Rhetorical Analysis Of Gandhi By George Orwell

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, one of the greatest Indian leaders, followed his chosen principles and personal values devoutly. He was pure vegetarian, lived humbly and in simple attire, and promoted equality among all. Mahatma Gandhi’s blind commital to his following of his ethics was criticized by some people, one of whom was George Orwell. George Orwell wrote a passage making the argument that people should accept human imperfection (for life and love) than “loyally” adhere to “sainthood.” Orwell uses strong, noticebly-patterned diction and specific passage structure, to effectively develop his position.
George Orwell uses strong, noticebly-patterned diction to highlight his argument, that choosing human imperfection is better in some situations

than picking “sainthood.” George Orwell uses Gandhi as his sole evidence for his argument. Orwell uses Gandhi’s anecdote about the animal food medicine, “forbidden… whatever the risk might be,” to make a large comparison between two words, “love” and “loyalty.” Orwell referred to “love” as the acceptance of imperfection to heal loved ones and “loyalty” as the complete adherence to “sainthood.” To make his point, George Orwell uses “love” 5 times in the passage, but uses “loyalty” only 2 times in the passage.

This tailored details demonstrate that the author wants to focus on “loving” imperfection as better than “loyal” “sainthood.” This repetition technique emphasizes the author’s key idea that choosing human imperfection for “love” is better sometimes than sticking “loyally” to “sainthood,” no matter what. The author shows his passionate tone and strong feelings about

the argument when he italicizes the word “is,” in “that one is sometimes willing to commit sins.” By italicizing the word, Orwell illustrates the strength (forcefulness) of his position. In addition, Orwell chooses words such as “does not push ascetism to the point,” “impossible,” “defeated,” “broken up,” and “inevitable.” This explanation of the slippery slope, that is resulted by not accepting imperfection and committing some “necessary” sins, makes the reader consider Orwell’s argument more, thinking about the massive impact that insensitive actions like Gandhi’s in the anecdote can lead to our demise.
In addition, Orwell uses a specific passage structure to develop his argument.

In the beginning, Orwell accepts with his opposing side, with “this is unquestionably true;” however, then, talks about his counterexample, about Gandhi, and rebutts the original claim. Lastly, he ends the passage with his opinionated, supported statements (a transformation of the original claim). This structure shows the reader two things, that the author took the time to consider the opposing side’s views and that the author put deep thought into how he was going t validate his claim. This structure strengthens his argument, by debunking any possible arguments against his, and by allowing him to form some supporting evidence. In addition, by using the “-- I think--” after his example of Gandhi, he is transitioning to his opinionated thoughts. This smooth transition allows the reader to hear the author’s perspective (voice) clearly, to analyze both sides (views) presented, and to follow the author’s thought process

easily.
In the Story of My Experiments with Truth, Mahatma Gandhi described his personal beliefs and ideologies that were criticized by some. Orwell, one of the people who criticized Gandhi’s “inhumanity,” uses particular structural aspects and strong, patterned diction in his passage to reflect his thoughts on the topic and his position. Sometimes extreme adherence to one’s ethics, might be detrimental to one’s family or friends; thus, choosing the extent to which one picks “sainthood” is critical.