (based on a room at the BBC where Orwell had to sit through tedious meetings!), and newspeak (thoughtcrime, sexcrime, doubleplusgood, etc.), this novel remains the novel about state surveillance and totalitarianism, and although many people lie about having read it, thousands if not millions are still reading it every year.

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4 thoughts on “10 of the Best Works by George Orwell”

The Everyman edition of Orwell’s ‘Essays’ (1200 pages) is my desert island book. Endlessly rereadable and much better than his fiction in this heretic’s view.

Many thanks to Dr. Tearle for this concisely written overview of George Orwell, his life, and his writings.

“Keep the Aspidistra Flying” was such a pleasant surprise. Glad you included it.

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George Orwell

George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist and critic most famous for his novels 'Animal Farm' (1945) and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949).

(1903-1950)

Who Was George Orwell?

George Orwell was a novelist, essayist and critic best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four . He was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his times, including imperialism, fascism and communism.

Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India, on June 25, 1903. The son of a British civil servant, Orwell spent his first days in India, where his father was stationed. His mother brought him and his older sister, Marjorie, to England about a year after his birth and settled in Henley-on-Thames. His father stayed behind in India and rarely visited. (His younger sister, Avril, was born in 1908. Orwell didn't really know his father until he retired from the service in 1912. And even after that, the pair never formed a strong bond. He found his father to be dull and conservative.

According to one biography, Orwell's first word was "beastly." He was a sick child, often battling bronchitis and the flu.

Orwell took up writing at an early age, reportedly composing his first poem around age four. He later wrote, "I had the lonely child's habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued." One of his first literary successes came at the age of 11 when he had a poem published in the local newspaper.

Like many other boys in England, Orwell was sent to boarding school. In 1911, he went to St. Cyprian's in the coastal town of Eastbourne, where he got his first taste of England's class system.

What he lacked in personality, he made up for in smarts. Orwell won scholarships to Wellington College and Eton College to continue his studies.

After completing his schooling at Eton, Orwell found himself at a dead end. His family did not have the money to pay for a university education. Instead, he joined the India Imperial Police Force in 1922. After five years in Burma, Orwell resigned his post and returned to England. He was intent on making it as a writer.

Early Writing Career

After leaving the India Imperial Force, Orwell struggled to get his writing career off the ground and took all sorts of jobs to make ends meet, including being a dishwasher.

'Down and Out in Paris and London' (1933)

Orwell’s first major work explored his time eking out a living in these two cities. The book provided a brutal look at the lives of the working poor and of those living a transient existence. Not wishing to embarrass his family, the author published the book under the pseudonym George Orwell.

'Burmese Days' (1934)

Orwell next explored his overseas experiences in Burmese Days , which offered a dark look at British colonialism in Burma, then part of the country's Indian empire. Orwell's interest in political matters grew rapidly after this novel was published.

War Injury and Tuberculosis

In December 1936, Orwell traveled to Spain, where he joined one of the groups fighting against General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Orwell was badly injured during his time with a militia, getting shot in the throat and arm. For several weeks, he was unable to speak. Orwell and his wife, Eileen, were indicted on treason charges in Spain. Fortunately, the charges were brought after the couple had left the country.

Other health problems plagued the talented writer not long after his return to England. For years, Orwell had periods of sickness, and he was officially diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1938. He spent several months at the Preston Hall Sanatorium trying to recover, but he would continue to battle with tuberculosis for the rest of his life. At the time he was initially diagnosed, there was no effective treatment for the disease.

Literary Critic and BBC Producer

To support himself, Orwell took on various writing assignments. He wrote numerous essays and reviews over the years, developing a reputation for producing well-crafted literary criticism.

In 1941, Orwell landed a job with the BBC as a producer. He developed news commentary and shows for audiences in the eastern part of the British Empire. Orwell drew such literary greats as T.S. Eliot and E.M. Forster to appear on his programs.

With World War II raging on, Orwell found himself acting as a propagandist to advance the country's national interest. He loathed this part of his job, describing the company's atmosphere in his diary as "something halfway between a girls’ school and a lunatic asylum, and all we are doing at present is useless, or slightly worse than useless.”

Orwell resigned in 1943, saying “I was wasting my own time and the public money on doing work that produces no result. I believe that in the present political situation the broadcasting of British propaganda to India is an almost hopeless task.” Around this time, Orwell became the literary editor for a socialist newspaper.

Famous Books

Sometimes called the conscience of a generation, Orwell is best known for two novels: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four . Both books, published toward the end of Orwell’s life, have been turned into films and enjoyed tremendous popularity over the years.

