George Orwells Resistance to Communism

Daniel La Scala
Junior Division
Individual Website

Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) is the author of the two famous novels, Animal Farm
and 1984. He wrote them to portray the Communist party clearly through representation and
examples of their motives. These novels became popular around the time of World War II.
George Orwells novels took a stance in the confusing time of war to eliminate any
misconception of the Communists intentions.
I decided to create a website dedicated to George Orwells stance in the time of World
War II through his two most known novels. I started by searching the web for biographies on
him to receive background history and what inspired him to write and publish his books. I read
both Animal Farm and 1984 to comprehend his writing style and to absorb the content that he
put in the readers mind. By the way he depicted the Communists, I could infer that George
Orwell had a strong hatred for the Communist Party. After reading his literature, I was
knowledgeable enough to understand his stance on World War II, as well as the Cold War. I
began creating the separate pages on my website on Weebly. To understand the hidden meaning
behind what he wrote in his books, I had to really compare each individual piece to an event in
history. I was able to conclude that his two more popular novels were based on the time of World
War II and extended into the Cold War. I proceed to create the website by breaking down the
information I collected and categorizing them into segments that were more relevant.
Once I categorized and placed my information accordingly, I edited the pages to
complete the separate sections. I dedicated the remainder of the project to make the website more
aesthetically pleasing. I inserted images with quotes to give off the mood that George Orwell put
in his novels and made the Home page easier to use. I converted my Annotated Bibliography and
Process Paper into pdfs and embedded them into my website.

Annotated Bibliography
Primary Sources
Orwell, George. Animal Farm. New York, Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1954.

George Orwells Animal Farm is a novel that uses a farm environment to explain the Russian
Revolution and how it led into World War II. Each character from the story represents a major
figure in history and uses analogies to explain what happened around the time of World War II. I
used this in my website as a primary source to illustrate the stance Eric Blair took in the time of
war and his goal to clear any misconceptions about the Communist Party.
Orwell, George. 1984. London, Secker & Warburg, 1949.

George Orwells novel, 1984, is a story about a boy named Winston Smith works for the
Ministry of Truth. His job is to change records and distort history. He decides to start a diary and
overthrow the tyranny of Big Brother, the Communist leader. I used this book to show Erics
stance against Communism and to display his indirect resistance to the Nazis and the Russians.
He uses this novel to make valid points on the Communists initiatives and to encourage others to
put an end to the Communist outbreak.
Secondary Sources
"Cold Warriors." UCILibraries, n.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/museum/exhibits/ColdWar/ColdWarrior.html>.
This website contains information about the events in America around the time of the
Cold War and the shift of presidential power from Harry S. Truman to Dwight Eisenhower. This
knowledge was crucial to the war as America required strong defenses even while changing
governmental positions. I included important segments of the timeline to demonstrate the
hardships America had to face during the period George Orwell published his novel. In his
novel, 1984, he illustrates the intentions of the Soviet Union to give the readers a better
understanding of Communism.
Breitman, Richard, and Norman J.W Goda. Hitler's Shadow (1999): n. pag.
National Archives. Web. 4 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/reports/hitlers-shadow.pdf>.
Hitlers Shadow is a novel that informs the reader on Major Nazi leaders that attempted
to recreate many of Hitlers works. It also contains information on Hitlers betrayal of the
Hitler-Stalin Pact. I included some of the information about Hitlers attack on Stalin as a
comparison to Mr. Fredericks attack on Napoleon from Animal Farm. This was essential to the
war as it resulted in Russia making temporary allies with other countries to put an end to Hitlers
work.
Cold War International History Conference: Paper by Margaret O'Neill
Adams." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records
Administration, n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/cold-war/conference/adams.html>.
These are records of the events occurring internationally at the time of the Cold War.
George Orwell's 1984 is a fictional story about a boy named Winston who overthrew
Communism. We can conclude that the novel is false because we can check the records of the
Cold War and see that Communism did not spread entirely across of the globe. We used this to
see how George Orwell changed the results of the war in his novel.

