George Orwell Politics And The English Language Essay

George Orwell

Christopher Szerbiak COTA/L

Keiser University

Abstract

This paper will compare and contrast of two great pieces of literature by George Orwell, Animal Farm and “Politics and the English Language”. I will analyze Orwell’s use of political rhetoric and its role in controlling the masses, even while he advocates for the English language to abandon these phrases.

George Orwell

I remember the first time I picked up Animal Farm. It was in the 8th grade, and it was for an assignment to enrich our learning experience. Before I knew it, I had read through four chapters, which was surprising because back then I loathed reading. With this new found love of the written word and my increased interest in politics, I began to see that Orwell was often critical of the political climate. I also

In “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell writes, “As I have tried to show, Modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer” (Muller, 2014, p. 128). The audience see’s Orwell’s use of rhetoric that it is way more effective in using these meaningless words to hurt the cause, rather than help it (Muller, 2014). In Animal Farm, he writes, “Let's face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short” (Orwell, 2006, p. 23). These statements he uses appear throughout the novel, to rally the stupid. The audience can see how powerful the words are even though there isn’t much meaning behind them. The pigs use these statements to protect their interest of ruling over all because they are “smarter” than the rest (Orwell, 2006). The pigs rule the farm with an iron fist and utilize political rhetoric to essentially tell the masses on the farm: nothing to see here, everything we do is for the greater good of the