George Orwell 1

Daniel Perez
English
Period 4  
George Orwell

        A man named Eric Arthur Blair was better known by his pen name, George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. Eric Blair was born on June 25th, 1903 in Motihair, India. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, worked in the Opium Department of the Indian Civil Services. His mother, Ida Mabel Blair, grew up in 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 a year old, his mother took him to England.    

          In 1904, Blair's mother settled at Henley-On-Thames. Eric was brought up in the company of his mother and sisters, and apart from a short visit he did not see his father again until 1912. The family moved to Shiplake before World War I, and Eric became friendly with the Buddicom family, especially Jacintha Buddicom. When they first met, he was standing on his head in a field, and when he was asked why, he said, "You are noticed more if you stand on your head than if you are right way up." Jacintha and Eric both read and wrote poetry and also dreamt of becoming famous writers. He told her that he might write a book in similar style to that of H. G. Wells's A Modern Utopia. Eric enjoyed fishing, shooting, and bird watching with Jacintha’s brother and sister.      

        At the age of five, Eric Blair was sent as a day-boy to the convent school in Henley-on-Thames which was a Catholic school run by French Ursulines, exiled from France after religious education was banned there in 1903. His mother wanted him to have a public school education, but his family was not wealthy enough to afford it, making it necessary for him to obtain a scholarship. Ida Blair's brother Charles Limouzin, who lived on the South Coast, was asked to find the best possible school to prepare Eric for higher things, and he recommended St Cyprians School. Eric’s uncle was able to get him into St...