In terms of literary merit, he’s quite average, if not outright bad. I haven’t come across an instance where he’s brought up as a shining example of anything really (the exception being r/books, which is filled with illiterates). Unless, of course, you’re Harold Bloom, and included 1984 because it’s “the 1984” (as if that means anything).

Animal Farm is quite hamfisted, and is a pretty good bedtime story for children in that no one really cares about it and it exists for them to doze off via hypnosis. Does anyone really care about the Very Hungry Caterpillar? Of course not, and that’s Animal Farm. Of course, the historical context of Animal Farm is also totally wrong and so ideologically slanted against Stalin that it’s as if Stalin himself had humiliated him in public by pulling his trousers down in public. It’s really strange just how committed Orwell was about it. There’s also racist, sexist, and chauvinistic undertones that Orwell lets slip because he’s way too invested in the whole talking-animal-yumen-nature shtick, hence the hammy-ness of it all.

1984 is quite decent, actually. Great use of language to describe the 5Ws. Look no further than the first chapter, which is a textbook way to grab the reader’s attention. He paints a vivid picture of the barrenness of the environment, the cold weather, the clothes, and staging of the character. How often do you read a passage and think to yourself “what the fuck is even happening here?”. This doesn’t happen in 1984, and at times it reads like a script (in a good way). Its premise, however, and everything else, is so ridiculous that it borders on the comical–even more so considering how much effort he put into the useless appendix of vomit. Read 1984 like you would a Saturday cartoon in the newspaper while taking a shit.

The merit of reading Orwell is so minimal that you’re better off just reading the history and philosophy of the things he’s plagiarized. Don’t fall into the trap thinking that reading Animal Farm or 1984 will give you deep insights into governmental structures and the USSR. Too many people do that as a substitute for actually reading about the real thing. Want to learn about Stalin? Read Stalin. Soviet/DPRK/Chinese governments? Read their works.

Orwell has cemented himself in the western canon solely due to his propagandist power. You’ll soon realize that no one ever talks about Orwell outside of pro-western Cold War rhetoric, and at that point you should raise a few eyebrows as to why that is. His senile ramblings of essays, in particular “Why I Write”, is quite nice. Truly the best thing of Orwell is his obituary.