‘Animal Farm’ (1945)

Animal Farm was an anti-Soviet satire in a pastoral setting featuring two pigs as its main protagonists. These pigs were said to represent Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky . The novel brought Orwell great acclaim and financial rewards.

‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (1949)

Orwell’s masterwork, Nineteen Eighty-Four (or 1984 in later editions), was published in the late stages of his battle with tuberculosis and soon before his death. This bleak vision of the world divided into three oppressive nations stirred up controversy among reviewers, who found this fictional future too despairing. In the novel, Orwell gave readers a glimpse into what would happen if the government controlled every detail of a person's life, down to their own private thoughts.

‘Politics and the English Language’

Published in April 1946 in the British literary magazine Horizon , this essay is considered one of Orwell’s most important works on style. Orwell believed that "ugly and inaccurate" English enabled oppressive ideology and that vague or meaningless language was meant to hide the truth. He argued that language should not naturally evolve over time but should be “an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.” To write well is to be able to think clearly and engage in political discourse, he wrote, as he rallied against cliches, dying metaphors and pretentious or meaningless language.

‘Shooting an Elephant’

This essay, published in the literary magazine New Writing in 1936, discusses Orwell’s time as a police officer in Burma (now known as Myanmar), which was still a British colony at the time. Orwell hated his job and thought imperialism was “an evil thing;” as a representative of imperialism, he was disliked by locals. One day, although he didn’t think it necessary, he killed a working elephant in front of a crowd of locals just “to avoid looking a fool.” The essay was later the title piece in a collection of Orwell’s essays, published in 1950, which included ‘My Country Right or Left,’ ‘How the Poor Die’ and ‘Such, Such were the Joys.’

Wives and Children

Orwell married Eileen O'Shaughnessy in June 1936, and Eileen supported and assisted Orwell in his career. The couple remained together until her death in 1945. According to several reports, they had an open marriage, and Orwell had a number of dalliances. In 1944 the couple adopted a son, whom they named Richard Horatio Blair, after one of Orwell's ancestors. Their son was largely raised by Orwell's sister Avril after Eileen's death.

Near the end of his life, Orwell proposed to editor Sonia Brownell. He married her in October 1949, only a short time before his death. Brownell inherited Orwell's estate and made a career out of managing his legacy.

Orwell died of tuberculosis in a London hospital on January 21, 1950. Although he was just 46 years old at the time of his death, his ideas and opinions have lived on through his work.

Despite Orwell’s disdain for the BBC during his life, a statue of the writer was commissioned by artist Martin Jennings and installed outside the BBC in London. An inscription reads, "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." The eight-foot bronze statue, paid for by the George Orwell Memorial Fund, was unveiled in November 2017.

"Would he have approved of it? It's an interesting question. I think he would have been reserved, given that he was very self-effacing,” Orwell’s son Richard Blair told The Daily Telegraph . "In the end I think he would have been forced to accept it by his friends. He would have to recognise that he was a man of the moment.”

QUICK FACTS

• Name: George Orwell
• Birth Year: 1903
• Birth date: June 25, 1903
• Birth City: Motihari
• Birth Country: India
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist and critic most famous for his novels 'Animal Farm' (1945) and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' (1949).
• Fiction and Poetry
• Journalism and Nonfiction
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• Interesting Facts
• According to one biography, Orwell's first word as a child was "beastly."
• Orwell fought in the Spanish Civil War and was badly injured. He and his wife were later indicted of treason in Spain.
• Orwell was once a BBC producer and ended up loathing his job as he felt he was being used as a propaganda machine.
• Death Year: 1950
• Death date: January 21, 1950
• Death City: London
• Death Country: United Kingdom

We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us !

CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: George Orwell Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/george-orwell
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 3, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
• Happiness can exist only in acceptance.
• Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.
• Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.

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What Were George Orwell’s Political Beliefs?

Throughout George Orwell’s life and works, there is one single thread that runs through his political writing: the impulse to write truthfully, which, for him, meant without ideology.

Some consider George Orwell’s political beliefs to be equivocal at best and suspicious at worst. D.J. Taylor recounts that there were concerns that 1984 “was worth a million votes to the Conservative party.” It is true that he held a specific but ever-changing set of beliefs that did not comply with mainstream left-wing thought. However, Orwell was always keen to stress that the moral of the novel was not anti-communist but rather anti-totalitarian, and he remained committed to his vision of democratic socialism throughout his adult life.