Timeline of the Cold War." Timeline of the Cold War (n.d.): n. pag.
Timeline of the Cold War. Web. 05 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.trumanlibrary.org/dbq/res/cia/TrumanCIA_Timeline.pdf>.
This timeline of the Cold War specifies the events on which dates throughout the entire
war. We can see what happened after World War II between America and Communist areas like
Russia. The timeline also contains information about different areas like France and Cuba. I used
the timeline as a comparison to 1984 to show what happened as opposed to what George Orwell
wrote. It contains relevant and irrelevant information to explain what else was occurring around
that time.
"Go to Bing Homepage." Image+of+george+orwell - Bing
Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=image%2Bof%2Bgeorge%2Borwell&view=detail
v2&&id=BE2DB744BA11E8B5A1327021E33947E087653911&selectedIndex=42&ccid=TL
HLM9v9&simid=608003036377187573&thid=OIP.M4cb1cb33dbfd46a506b4d73509d0cc04
o0&ajaxhist=0%2BImage%2Bof%2BGeorge%2BOrwell>.
This is an image of Eric Arthur Blair. This picture is used in the website as a display of
what George Orwell looked like. The quote next to his picture explains what type of word choice
and detail he uses in his novels. The image of him comes from a different black and white photo
that was taken while he created his two most popular works of literature.
"Go to Bing Homepage." Image+george+orwell - Bing Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=image%2Bgeorge%2Borwell&view=detailv2&
&id=2D8FB007802FA5F6803C29E28BEBF7CD64906A6F&selectedIndex=106&ccid=lk5
%2FyZpL&simid=608043881525349759&thid=OIP.M964e7fc99a4b8582a144d15df274699
fo0&ajaxhist=0>.

This image of George Orwell was taken around the same time as the other picture.
I used this picture in the website to provide a visual for users to see. A quote from 1984
sits next to him in the image. The quote is about political lies and is meant to convince
people that the communists were a corrupt society.
Orwell, George. "Biography of George Orwell." Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read
Online. Discuss. Jalic Inc., 2000. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
<http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/>.

This biography of George Orwell explains what he did in certain parts of his life. It
assists the reader in understanding what life was like at the time for an author. I used some of the
information from this website to create a reader-friendly analysis on how he lived his daily life.
It also contains information on his injury from the Spanish Civil War.

Bibliography.com Editors. "George Orwell." Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, 11

Aug. 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
<http://www.biography.com/people/george-orwell-9429833#personal-life>.

This is another biography that contains useful information on George Orwells struggles
to get his novels published. It explains the hardships he went through in his life while writing the
novels. I used research from here to convey the challenges Orwell had to face while living the
life of an unwanted author.
"BBC - History - Historic Figures: George Orwell (1903 - 1950)." BBC News. BBC, 2014.
Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
<http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/orwell_george.shtml>.
This website provides a brief overview of George Orwells life. It also explains Orwells
journalist life and publishing of Animal Farm and 1984. It covers the topic of George Orwells
propaganda and his cooperation with the BBC. I used some of this information in the website
and discussed the summaries of the novels as well as their deeper meanings.
"Home." FAMOUS AUTHORS. FamousAuthors.org, 2017. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
<http://www.famousauthors.org/george-orwell>.
This website describes George Orwell and his novels beyond his two most popular ones.
It uncovers the work behind Orwells writing style that captured the audience. I used information
from this site to explain why and how George wrote his novels and how he made books about
political secrets and world phenomenon.
"1984." George Orwell Biography. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016. Web. 18 Jan. 2017.
<https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/n/1984/george-orwell-biography>.
This website discloses Orwells early childhood and his gift for writing. It explains how
he grew up in an unwealthy family that had to sacrifice certain privileges to survive. It also
delves deeper into what inspired George Orwell to write and publish. I used some of the
information from this site to provide an easier to grasp backstory as well as research to
uncover some of the reasons Orwell was interested in writing novels.

George Orwells 1984. Reason and Meaning, WordPress, 3 Jan. 2017,

reasonandmeaning.com/2014/10/23/george-orwells-1984/.
This website discusses some of the hidden meaning behind George Orwells 1984. It uses
many inspiring quotes from the novel itself to support their claim about the book having to relate
to a dystopian world made by the Communists. I used some of the evidence from this website to

explain what George Orwell thought about the Communist Party. In his novel, the hypocrisy of
the different Ministries is made clear.

Animal Farm: What Orwell Really Meant. The New York Review of Books,
NYREV Inc., 1963,
www.nybooks.com/articles/2013/07/11/animal-farm-what-orwell-really-meant/.
Animal Farm is an analogy for the Russian Revolution and its part in World War II. This
website elaborates on what George Orwell meant when he wrote this well-known novel. The
author breaks down the events and compares them to what happened leading into World War II.
As well as discovering the hidden meaning, the also point out some of the major flaws in the
Russian Revolution and their temporary alliance with Adolf Hitler.