History is in the Making 13-15-year-olds 2nd Prize Competition Winner

The writer I would like to nominate for an RSL Fellowship is Eric Arthur Blair, or more commonly known by his pen name, George Orwell.

George Orwell is known for his many works, such as Animal Farm and 1984, where he emphasises and clearly demonstrates his political and societal views.

With George Orwell’s unique writing style, he was able to express his criticism of society easily and to get his message across. As a nine year old, I read Animal Farm, and even with my limited literary understanding, I understood the figurative meaning of the story. I particularly liked his use of extended metaphors in his writing, many of which reflected society.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Napoleon, Animal Farm

Snowball was the pig on Manor Farm that led the rebellion against the human farmer, promising that once the farm animals were free, they would achieve peace. However, Snowball was betrayed by Napoleon. Under the dictatorship of Napoleon, the farm was back to a state as bad as before. The book Animal Farm is based on the events of the Russian Revolution. The reason why George Orwell wrote Animal Farm was to convey his criticism of the Communist rule under Joseph Stalin. The author was able to show this by using Napoleon as an equivalent of Joseph Stalin, and making Napoleon the main antagonist of the novella, presenting him as an easily dislikable character.

I also liked George Orwell’s use of contradictory statements that show how the pigs in charge completely did the opposite of what they promised the other farm animals. For example:

“The only good human being is a dead one.”

Snowball, Animal Farm

This depicts the animals’ disgust for humans, and how they perceived them to be good for nothing and the cause of all evil in their world.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Closing line of Animal Farm

However, this quote displays how in the end, despite doing their best to get rid of humans and being nothing like humans, the pigs’ greed and mistreatment of the other animals made them no different to the humans. Their initial efforts to get rid of humans at the beginning contradicts their cooperation with humans at the end.

With this essay, I hope that I have been able to persuade the younger generations to also read George Orwell’s stories, to broaden their understanding of the world and to further their knowledge about various political ideas.

Pinar Atamusa (13) from Ark John Keats Academy won 2nd place in the 13-15 years category for the History is in the Making competition. In response to winning, they said:

Reading George Orwell’s books was always interesting for me, and sharing my passion for his work with RSL was a pleasure. Winning 2nd place is therefore an honour for me, and I would like to thank RSL for giving me this opportunity.