Orwell on Empire 

Part of the reason for the confusion surrounding Orwell’s political beliefs was his readiness to criticize his peers on the left. It was Bernard Crick, Orwell’s foremost biographer , who said of him: “He made his name as a journalist by his skill in rubbing the fur of his own cat backwards.” Orwell was bold in his critique of left-wing thinkers, even though he himself was committed to left-wing politics. He did not believe in tribalism—he would not favor certain opinions because it was fashionable to do so as a left-wing intellectual living in the south-east of England. He was a man of principle and refused to partake in the petty politics that often had its roots in class division and snobbery.

That being said, he understood where his loyalties lay. While he was discerning in his critique of liberal left-wing politics, particularly in relation to foreign policy, he did not cross the line to support conservatism. Alex Zwerdling gives the example in his book Orwell and the Left of when Orwell was asked to address a meeting protesting Soviet pressure on Yugoslavia by a Conservative group in 1945. Orwell declined, even though he agreed for the most part.

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“I belong to the Left and must work inside it,” he later said, “it seems to me that one can only denounce the crimes now being committed in Poland, Yugoslavia etc if one is equally insistent on ending Britain’s unwanted rule in India.”

Ever the pragmatist, Orwell understood the dangers of aligning himself with a more Conservative viewpoint, even if he agreed with parts of their philosophy. Ultimately, he simply refused to be a hypocrite; we can see this in his refusal to stand on the side of those who advocated Imperial policy in the East.

And he was well acquainted with Imperialism in Asia. In 1922, the year often heralded as the apex of modernism –with James Joyce’s Ulysses and T.S Eliot’s The Wasteland being published within a few short months of each other–Orwell was not eyeing literary stardom. Rather, he joined the Burma police force as a fresh-faced eighteen-year-old and rose to the ranks of Assistant District Superintendent.

As a member of the Burmese police force, he was responsible for administering the full might of British Imperial rule, and at different points, he both relished and regretted the part he had to play in European colonialism.

Orwell’s ambivalence about empire is illustrated in his essay “ Shooting an Elephant ,” about the true story of his shooting an elephant at the behest of the village locals where he was stationed in Moulmein, lower Burma (now Mawlamyine, in lower Myanmar). Talking about the hatred he endured at the hands of the Burmese people, he said that “all of this was perplexing and upsetting. For at that time, I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the better.”

However, with the brutal honesty we have come to expect in Orwell’s journalism, he spoke openly about his conflicting opinions. Later in the same passage, he admits that “with one part of my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny… with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priests’ guts. Feelings like these are the normal by-product of imperialism.”

Orwell sheds light on the internal turmoil he felt, as well as many other British citizens when faced with the realities of empire . He was aware of his prejudices; he fought and challenged them, but he was also remarkably honest in the depth of his feelings. Some find this honest equivocation confusing when discussing Orwell’s political beliefs. Readers are not often presented with such strongly opposing opinions simultaneously in the space of a few sentences. However, what readers must take into consideration is Orwell’s commitment to honesty in his writing. He did not want to present a certain image of himself, one that might please left-wing intellectuals or the upper-middle ruling classes.

Orwell on Conservatism

“Shooting an Elephant” was published in 1936. Coincidentally, or perhaps not, this was the same year Orwell confirmed his commitment to democratic socialism. 1936 was the year the Spanish Civil War broke out; he wrote to Cyril Conolly a year later that “I have seen wonderful things and at last really believe in Socialism.”

In “ Why I Write ,” published a decade later in 1946, he said, “Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism, as I understand it.” These quotations are emphatic in their commitment to left-wing politics. However, the quote also acknowledges that such loyalty was not always the case.

It is true that Orwell was not always on the political left, and even when he was, he exhibited many opinions that would not echo the sentiments of today’s left-wing political thinkers. The young Orwell described himself as a “ Tory anarchist ,” as he was not comfortable with the idealistic orthodoxies of the left.

Robert Colls argues that Orwell was, at heart, a Burkean Conservative. In his interview with the Oxford Academic , he argues that Orwell’s affections lay in “the little worlds” outside of the State apparatuses that left-wing academic theorists were so keen on dismantling.

Conservatism is, as the name suggests, concerned with the preservation of a certain way of life. It is a doctrine that relies on tradition and carefulness in its worldview. These are qualities that Orwell, at many points in his life, expressed admiration for.

For example, in his 1940 review of Muggeridge’s The Thirties , Orwell writes: “It is all very well to be ‘advanced’ and ‘enlightened,’ to snigger at Colonel Blimp and proclaim your emancipation from all traditional loyalties, but a time comes when the sand of the desert is sodden red and what have I done for England, my England?” Here, Orwell expresses a very primal and patriotic streak in his personal outlook.

He continues, “I was brought up in this tradition… even at its stupidest and most sentimental it is a comelier thing than the shallow self-righteousness of the leftwing intelligentsia.” In this quotation, Orwell plays sentimentality against the leftist intelligentsia; he does so knowingly, as he bristles against the snobberies and privileges he saw as typifying the social elite at that time.

