George Orwell Pessimism

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Living through both World Wars I and II and its enormous political shifts, Eric Blair was a figure whose pessimism was significantly impacted by the postwar period. But what was born of Blair was a more significant person known as George Orwell, who challenged the political views of his time by writing 1984, one of the most powerful political novels of the Postmodern era written to expose the horrors of totalitarianism and impact the political thinking of the 20th Century. Born as Eric Blair in Bengal, India on June 25, 1903 (Flynn 8), Orwell was already building up his character to be a different person in the future. One of his most important influences in writing was his childhood which he later describes as a lost paradise. He spent most of his childhood in England where he appreciated nature. He would later look back at precious England before the war destroyed it in Coming Up for Air. Unsurprisingly, he wrote his first poem at the age of four. In Why I Write, Orwell said, “I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer” (Flynn 12). But his childhood was not perfect, and one of the starting points of his pessimism was his life in school. At St. Cyprian’s school he experienced what he describes as terror. Unfortunately the young Blair kept wetting his bed, and eventually the headmaster beat him for it. It was a starting point of his pessimism, and he left St. Cyprian’s with “failure, failure, failure – failure behind me, failure ahead of me” (Flynn 24). In Eton it was not easygoing either, because he slacked off and did no work. In the end he finished second to last in his class, forcing him to take on service in Burma. Blair’s experiences in wars and their political strife was the climax to his character being Orwell’s. He... ... middle of paper ... ...evil society. Even though the novel as a whole is a tragedy, Winston Smith still continues to inspire us all for firmly believing in his views right until the near end. He was tortured, interrogated and abused mentally, but he held to his beliefs before facing his fears at Room 101. The novel ends with sorrow, for Winston Smith finally succumbed to Big Brother. Alas, the circumstances are too dire, yet Winston is still an influencing character who may be the last person in Oceania to have true human reason. Among all of Orwell’s political works, 1984 is a masterpiece not only for vividly depicting the horrors of totalitarianism, but by also creating a resemblance with this world and that of 1984. Indeed, Winston Smith is Orwell himself: fearless, rebellious, a risk-taker, and a firm believer to his own views, hardly stirred by other influences other than his own.

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