First Person Essay on George Orwell

"An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats."

-George Orwell

My name is Eric Arthur Blair, but many of you may know me as the author George Orwell. Looking back on my lifetime I have had many accomplishments and I've made a big difference in many lives by using fictional and non fictional books to speak to the readers. In my lifetime I have been many things; a writer, a political critic, an enforcer, a prisoner, a teacher, a soldier, and most importantly a free-thinking individual. Of all my works, and the experiences that inspired them, my most powerful and influential pieces are the novels Down and out in Paris and London, Burmese Days, The Road to Wigan Pier, Animal Farm, and 1984. All five novels are significant to times of revolution, war, poverty and politics. Down and out in Paris and London was the first book I ever wrote and it is a fictional account of my experiences living in abject poverty. The Road to Wigan Pier, out of the five, was my only non fiction novel. It retells the events that took place in the coal mines of Northern England during the Depression. Burmese Days describes life in the Imperial Indian police force in Indian during the heyday of the British Empire. Animal Farm is a symbolic novel about the Russian Revolution and its purpose was to enlighten people on how what had started out as a revolution to attain equality for all morphed into a totalitarian rule which benefited very few. 1984 is a novel which prophesizes how life would be in the year 1984 and it was designed to open people's eyes as to how the government was manipulating their thoughts. It spurred people to make a difference before the government transformed them all into mindless drones that do exactly as they're told and believe exactly what they are told to believe. Now, I know what you're thinking; how could this autobiography be accurate if it doesn't reveal any failures that I have had? But I will tell you that I have had many failures. First of all most of my books were financially unsuccessful and I lived in poverty for many years. It was only when I created Animal Farm in 1945 that I earned a reasonable income for my efforts.