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Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”
Importance of language in human communication
Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”
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Recommended: Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language”
An Analysis of George Orwell’s "Politics and the English Language” (1946).
Orwell’s article on the English language is on point because it defines how people have become lazy in how they communicate with each other. This type of “slovenliness” is part of the problem in terms of why the English language is often misused by the speaker: “The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts” (Orwell para.2). Due to the speaker’s laziness, the language becomes confused, and the person begins having “foolish thoughts” that do not have very good accuracy. This mental process is one way that Orwell defines the importance of language as a tool for clarity of thought, which is important when conveying a message to another person or group of people. Certainly, this is an
In these articles, Orwell defines the two major problems with these articles: “The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision” (para.9). I agree with Orwell’s argument about the dull use of imagery in these articles, which avoids creativity. Orwell uses a long line of images/metaphors that writers use in their work, which are often misused because the writer does not know the meaning of the terms “Many of these are used without knowledge of their meaning” (Orwell para.10). This is an important example of the foolishness of writers that do not understand the metaphors, similes, and symbolic expressions to help the reader understand their ideas in the writing. I also agree that writers do not use words “precisely”, which can confuse the reader. Many writers are not fully aware of the meaning of the words they choose, which Orwell breaks down in the writings he is analyzing. Clarity in the writing process is conveyed with great accuracy by Orwell to make this second
Diction: While George Orwell used fairly simple and uncomplicated diction to tell the story many of his words still have a very powerful diction. In the first chapter the protagonist Winston is attack by the smell of “boiled cabbage and old rag mats”. This is the first indication to the nature of the living conditions of our protagonist. However, Orwell also uses his diction to create the atmosphere of Oceania with lines like “the world looked cold. Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no colour in anything”. These lines contain powerful words like cold, torn, and harsh and these worlds help paint the picture of what kind of story we are reading.
Orwell, George. “Politics and the English Language.” George Orwell: Critical Essays. London: Harvill Secker: 2009. 270-286. Print.
The main idea of paragraph 13 is that Orwell clears up many misconceptions that people might have about his essay and reinstates that he believes that quality over quantity is something that the English language needs to work towards and that archaic rules can be broken in order to achieve this. 12) The first ironic rule is to, “Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.” This rule is to make sure that people are creative in their writing and add a bit of spark to the writing. Another reason the rule is stated since hackneyed phrases often get muddled with other ones, which results in a muddled
The time frame of this article is in 1946, a year after World War 2 has ended. Orwell takes the current situation into consideration when he appeals to his audience. Therefore, he addresses areas of politics in combination with recent events to try to persuade his audience while inducing a connection between the reader and his article. Orwell writes, “Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face…”. The reader makes a connection with the article because they can remember the previous experience of the topics in their time frame. However, Orwell uses pathos to finally convince the audience of his argument when he writes “Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, and the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets”. This technique is highly effective because readers automatically feel a sense of pity and sadness which in turn persuades the audience of the argument and convinces them to agree with Orwell’s
In the book, the dark tone of the novel conveys the numbing of society while the irony demonstrates how trusting others affects views and relationships. However, paradox suggests something contradictory to logical reasoning. Doublethink contributes to the hopelessness by illustrating a paradox within society. Therefore, Orwell illustrates tone, paradox, and irony through how the government controls emotions, time, thoughts, and trust in order to brainwash and desensitize society.
Howe, Tom. "George Orwell." British Writers Volume VII. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. New York: Scribner, 1984. 273-287.
Orwell argues that society is completely oblivious to the constraint that is involved in every day life. There is no individual in society and that everyone remains the same. “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?” (46) Not only does a limiting of words show society that by controlling methods of co...
Despite the warnings of Orwell through both his essay and dystopian novel, bad English is still used today, and could be argued to affect more English than it did during Orwell’s life. The consequences are also just as he predicted, those who control the language are able to wield control over the thoughts of others. The usage of poor quality English by media has he effect of making the recipients of news more detached from events and as a consequence, more self-focused. The clumsiness and foolishness imposed by bad English ultimately degrading thought, politics, culture, and society is what Orwell had foretold. This is the English tragedy that is disregarded, modern thoughts of “English” are not of language but of the English Queen.
I strongly agree with Fromm’s viewpoints and interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 text. He warns that the future federal powers will dehumanize society and leave everyone alienated. Thus, I agree with Fromm to the extent that he acknowledges the fact that humanity can indeed cease to exist as a result of our own self-destruction as well as the effect of our actions. Many of his opinions and warnings expressed by Orwell to an extent appear in contemporary society.
The tone of Orwell’s essay is formal. Throughout the entire essay, Orwell is informative and professional to achieve ethos. Orwell stays professional even when he is expressing his feelings, for example, in this passage, “In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a ‘party line’. Orthodoxy, of whatever colour, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style. The political dialects to be found in pamphlets, leading articles, manifestos, white papers and the speeches of undersecretaries do, of course, vary from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, homemade turn of speech.” Orwell does not veer off topic and continues to be
A 1949 Review of Orwell's 1984 Behold a world of horror. You are walking down a bleak London street, surrounded by huge, hostile buildings. The street is dirty and the buildings are falling apart. Missiles are incoming alongside you, people are screaming, children are crying. From every corner, every wall, two eyes are staring at you; dark eyes, with no expression; the mustached face of a man.
In chapters 5-8 Orwell continues his pattern of being overly descriptive in nature. To me these chapters appear to be somewhat longer in length than the beginning chapters with the exception of chapter six. Nevertheless, the theme of the chapters seem to be that Winston is trying desperately to cling any trace humanity he can find and he refute the idea that things are better under the tyranny of Big Brother. Additionally, there is the introduction of supporting characters and elements: Syme, Mr. Charrington, prole subculture and a unique coral paperweight. Also we are given a brief narrative on Winston’s estranged wife, Katharine.
George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, talks about some “bad habits”, which have driven the English language in the wrong direction, that is, away from communicating ideas. In his essay he quotes five passages, each from a different author, which embody the faults he is talking about. He lists dying metaphors, operators, pretentious diction, and meaningless words as things to look out for in your own writing and the writing of others (593-595). He talks about political uses of the English language. Our language has become ugly and the ugliness impedes upon communication. Ugly uses of language have been reinforced and passed down in the population “even among people who should and do know better,” (598). Ugly language has been gaining ground in our population by a positive feedback mechanism.
Orwell overcomes this by putting a great focus on Newspeak. First, Language the most powerful method used by Orwell in 1984. Through
Based on the two essays, George Orwell is a vivid writer who uses a unique point of view and strong themes of pride and role playing to convey his messages. His writings are easy to pick out because of the strengths of these messages. Just like politicians in government, people with power turn corrupt to stay in power and keep their reputations. Anyone who takes on power must be prepared to live with the consequences of his actions. Orwell knows this challenge well and conveys this principle in his writing. After all, his narration is based on real life experiences and not fictional fantasies.