He demanded that his literary peers live up to their own principles; he had a strong dislike for those who would claim sympathy for the working classes without taking the time to acquaint themselves with their realities. Orwell was, even after 1936, anti-intellectual. He spoke for the working-class way of life.

However, he did so as a man who attended Eton College , the most expensive public school in Europe at the time—albeit on a full scholarship—and had a very typical white upper-middle-class upbringing in India as the son of a British civil servant. It has been documented that Orwell’s time at Eton reinforced several political and philosophical convictions he took into adulthood.

Eton encouraged his brand of anti-intellectualism, his antipathy towards pacifism, and his admiration for the “military virtues.” As argued above, Orwell was a vocal supporter of left-wing politics; however, in many ways, his temperament was decidedly more conservative. It is most likely that, as a young boy, his opinions about social issues were formed at Eton.

Orwell on Pacifism 

On his way to fight in the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Orwell stopped in Paris to meet a man for whom he had conflicting feelings. Henry Miller, author of the infamous novel Tropic of Cancer , told Orwell “in forcible terms, that to go to Spain was the act of an idiot,” as Orwell himself recalled in his famous essay “Inside the Whale.” Speaking at their meeting, he says that “[Miller] felt no interest in the Spanish war” and that when discussing the bleak state of civilization, Miller was unmoved by the prospect of society being destined to be swept away.

Orwell was appalled by Miller’s attitude. It infuriated and perplexed him. Miller, at this time, had declared his position as an extreme pacifist, refusing to fight or to convert anyone else to fight. Orwell questioned the morality of this, asking what exactly Miller could be so accepting of during a time characterized by “fear, tyranny, and regimentation.” To accept civilization, Orwell laments, is to accept decay. Orwell does not manage to change Miller’s mind, but he remains mystified by Miller’s philosophy, and it is in this mystification that we can identify Orwell’s politics as one of action.

The essay’s title, “Inside the Whale,” refers to the Biblical tale of Jonah and the Whale; Orwell likens Miller to a “willing Jonah,” someone who has been swallowed by their own viewpoint and has no desire to look outside of it. Miller, after all, quit his job working at the Western Union to move to Paris and write, completely uninhibited, in the Latin Quarter of Paris among the artists and the vagabonds.

Miller’s story is one characterized by escape, obscuration, and disavowal of his own responsibilities. This is the opposite of Orwell, who was always running toward the center of things, whether that be war in Europe, empire in Southeast Asia, or poverty in northern England.

Orwell sees Miller as a man whose prose and philosophy belong to the 1920s rather than the 1930s. Miller was writing about the lumpen-proletarian fringe of Parisian society during a time when the intellectual foci of the world were in Berlin, Rome, and Moscow.

Orwell writes, “A novelist is not obliged to write directly about contemporary history, but a novelist who simply disregards the major public events of the moment is… a plain idiot.” Therein lies Orwell’s ultimate opinion of Miller: a nostalgic fool. It is not even that Orwell is unsympathetic to Miller’s attitude; he himself had spoken about his teenage impulse to write “ enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similes, and also full of purple passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their sound .”

However, he also believes that “no book is genuinely free from political bias,” and it is that political impulse that ultimately drives him to write. Writing without some political lens, for Orwell, is either impossible or pointless.

Orwell on Ideology

The clearest distillation of Orwell’s political impulse to write can be found in The Road to Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London . In a way, trying to uncover Orwell’s political beliefs is futile because he evaded traditional labels in that sense. Rather, one must look to the green pastures of England to see what Orwell was really driven by.

As Robert Colls explains, “in 1936, [Orwell] went north and for the first time in his life found an England he could believe in. He saw how the miners kept the country going. He pondered why their labour was the most valuable, but not the most valued.”

Orwell felt a strong sense that real life existed in the mining communities and industrial conditions the working classes kept, especially in the north of England, although he wrote at length about the underclasses in London too.

When Orwell left Burma and returned to England to settle and write, he “did not want to just write, he wanted to get under the skin of those he wrote about, as close to the grey-skinned experience as he thought he could stand.”

And when Orwell famously wrote in The Road to Wigan Pier that “the lower classes smell” (a choice of words that earned him considerable criticism from the book’s eventual publisher Victor Gollancz – Gollancz was one of those left-wing intellectuals Orwell sneered at, although he was published by him many times), he did so as an act of rebellion against the liberal elite rather than to taunt the poor.

