Nineteen Eighty-Four

Eric Arthur Blair was born on 25 June 1903, in Motihari (Mo-thi-haa-ree), Bihar, in British India. His great-grandfather Charles Blair was a wealthy country gentleman in Dorset who married Lady Mary Fane, daughter of Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland, and had income as an absentee landlord of plantations in Jamaica. His grandfather, Thomas Richard Arthur Blair, was a clergyman. Although the gentility passed down the generations, the prosperity did not; Eric Blair described his family as "lower-upper-middle class". His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, worked in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Service. His mother, Ida Mabel Blair (née Limouzin), grew up in Moulmein, Burma, where her French father was involved in speculative ventures. Eric had two sisters: Marjorie, five years older, and Avril, five years younger. When Eric was one year old, his mother took him and his older sister to England. His birthplace and ancestral house in Motihari has been declared a protected monument of historical importance. After his education, he worked in Imperial Police Department and was posted in Burma. In the summer of 1949, he courted Sonia Brownell, and they announced their marriage in September, shortly before he was removed to University College Hospital in London. Sonia took charge of Orwell's affairs and attended him diligently in the hospital, causing concern to some old friends such as Muggeridge.Orwell's wedding took place in the hospital room on 13 October 1949, with David Astor as best man. Orwell was in decline and visited by an assortment of visitors including Muggeridge, Connolly, Lucian Freud, Stephen Spender, Evelyn Waugh, Paul Potts, Anthony Powell, and his Eton tutor Anthony Gow. Plans to go to the Swiss Alps were mooted. Further meetings were held with his accountant, at which Harrison and Mr and Mrs Blair were confirmed as directors of the company, and at which Harrison claimed that the "service agreement" was executed, giving copyright to the company. Orwell's health was in decline again by Christmas. On the evening of 20 January 1950, Potts visited Orwell and slipped away on finding him asleep. However, Jack Harrison visited later and claimed that Orwell gave him 25% of the company. Early on the morning of 21 January, an artery burst in Orwell's lungs, killing him at age 46. The novel, Nineteen Eighty four (1984), was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. It got the honor of a place on both lists of Modern Library 100 Best Novels, reaching number 13 on the editor's list, and position 6 on the readers' list. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 8 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.The story is set in Airstrip One, in a world of frequent war, crude government surveillance, and public manipulation dictated by a political system in Great Britain. This system of governance is named English Socialism or Ingsoc in the government's invented language, under the control of privileged Inner Party elite that persecutes all individualism and independent thinking as "thoughtcrimes". The Big Brother, who is the quasi-divine Party leader and enjoys an intense cult of personality, epitomizes the tyranny. Big Brother and the Party justify their oppressive rule in the name of a supposed greater good. World War II, civil conflict, and the revolution had ravaged England. The telescreens, in every public area, and the quarters of the Party's members, have hidden microphones and cameras. These devices and the informers lead the Thought Police to spy upon everyone to identify anyone who might endanger the Party's régime. The children trained to spy, inform on suspected thought-criminals, especially the activities of their parents. A detailed description of the book and the author is provided in Introduction inside.