I agree with pretty much everything you said, including your characterization of the text as a confessional written by Orwell as a propagandist. He actually has another book, "Keep the Aspidistra Flying," which makes this even more explicit. It's literally about a poet who sells out and starts writing advertising jingles to have a stable career, accepting that as part of growing up.
I too loved Orwell as a teenager and grew to hate him. You have to ask yourself the question, "If Orwell really was a left winger and wrote as such, why do conservatives have no problem whatsoever with Animal Farm and 1984?" There are school districts which ban books all the time, anything which crosses some ideological line they have, but I don't think I've heard of any instances of those two books getting kicked out of school libraries. The people running these districts hate socialism and anything that even smells like it. You are absolutely right to sense something is fishy about the entire enterprise.
Oh interesting, I didn't come across Aspidistra in my reading -- wild to learn just how much of Orwell's career was confessional. Write what you know, I suppose...
n well said -- "man gets crushed by totalitarian state" is a shocking plotline when you're a kid, but any book that can be so easily co-opted by intelligence agencies is definitely not saying anything groundbreaking lol.
One of the books I can't believe hasn't been banned is "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis which lays out the plans for how a president could come to power here as a puppet and quickly institute a fascist takeover. The current administration is essentially following it beat for beat. It was meant as a satire, a takedown of the then rising Silvershirts and others who wanted to reshape America and oust FDR.
I believe certain books are kept off the banned list because it makes them harder to find. A big list of books you aren't supposed to read or teach about? That's easy pickings. But not teaching some and just letting them quietly exist? Takes a concerted effort to get those into the public eye.
As far as those books being taught, we didn't deeply analyze the messaging in them when I was in highschool. Literally had classmates thinking animal farm was about talking animals. Seems more like a barometer to measure the discontent of the young masses, and a way to collect their thoughts on those topics. We learn the song "This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land" in kindergarten, are taught that sharing is caring, and then have that twisted for 12 years into only caring about "the right people" and what they deem correct. Pretty fitting.
If you hate Orwell, I recommend reading some of his essays and stories for the war. You'll still hate him, but he hated himself as well.
Hey this comment is awesome, thanks for taking the time.
running to find a copy of "It Can't Happen Here" -- even if it's painfully resonant i kinda take comfort in the feeling of oneness that comes from a near-century of foresight and knowing nothing is really 'unprecedented.'
I'm prety sure it's in the public domain so you can download it for free. That's how I read it. I heard about it shortly before inauguration day and finished it the weekend before it all began. It was surreal. Still is.
"Burmese Days" was a fascinating novel to me--delves into his experiences supporting the British colonizing forces and his unease at the whole venture. I read most of it over a decade ago (it slows down in the second half). I imagine if I picked it back up, I'd find some things I missed.
I agree with pretty much everything you said, including your characterization of the text as a confessional written by Orwell as a propagandist. He actually has another book, "Keep the Aspidistra Flying," which makes this even more explicit. It's literally about a poet who sells out and starts writing advertising jingles to have a stable career, accepting that as part of growing up.
I too loved Orwell as a teenager and grew to hate him. You have to ask yourself the question, "If Orwell really was a left winger and wrote as such, why do conservatives have no problem whatsoever with Animal Farm and 1984?" There are school districts which ban books all the time, anything which crosses some ideological line they have, but I don't think I've heard of any instances of those two books getting kicked out of school libraries. The people running these districts hate socialism and anything that even smells like it. You are absolutely right to sense something is fishy about the entire enterprise.
Oh interesting, I didn't come across Aspidistra in my reading -- wild to learn just how much of Orwell's career was confessional. Write what you know, I suppose...
n well said -- "man gets crushed by totalitarian state" is a shocking plotline when you're a kid, but any book that can be so easily co-opted by intelligence agencies is definitely not saying anything groundbreaking lol.
One of the books I can't believe hasn't been banned is "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis which lays out the plans for how a president could come to power here as a puppet and quickly institute a fascist takeover. The current administration is essentially following it beat for beat. It was meant as a satire, a takedown of the then rising Silvershirts and others who wanted to reshape America and oust FDR.
I believe certain books are kept off the banned list because it makes them harder to find. A big list of books you aren't supposed to read or teach about? That's easy pickings. But not teaching some and just letting them quietly exist? Takes a concerted effort to get those into the public eye.
As far as those books being taught, we didn't deeply analyze the messaging in them when I was in highschool. Literally had classmates thinking animal farm was about talking animals. Seems more like a barometer to measure the discontent of the young masses, and a way to collect their thoughts on those topics. We learn the song "This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land" in kindergarten, are taught that sharing is caring, and then have that twisted for 12 years into only caring about "the right people" and what they deem correct. Pretty fitting.
If you hate Orwell, I recommend reading some of his essays and stories for the war. You'll still hate him, but he hated himself as well.
Hey this comment is awesome, thanks for taking the time.
running to find a copy of "It Can't Happen Here" -- even if it's painfully resonant i kinda take comfort in the feeling of oneness that comes from a near-century of foresight and knowing nothing is really 'unprecedented.'
I'm prety sure it's in the public domain so you can download it for free. That's how I read it. I heard about it shortly before inauguration day and finished it the weekend before it all began. It was surreal. Still is.
"Burmese Days" was a fascinating novel to me--delves into his experiences supporting the British colonizing forces and his unease at the whole venture. I read most of it over a decade ago (it slows down in the second half). I imagine if I picked it back up, I'd find some things I missed.