He knew that such brutal honesty would be frowned upon by his peers precisely because that was what they thought, but felt it improper to say. Orwell felt frustrated by what he saw as this hypocrisy; they held so many beliefs and opinions that they failed to voice because they ought not to. In fact, it was the concept of belief itself that left Orwell wanting. In “Writers and the Leviathan,” Orwell wrote that “to accept an orthodoxy… is always to inherit unresolved contradictions.”

He saw political belief as detrimental to literary integrity. He began “Writers and Leviathan” with the statement: “This is a political age. War, Fascism , concentration camps, rubber truncheons, atomic bombs etc, are what we daily think about, and therefore to a great extent what we write about.”

Equally, in many other essays, he saw political purpose as inseparable from literature. It is difficult for the reader to reconcile these two views, which is kind of Orwell’s point. The reader should be willing to sit with contradiction—both the writer and the citizen should not attempt to find concordance where there is none.

That is the thread that runs through so much of Orwell’s scribblings—whether he be speaking about Empire, Tory anarchism, or pacifism. There is nothing to make sense of. Orwell plays with contradiction, not only in his journalism but also in his fiction.

After all, in 1984, he famously created the notion of doublethink . In 1984 , contradictory statements were how the State controlled its citizens. In Orwell’s non-fiction, holding two separate opinions simultaneously is the predominant manifestation of political orthodoxy. He writes that “to accept an orthodoxy is always to inherit unresolved contradictions… Take the fact that it is impossible to have a positive foreign policy without having powerful armed forces.”

What is the solution Orwell sees to ideological orthodoxy in the literary sphere? He argues in “Writers and Leviathan” that “to yield subjectively, not merely to a party machine, but even to a group ideology, is to destroy oneself as a writer.” However, he argues this is necessary, not as a writer, but as a citizen. Therefore, what Orwell concludes is that a writer should separate their politics from their literary life.

He argues, “When a writer engages in politics, he should do so as a citizen, as a human being, but not as a writer.” For Orwell, being a writer is more than being human; humanness is inextricably linked to an active political life. Orwell toed the line between politics and humanness—whether he did so to his satisfaction is a question only he can truly answer.

Further reading 

Carey, John. Collected Essays (London: Everyman’s Library, 2002).

Colls, Robert. George Orwell: English Rebel (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013).

Crick, Bernard. George Orwell: A Life (London, Penguin Books, 1992).

Taylor, D.J. Orwell: The New Life (London: Constable, 2023).

Zwerdling, Alex. Orwell and the Left (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1974).

What Is George Orwell Best Known For?

By Rebecca Clayton MA English, BA English Literature Rebecca is a higher education professional and contributing writer living in London, United Kingdom. Her master’s thesis entitled ‘Disassembling the Myth of the Struggling Artist in George Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying’ was published in the Orwell Studies academic journal, the world’s leading journal on the life and works of George Orwell. She is deeply passionate about examining the role of the artist in society, both past and present. On her free time, she enjoys writing on her blog , cooking, reading, travelling, and gaming.

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Fact Check: George Orwell Did Say, 'At 50, Everyone Has the Face He Deserves'

British author George Orwell once said: "At 50, everyone has the face he deserves."

For years, social media users on X , Facebook , Instagram , and other platforms have claimed George Orwell, the British author best known for his novels "1984" and "Animal Farm," once said: "At 50, everyone has the face he deserves."

The alleged quote has also appeared on numerous quote-meme websites , as well as in multiple print anthologies of quotes .

(X user @holdengraber)

Like other historical figures, such as Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, Orwell has been a magnet for falsely attributed quotes, some of which Snopes has debunked before.

In this case, however, the quote was genuine and correctly attributed to the British author.

Searching for the quotation using the Internet Archive's full-text search function produced nearly 300 results . One of these was "In Front of Your Nose: 1945–1950," the fourth volume of the "Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell," which first published in 1968 and was co-edited by Sonia Orwell — his wife — and Ian Angus.

The quote in question appeared on page 515 of that book, in a section titled "Extracts from a Manuscript Note-book." It is surrounded by a red box in the image below. The entry containing the quote was dated April 17, 1949.

(Internet Archive/"Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell")

In an introductory note to that section, the editors of the volume wrote:

During the last year of his life Orwell kept a manuscript note-book in which he made notes for a long short story, "A Smoking Room Story," and for essays on Joseph Conrad and Evelyn Waugh. He also used it for occasional jottings from which the following selection is taken.

Snopes tracked down a digitized version of the aforementioned notebook that was hosted online as part of University College London's George Orwell Archive .

The quotation in question appeared in Orwell's handwriting on page 30 of the digitized version, at the bottom of the left page (highlighted in the red box).

