Rhetorical Analysis Of Politics And The English Language

In the essay “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell conveys that the modern writing style is in dire need of Improvement. Orwell directly states that “. . . the English language is declining . . .” as his thesis (1).

He wrights this essay in order to draw attention to and help to fix the problems with modern English. Therefore, his audience is, broadly, anyone who is a competent writer or speaker of the English language. Specifically he directs his essay to politicians and advanced writers or scholars.

Orwell uses examples of “bad” English throughout his essay. In one instance, he uses a mocking tone before listing a number of improper phrases; asserting that they “. . . save the trouble of picking out appropriate verbs

and nouns” (Orwell 3). The author does not literally mean that the phrases he lists avoid the necessity of choosing the right words; he uses the words “save the trouble” as a kind of joke. He applies a sarcastic tone to make his audience take the use of these phrases less seriously. His wittiness makes the phrases that modern writers use seem almost laughable, this makes the reader agree with his message; that modern English needs to change.

When describing how corrupt political language is, Orwell uses inverted syntax; he writes, “One need not swallow such absurdities” (9).

He continues his wittiness when he inverts the sentence. In his essay, Orwell discloses how “professional” writers make themselves sound more intelligent, the use of inverted syntax is one way of doing so. By using inverted syntax himself, he is not attempting to make himself more astute in the reader’s eyes, but being ironic. He shows his audience how ridiculous modern writing has become through the swapping of the words "need" and "not," making the sentence seem, on the surface, intelligent, but really it is more difficult to understand. The subversion is another hint to the audience of the foolishness of modern writers who inflate their

wording.

A.

Orwell uses pretentious diction to create Irony as well. After reviewing modern writing abuses, Orwell states that he “ . . . made a catalogue of swindles and provisions, . . .” instead of simply saying that he “listed mistakes.” (5). Orwell illustrates how infected our language is today by using the same poor wording that modern writers use. The word “swindles” is certainly not applied in everyday language, like many other old English and foreign words, so why do writers use them? Orwell wants to show his audience that the application of discontinued words in writing is an effort from the author to sound well educated, moreover it is highly unnecessary. Unnecessary words are another mistake Orwell wants to remove from modern works, he brings attention to them by, ironically, using them himself, which shows how much improvement is needed.

B. Towards the end of his essay, he writes with direct diction to contrast his Irony. He states directly what he believes needs changing. One of Orwell’s changes is to “Never use a long word where a short one will do” (9). The concise rule to ‘keep it simple’ shows the audience how clear wording is so much nicer and more understandable than the lump of complex words used in modern language. In expressly saying, “Never,” Orwell uses word choice to be resolute about how unacceptable language abuses are. His audience now sees the difference in the styles of writing, and therefore why their needs to be

changes.

A. To clarify message, Orwell makes use of Personification. He portrays the relationship between thought process and writing style by saying, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought” (7). He Implies that language and thought are intertwined, using personification to say that if one is declining, so is the other. Accordingly, Orwell hints at the detrimental effects of a deteriorating language. He suggests that if people continue to misuse English, people will become increasingly unintelligent. Personifying language and thought to be able to effect each other makes the audience feel as if, if nothing is done, the modern language style will continue to degrade their intelligence and vice versa. The use of personification makes the problem personal by making the issue seem more alive, which compels the audience to do what they can to save the English language.

B. When describing how modern writers often use complex words to mask their ineptitudes, Orwell uses the simile “A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow . . .” (7). The image this simile creates shows the audience just how modern writers try to fool their readers. In using intricate Latin based words, modern writers may seem clever externally, but are really covering their meaning, if they have one, by trying too hard to impress their reader. Comparing the use of complex words to the way snow whites out anything it lays on creates clarity; the reader can visualize just how modern writers get around making any clear statements. This visualization reenforces Orwell’s thesis. In reading this sentence the audience observes how corrupt our language is.