Piper Cook

ELA 12 1st Period

C. Rouse

29 October 2018

Banned Book 2

George Orwell is an English novelist who is most famous for his novels 1984 and Animal Farm. He was born with the name Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India, in 1903. He spent his early childhood in India. He is the son of a British civil servant and his mother who took him and his older sister, Marjorie, back to England after his birth. Orwell never really knew his father until about 1912 when he retired from the service. George was a sickly child, always battling Bronchitis or the Flu. At the age of 11, he had a poem published in the local newspaper.

After sent to boarding school, Orwell won scholarships to Wellington College and Eton College to continue his studies. He completed his studies at Eton. He did not have the money to pay for University so he joined the Imperial Police Force in 1922. Five years later, he returned to England intent on making it as a writer. In 1938, Orwell had diagnosed with Tuberculosis. Nineteen Eighty-Four was published in 1949 and he died shortly after on January 21, 1950. 

The banning of Nineteen Eighty-Four is for many reasons. It uses pro-communist themes because Winston is constantly being watched and even listened to. The party was even watching him during his affair. This brings the second reason, which is “sexually explicit content”. The USSR (Russia) banned it because the then leader, Joseph Stalin, believed the book was referencing him. This book is a cautionary tale for society. 

The book would delight others if read. Nineteen Eighty-Four reminds readers to question authority, to watch the government, and to challenge the people they encounter. It makes you realize that you cannot go through life doing something you know is wrong. This book shows that sometimes resistance is necessary and comes with a tremendous cost. People need to realize what is going on around them and this book provokes that. Winston Smith is a quite a character. His job has levels of danger and he still goes against the party by writing in his journal.