(George Orwell, "Literary Notebook [1949]")

Although the quote itself was genuine, one piece of misinformation sometimes circulates alongside it. Namely, some social media users incorrectly claim it represented Orwell's last written words .

(Facebook account QI - Quite Interesting)

The same claim has also appeared in traditional publications , including a 2010 anthology titled "Last Words of Notable People," which identified the quote as Orwell's "last words (written)." That anthology cited another book, Ralph Keyes' 2006 "The Quote Verifier," which described the quote as "the last words Orwell wrote in his notebook."

However, by reading through the digitized version of Orwell's original notebook, which continued for several pages after the quote in question appeared, Snopes found this was not the last thing Orwell ever wrote.

The latest specific date we found in that notebook was Dec. 16, 1949, around eight months after Orwell jotted down the quotation investigated here, and one month before he died on Jan. 21, 1950, at the age of 46. The Dec. 16, 1949, date appeared on the left side of page 31 of the digitized notebook, in the form "16-12-49" (in British English, the day is placed before the month).

In other words, "At 50, everyone has the face he deserves" was not the final sentence Orwell wrote before his death, despite occasional claims that it was. Instead, it was simply the final excerpt from his notebooks to be included in the fourth volume of the "Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell."

Regardless, the presence of the quote in Orwell's own handwriting within one of his notebooks was sufficient evidence to confirm the quote's attribution. Therefore, Snopes rated the claim that Orwell once said, "at 50, everyone has the face he deserves" as a "Correct Attribution."

Belmonte, Adriana. "9 of the Most Chilling Last Words in History." Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/chilling-last-words-history-2018-6 . Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.

---. "9 of the Most Chilling Last Words in History." Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/chilling-last-words-history-2018-6 . Accessed 20 Aug. 2024.

Ibrahim, Nur. "Did Orwell Really Write This About Corrupt Politicians and Voters?" Snopes, 30 Nov. 2020, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/george-orwell-people-accomplices/ .

Maguire, Jack. Everyday Quotations : Just the Right Words for Life's Memorable Occasions. Garden City, N.Y. : GuildAmerica Books, 1998. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/everydayquotatio00magu .

Malone, Aubrey. Quotable Quotes for Quoters. Tadworth : Clarion, 2005. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/quotablequotesfo0000malo .

Orwell, George. "Literary Notebook [1949]." UCL Library Services, https://ucl.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/delivery/44UCL_INST:UCL_VU2/12414871860004761#page=30&zoom=150,-4,563 .

---. The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell. New York : Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1968. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/collectessayorwe00geor .

PerryCook, Taija. "Orwell Talked of 'Destroying People' by 'Denying and Obliterating' Their History?" Snopes, 21 June 2024, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/george-orwell-destroying-people/ .

Quotations for Speeches. London : Paragon Books, 1994. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/quotationsforspe0000unse_e6p2 .

Ralph Keyes. The Quote Verifier. St. Martin's Press, 2006. Internet Archive, http://archive.org/details/quoteverifierwho00keye .

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[Discussion] George Orwell: A collection of essays

Welcome to the first check-in for George Orwell: A collection of Essays! Today, we'll be discussing the first essay in this collection, Such, such were the joys.

Most of us know Orwell from his two most famous works, Animal Farm and 1984 . However, Orwell wrote extensively and published many articles, poems, pamphlets, and essays. Some quick background on Orwell (info from wiki and Goodreads ):

Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair. Born in India, Blair was raised and educated in England from when he was one year old. After school he became an Imperial policeman in Burma from 1922-1927, before returning to Suffolk, England, where he began his writing career as George Orwell—a name inspired by a favourite location, the River Orwell .

Between 1941 and 1943, Orwell worked on propaganda for the BBC. He was a prolific journalist, article writer, literary critic, reviewer, poet, and writer of fiction, and considered perhaps the twentieth century's best chronicler of English culture.

Orwell's influence on contemporary culture, popular and political, continues decades after his death. Several of his neologisms, along with the term "Orwellian" — now a byword for any oppressive or manipulative social phenomenon opposed to a free society — have entered the vernacular.

He died in 1950 at the age of 46 from complications from tuberculosis.

Today's essay was likely written by 1947/1948, and published in 1952 posthumously. For those who are curious: here is more info about the school discussed in this essay.

The reading schedule can be found here .

Join us next week as u/lazylittlelady takes us through the next essay, Charles Dickens.

