Essay Questions

How does Orwell's experience in the Spanish Civil War shape his future fictional writing?

Orwell's writing is shaped both practically and ideologically by his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. On a practical level, the anti-Communist narrative of this book severed his relationship with his previous publisher, Golancz, who were heavily Communist leaning, and opened up a new publishing relationship with Schuster instead.

He experienced a number of injuries whilst fighting in the war, but the one that affected him emotionally and mentally the most was a rat bite which caused blood poisoning and a hospital stay. Previously ambivalent about rodents, Orwell developed an understandable phobia and he also gave this to Winston Smith, the protagonist in his novel 1984, who was extremely rat-phobic. There was also a sense of an environment where the men on the ground were being watched in their barracks when not at the Front, which he used as inspiration for Big Brother in 1984.

Ideologically, his views changed from being generally supportive of the Communist Party to being scathing of them and the way in which they behaved during the war. This shift was shown in his writing; where he had previously been a supporter of the left and a critic of the right, he now showed a cynicism for political parties of all persuasions, deciding that the only true ideology that they all exhibited was self-preservation. This is shown in both Animal Farm and 1984.

In Orwell's view, why was General Franco victorious?

Franco's victory was due in large part to the way in which his supporters and troops were provided with the tools that they needed to win a civil war. This included weaponry and arms; the nationalists gave their soldiers antique arms that barely worked, whereas the royalists had new, fully-functional weapons fit to participate in a war.

There was also an issue with training. The nationalists were conscripting from wherever they could, and were basically picking young men up from the street to fight with them. This meant that not only were they reliant on what amounted to an army of boys, but it also meant that their "soldiers" were not fighting with the same passion or understanding as the royalist soldiers. It's difficult to retain the loyalty of soldiers in a conflict when they have no emotional or intellectual investment in the cause for which they are fighting.

There was also an issue with treachery on the part of the Communists, which Orwell credits with the majority of the blame for Franco's victory. Many of the nationalist's strategies were leaked to Franco's armies which influenced the outcome of the war.

What is the difference between Orwell's intellectual vision of a war, and his reality?

Orwell had created a state within himself where war for intellectual reasons was somehow purposeful and filled with action. In reality he did not really stop complaining about the way in which things were done, and how incredibly bored he was. He had clearly anticipated something a little more frenetic and non-stop when he imagined what it would be like to participate in a war. In reality he was bored from the start, and at one time was so bored that he stated the only thing of interest that happened around him was the changing of the seasons. He was also certain that his fellow soldiers would be men of similar intellectual superiority and depth (and intellectual snobbery too). He could not have been more wrong in this assumption.

Orwell had believed that all of those who were on the political left would fight together, and those on the political right would fight together. This seemed true, to a degree, at the outset of the conflict, but as things became more concerning for the left-wing alliance, loyalties were divided, and it was a race to see which left-wing group or country could make a deal with Franco first. This crushed Orwell and changed the way in which he saw Communists, and the Soviet Union, for ever.

Having been used to a very nice, civilized life Orwell also complains at length about the dirt and squalor of barracks life. He seems to have pictured a standard of cleanliness in the field similar to that which he provided for himself at home; this was clearly not the case, and was something that he never became used to.