Politics and the English Language Essay

Both Baldwin and Orwell feel that language is a political instrument, made up of wordplay.(metaphors , similes, etc.) In “Politics and the English Language”, Orwell states that these metaphors are a “mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence”, along with this it leads him to say that,“many of these (metaphors) are used without knowledge of their meaning”(Orwell 1946). While Orwell may not agree with the use of metaphors Baldwin feels that it helps to give language a sense of identity. In “If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”, he states the example that, “To open your mouth in England is (if I may use black English) to "put your business in the street"...”(Baldwin 1979). This not only

Orwell begins his essay claiming that the “English language is in a bad way” which he continuously gives examples of throughout the rest of the essay. From the start, it is clear that Orwell believes that the English language is on a continuous downward spiral that is not caused by one person, but by the collection of everyone. Language has become ugly and inaccurate, which engages no imagery and makes the people look foolish, making the idea worthless. People have stopped trying to make their statements precise and as clear to the audience as possible, which is spreading to the next generations. They also are more concerned with how the sentence looks with big vocabulary, often using those words or phrases incorrectly, than about the big

Words used by people in a society does not have a fix identity. Even if we go through various websites or dictionaries, we will encounter various interpretations of one particular word. A word exists by itself, it does not have an author or creator to prove that it only has specific meanings. This creates a space for people to manipulate words easily at any time. They just need to put in effort in how they intend to present the word to the public. With just having confidence in their speech and good evidence to back up their points, one can completely change the viewpoint of people towards the language used. At one point Orwell has stated that “ As soon as certain topics are raised, the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed….henhouse” (Orwell, 512). When we look back at this claim by Orwell, it shows how meanings of words are easily manipulated by just attaching it with other words to create a phrase. It completely changes the current definition and creates a new focus of what it means among the society. Orwell also states that “Some metaphors now current have been

The way the writer communicates is through their style. It appeals to the audiences emotions, it can make the message more artistic and memorable.

Orwell creates a connotation between the negative aspects of slang to better illustrate his perspective on slang. By concluding that pretentious diction, meaningless words, and dying metaphors has a similar outcome in writing and made these types of slang have negative connotations in writing. Orwell does this by looking at the state of the English Language and points

Language and thought are closely related. Language, both written and spoken, allows for the expression of thought. Without this, people are unable to convey their views. Orwell uses this idea by creating Newspeak, the language of Oceania. Newspeak is designed to restrict thought and limit expression. One character, Syme, states, “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it” (Orwell 52). This quote means that by removing words, specifically words that relate to freedom

Ken Macrorie in both his weekly readings descibes the writing process of college students to be filled with lies and to be lifeless. He emphasizes that good writing is truthful writing not stained with lies (fluffy writing) from the writer.

In order to send his readers an underlying message that the decay of the English language is essentially everyone’s fault, Orwell takes a risk transitioning from the first person point of view to the second person point of view when discussing the use of ready-made phrases because he creates a demanding tone in order to pull readers into his argument and make them feel accused for pertaining to the issue. His purpose of transitioning his point of view is to establish a specific connection between the reader and the narrator. He desires that the readers understand his argument about politics being a connection to the decline of the English language, but simultaneously, he wants to send an important message that every individual pertains to the

In particular, George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” discusses how over the course of time, English language has slowly degraded into a new form in which we as a collective lack precision of language. Orwell also notes that “staleness of imagery” has depreciated across many mediums of writing. As these two qualities act upon each other, one is left with a bland piece of writing which lacks any sort of creativity, but also affects how one may perceive such writing. Without these traits, many may use generic phrases as metaphors which completely lack any sort of concreteness Further, Orwell discusses such consequences of vague language in

George Orwell’s thesis that words can and will be used as political tools is absolutely correct, because speech can be twisted and used as a weapon to obscure, change, or manipulate the true context or meaning behind a thought or action. George Orwell warned about the manipulation of language and the underlying fascism that was around during the time of his writing that was connected with language. During the time of his writing Adolf Hitler and Mussolini had both just fallen from power and Orwell warned about how they used language as a means of manipulation to obscure their true intentions.

According to journalist William Zinsser, a writer must be clear in order to write well. A writer who fills his/her pages with pretentious words, flattery prose, or intricate syntax clouds up his/her sentences and prevents the reader from fully understanding the message at hand. Therefore, Zinsser contends that good writing is achieved when bombastic language and confusing words are avoided. Indeed, stripping “every sentence to its cleanest components”, removing excess verbiage, and molding words into coherent, simple structures prevents the reader from getting lost in a whirlwind of words and thus allows him/her to fully grasp the author’s message (Zinsser 6). In short, clarity leads to writing that is done well.

According to Orwell, Modern English is full of bad habits caused by political and economic motives. These habits are reversible. Orwell complaints against the problems of the English Language in the essay, “Politics and the English

From all age ranges, from a broad spectrum of means of communication, Orwell’s insight of the destruction of language to limit

Throughout the novel, "newspeak" is discussed. The whole purpose of "newspeak" is to control how people think. Orwell writes, "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime impossible, because there will be no word in which to express it."(p.61) This quote shows what the

In George Orwell’s “Politics in the English Language,” the author makes the point that politics are distorted as a result of improper use of the English language. He breaks the issue down into four main sources: “dying metaphors,” “verbal false limbs,” “pretentious diction,” and “meaningless words.” He uses these points to prove specifically what must be done in order to fix modern English. Orwell does this through his use of rhetorical devices such as asyndeton and metaphor, which both demonstrate the idea that he aims to convey. George Orwell uses asyndeton to prove how unnecessary the employment of specific writing techniques is when one is trying to get a point across to an audience.