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Animal Farm: 75th Anniversary Edition Mass Market Paperback – Standard Edition, April 6, 2004

• Print length 140 pages
• Language English
• Lexile measure 1170L
• Dimensions 4.25 x 0.52 x 7.56 inches
• Publisher Signet
• Publication date April 6, 2004
• ISBN-10 9780451526342
• See all details

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About the author, product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0451526341
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Signet; 50th Anniversary edition (April 6, 2004)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 140 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780451526342
• Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14+ years, from customers
• Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1170L
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.8 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 0.52 x 7.56 inches
• #1 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
• #7 in Classic Literature & Fiction
• #17 in Literary Fiction (Books)

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Full Review | Animal Farm

A Classic Tale of Power, Corruption & Revolution

Atomic Readers

Book can be damaged in transit due delivery!

Animal Farm: 75th Anniversary Edition by George Orwell

Aliex Folgueira

Watch to the end Animal farm Classic Literature & Fiction

NL_Hok Reviews

Absolutely amazing take a look inside

Customer Review: Great book, great condition!!

Laura Garcia

About the authors

C. s. fritz.

Casey "C.S." Fritz grew up on a farm in Oregon, where he milked cows and had a pet pig. To escape the endless chores of cleaning chicken coops and watering tomatoes...Casey would draw.

As a young child, Casey's family moved to Arizona. It was there beneath the fiery gaze of the Southwestern sun, that he spent most of his life. Graduating school, marrying the love of his life and having two wild kids. It was also there that C.S. Fritz's work began to take traction with local galleries and art publications.

C.S. Fritz now is an award-winning author and illustrator with published titles such as...

The Cottonmouth Trilogy, Good Night Tales, The Moonman Cometh, Seekers and Good Night Classics! Altogether, Casey has released over 35 books.

Fritz's debut novel, A Fig For All The Devils (horror) released Halloween 2021 - Which was awarded best in horror with the IBPA for 2021 releases, and soon to be a major motion picture!

Lastly, Fritz's latest horror novel, All Creatures Living Beneath The Sun released early 2023.

George Orwell

George Orwell is one of England's most famous writers and social commentators. Among his works are the classic political satire Animal Farm and the dystopian nightmare vision Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell was also a prolific essayist, and it is for these works that he was perhaps best known during his lifetime. They include Why I Write and Politics and the English Language. His writing is at once insightful, poignant and entertaining, and continues to be read widely all over the world.

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) was born in 1903 in India, where his father worked for the Civil Service. The family moved to England in 1907 and in 1917 Orwell entered Eton, where he contributed regularly to the various college magazines. From 1922 to 1927 he served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, an experience that inspired his first novel, Burmese Days (1934). Several years of poverty followed. He lived in Paris for two years before returning to England, where he worked successively as a private tutor, schoolteacher and bookshop assistant, and contributed reviews and articles to a number of periodicals. Down and Out in Paris and London was published in 1933. In 1936 he was commissioned by Victor Gollancz to visit areas of mass unemployment in Lancashire and Yorkshire, and The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) is a powerful description of the poverty he saw there.

At the end of 1936 Orwell went to Spain to fight for the Republicans and was wounded. Homage to Catalonia is his account of the civil war. He was admitted to a sanatorium in 1938 and from then on was never fully fit. He spent six months in Morocco and there wrote Coming Up for Air. During the Second World War he served in the Home Guard and worked for the BBC Eastern Service from 1941 to 1943. As literary editor of the Tribune he contributed a regular page of political and literary commentary, and he also wrote for the Observer and later for the Manchester Evening News. His unique political allegory, Animal Farm was published in 1945, and it was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which brought him world-wide fame.

It was around this time that Orwell's unique political allegory Animal Farm (1945) was published. The novel is recognised as a classic of modern political satire and is simultaneously an engaging story and convincing allegory. It was this novel, together with Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), which finally brought him world-wide fame. Nineteen Eighty-Four's ominous depiction of a repressive, totalitarian regime shocked contemporary readers, but ensures that the book remains perhaps the preeminent dystopian novel of modern literature.

Orwell's fiercely moral writing has consistently struck a chord with each passing generation. The intense honesty and insight of his essays and non-fiction made Orwell one of the foremost social commentators of his age. Added to this, his ability to construct elaborately imaginative fictional worlds, which he imbued with this acute sense of morality, has undoubtedly assured his contemporary and future relevance.

George Orwell died in London in January 1950.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 77% 16% 5% 1% 2% 77%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 77% 16% 5% 1% 2% 16%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 77% 16% 5% 1% 2% 5%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 77% 16% 5% 1% 2% 1%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 77% 16% 5% 1% 2% 2%

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Customers say

Customers find the content thought-provoking and easy to understand. They also describe the story as classic, brilliant, and masterpiece. Readers describe the tone as satirical, chilling, and quotable. They find the book entertaining and quick. Opinions are mixed on the writing quality, visual design, and frightening content. Some find the writing very well written, while others find spelling mistakes and small fonts. Reader opinions are mixed also on the visual design and frightening contents.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book thought-provoking, amazing, and a good history lesson. They also say it has many good parts and keeps their attention until the end. Readers also say the book gives an extraordinary human view of human nature, and is an influential and insightful work of literature. They describe the premise as deceptively simple, and say the story is a classic and profound read.

