ia_2010_evans_b

=B. Summary of Evidence (500-600 words) Tips]=

 George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903, in India to a family of a ‘lower-upper middle class’ [1]. George Orwell is best known for dislike of totalitarianism, like in his novels ‘Homage to Catalonia’, ‘Animal farm’ (1945) and ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (1949). ‘Homage to Catalonia’ is part of his reportage novels. The book was published on ‘25 April 1938 [which] created some stir but sales were poor and, although only 1,500 copies were printed, they had not all been sold by the time a second edition was printed for the Uniform Edition on 21 February 1951’. [2] It can be said that these figures illustrated Britain’s judgement of the Civil War and their lack of interest as the Committee of Non-intervention was signed on August 1936 which denounced at giving any help to Spain. ‘Homage to Catalonia’ recounts Orwell’s experiences from December 1936 to June 1937, where he was a private and a corporal in Catalonia and Aragon. He first began in the Independent Labour Party and once he was in Spain joined the POUM (anti-soviet Marxist party formed in 1935). The novel discusses ‘an unrivalled picture of the rumours, suspicions and treachery of the Civil War’ [3], writing about his time spent in Aragon and the Barcelona Days as ‘Barcelona, the main city of Catalonia, was the centre not only of the campaign for autonomy but also of left-wing opposition.’ [4]   Orwell makes it clear to state that ‘so much political capital has been made out of the Barcelona fighting that it is important to try and get a balanced view of it.’ [5] However, to what extent is Orwell’s novel balanced? This will be answered in the analysis section. I am also going to use Pablo Picasso’s painting, ‘Guernica’. This was painted in 1937 after Picasso saw a newspaper article about the bombings of Guernica. Pablo Picasso, in his youth was part of the Catalan independence movement and it was said that he deliberately wanted his painting to return to Spain, only when Franco was overthrown, which illustrates Picasso’s distaste towards Franco and his regime. (See Appendix B for a photograph of the painting) The film ‘Land and Freedom’ was directed by Ken Loach and released in 1995. It is an example of contemporary work that depicts the Spanish Civil War. Loach’s film is based on ‘Homage to Catalonia’ and revolves around the events of the civil war. However, it must be remembered that this film is a socialist film so the depiction of events are biased. I will argue my case with 2 factual books. Written by Patricia Knight, ‘The Spanish Civil War’ provides a ‘comprehensive descriptive and analytical account’ [6] of the civil war. While Andrew Forrest’s book ‘The Spanish Civil War’ follows the same concepts which includes ‘narrative, questions and analysis of a wide range of sources.’ [7] This will be used alongside newspaper articles and websites. [8] Despite the fact that Spain did not participate in World War I and thus did not experience the disastrous effects and consequences; Spain suffered many ‘problems of the combatants.’ [9]  Socio-economically, there were strong divisions between the poor and the rich, some areas in Spain still functioned with a semi-feudal system. An example of the clash between the authorities and proletariat is the Tragic Week of 1909. It was a fight of the ‘worker against the capitalist, Catholic against atheist, anarcho-syndicalist against conservative, regionalist against centralist, landless labourer against landowner.’ [10]  Furthermore, the overstaffed military combined with continuous change of leadership meant that ‘divisions [were] deepening in Spain’. [11] This resulted in the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. The Civil War began in 1936 when a coup d’état was attempted against the Second Spanish Republic and ended in 1939. There are different ways to interpret the reasons for the Republican’s defeat. Orwell places it down to a lack of co-operation between ranks and the contribution of Stalinist PCE. However, it also can be due to the Non-Intervention Committee and Franco’s strong leadership.
 * George Orwell and the novel:  **
 * The Spanish Civil War:  **
 * // Word count – 667 //**

[1] George Orwell, 1937, The Road to Wigan Pier, [2] George Orwell, 1938, Homage to Catalonia, A note on the text [3] Antony Beevor, quoted in the introduction of the novel, Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell [4] IBID page 461 [5] George Orwell, 1938, Homage to Catalonia, page 137 [6] Patricia Knight, 1998, The Spanish Civil War, (ISBN. 0-340-70137-4 back page, [7] Andrew Forrest, 2000, The Spanish Civil War, (ISBN: 0-415-18211-5) back page  [8] See section F – list of sources  [9] Robert Wolfson and John Laver, 1978, Years of Change – Europe 1890-1945, page 461  [10] Andrew Forest, 2000, The Spanish Civil War, (ISBN: 0-415-18211-5) page 1  [11] IBID page 1

THESE FOOTNOTES WILL LOSE YOU MARKS. THEY NEED TO BE LAID OUT CONSISTENTLY in the Harvard Author-Date format, e.g George Orwell, (2003). //Homage to Catalonia//. Penguin Books Ltd (ISBN: 0141187379). Use this tool to help if you like.