George Orwell

	"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."
	Born June 25, 1903 in Motihari, India Died January 21, 1950 in London, England George Orwell, the pen name of Eric Blair, an Englishman born in India, educated in Eton in England. After service with the British colonial Indian Imperial Police in Burma, he returned to Europe to earn his living writing novels and essays.
Bitterly opposed to social injustice, political oppression, and verbal cant in every form, he was a socialist who attacked both capitalism and communism, a literary critic who savaged all that he saw as false to life as it was lived and reality as it was, and a novelist who merged his profound political concerns with superbly honed narrative artistry. George Orwell died in 1950, of a neglected lung disease. (bio taken from the paperback, Signet Classic print of Animal Farm)
Reference Tools: George Orwell Information Site Features a great collection of Orwell's essays, along with summaries and interpretations.
The Books 1984 Animal Farm
1984
Buy This Book at Amazon.com	Information about this book coming soon
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Animal Farm
Buy This Book at Amazon.com	First printed: March, 1956 Reference Tools: Animal Farm Notes Wonderful essay on the symbolism of Animal Farm. Complete with character descriptions and explainations of their real human counterparts. NovelGuide.com - Animal Farm A much more long-winded analysis of the book. If you're looking for millions of details, this is the place for you.
Calculo Review
Animal Farm is basically an analysis of the effects of communism, but Orwell was rather subtle in the way he presented it. He turned Stalin, Trotsky, and Marx into pigs, and the whole of Russia into a farm once run by Mr. Jones, or in other words, the Czar. The plot revolves around The Manor Farm, which was once an ordinary farm, run by a farmer, whose animals were beaten into submission. But, one day, Old Major (Karl Marx) speaks of a dream: revolution. Snowball and Napolean (Trotsky and Stalin) lead the way, running Mr. Jones off his own farm, claiming victory for all of animal kind. The wonderful thing about Animal Farm is you don't need to understand all of the symbolism to enjoy it. It's one of those rare novels that can be read on so many different levels. A child will enjoy it for the "fairy story" it tells of how animals are smarter than adult humans (in a much more mature way than "Babe"), and adults will be entertained by the hidden jokes and symbolism that constantly poke fun at government. And, for the rest of us, it beautifully and honestly illustrates the true outcome of a communist society. An all around entertaining novel. I highly recommend it for both its enjoyable characters, and its politically enlightening plot. A word of advice: If you purchase the paperback version referenced above, you must, by all means, read the preface by Russell Baker. However, read it after you've finished the book itself. It gives away far too much of the plot, but it helps illustrate Orwell's intentions when writing Animal Farm. - Megora McGonagall, Senior Calculo
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