George Orwell

To understand the book Animal Farm, it is vital to first understand their author to establish a background as well as reasoning for why exactly the book was written as well being able to see the symbolism within the books with greater ease. George Orwell was born in June 25^th, 1903, and was given the name Eric Arthur Blair. During WWII Eric wished to fight for the Allies, but was decided to be too unfit.

Orwell eventually worked for BBC, working to counter Nazi propaganda in India. While making his writings he decided to make is pen name George Orwell, a name that quickly outgrew his own. Orwell eventually resigned from BBC, referencing his fear of how little his messages were effecting the Indian population in any way. He started working for The Tribune, during which he wrote Animal Farm as an examination as well as criticism of Russia and Stalinism.

Publishing the book was incredibly difficult, as the Soviet army was a vital ally at the time. After many rejections Orwell finally was able to publish through Secker and Warburg, and the writing quickly spread. A year after print was sold in England it spread to America, where it grew extremely quickly due to the post war climate.

The book is a metaphor for what George saw while examining Communism through Stalin and Russia’s major decisions through the war - what he saw as actions with little to no regard to their own people. The book was controversial because of Russia’s alliance with the Allied Forces, but nonetheless became a powerful piece of literature in many homes across both England and America, and now, many years later, the rest of the world.