"In these days, this classic satire is more important and timely than ever...." Read more

"...I also think this book has been more influential on modern literature than is generally acknowledged...." Read more

"...is a short novella written as a satirical fable, the premise of which is deceptively simple . The animals of a poorly run farm decide to rebel...." Read more

"This book gives an extraordinary human view of human nature ...." Read more

Customers find the story really good, fantastic, and spectacular. They also say it's a real twist on dystopian novels, with a good ending. Customers also mention the lessons are disturbing, necessary, and leave them with looming sense of fear.

"...The rewriting of history part is especially chilling . It is as if Orwell has prophetic insights. A must read!" Read more

"...The ongoing ails of society are trapped within its pages. The lessons are disturbing , necessary, and leave you with a looming sense of dread that is..." Read more

"...Needs to be print in our heart as humans . Absolutely extraordinary . I will read it again and again it has open my eyes!" Read more

"... It’s timeless . It could be read in one day." Read more

Customers find the tone very nice, satirical, and apt. They also describe the book as fabulous, depressing, disturbing, and interesting. Readers also mention that the book is brimming with passion and genuine emotion. They mention that it's chilling and powerful even after Stalin's death.

"This book offers a simplified and darkly humorous demonstration of the dangers of the governments decent into tyranny...." Read more

"...Stunning, sad and relevant.Grade: A" Read more

"Obviously a timeless classic and a charming satire of totalitarianism , the book itself is wonderful...." Read more

"This book was truly phenomenal! This novel being both political and satirical , George Orwell proves knowingly why he was one of the best authors/..." Read more

Customers find the book entertaining, interesting, and hooked throughout the whole story. They also say it has many good parts and keeps the reader's attention.

"...This book has many good parts and keeps the reader's attention until the end it has a good ending...." Read more

"...This book is very well written, always engaging the reader and keeping them wondering what is going to happen next...." Read more

"...The language and voice used is clear, concise, and enjoyable . However, a child may not know why the animals refer to each other as “comrade.”..." Read more

"It took me all of two days to finish this book because it is so interesting ...." Read more

Customers find the pacing of the book quick, easy, and entertaining. They also say it's timely today.

"In these days, this classic satire is more important and timely than ever ...." Read more

"Came in great condition and very timely " Read more

"Long and slow and sad and boring and long and slow and sad and long and slow and sad and boing" Read more

"...Short, concise and extremely fast-paced , Animal Farm is likely to withstand the test of time to remain an all time great because of the message that..." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some find it well-written, easy to read, and printed on quality paper. They also appreciate the small font and the fact that the pages are not written on or damaged. However, some readers report spelling mistakes and find the book difficult to read if they need reading glasses.

"...It’s very hard to read , but not because of challenging prose. Rather, it carries an uncomfortable realness and familiarity...." Read more

"...And no the print is not too small. I am 38 and can read the print just fine . Very pleased." Read more

"Love this story. The print is huge! But there are some spacing and spelling errors that occurred when they changed the print...." Read more

"...It arrived real quick. The print is very good , and she was very happy with this purchase." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the visual design of the book. Some find the imagery enjoyable, masterful, and true, while others say it's dull and not a pretty picture.

"...This is a powerful and accurate portrayal of how the freedoms and liberties of a people can be taken away as long as it's done in tiny steps...." Read more

"This must be pirated. It looks like someone photo copied the book and did not even take the time to attempt to format it...." Read more

"...A short read, I was done in about an hour and a half, but it really is vivid and will stick with you forever...." Read more

"Everything is good and original but I didn’t like the cover . Why do they put the Angry birds-like face on the cover??!..." Read more

Customers are mixed about the frightening content. Some find the book rather frightening, violent, and witty. They also say the animals in the book are terrifying. However, some readers find the story eerie, full of symbolism, and serious. They say the underlying message is very serious, and the reality is bleak and dark.

"This book evokes a terrifying insight into how people vote into power malicious dictators that take advantage of the citizen in a country and use..." Read more

"...As a potential livestock enthusiast the animals in this book are terrifying . They can talk and plot the demise of the bourgeoisie?..." Read more

"...and more entertaining character to the story, the underlying message is very serious , and should be required reading for overly idealistic college..." Read more

Reviews with images

great book, poor delivery

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