Preview

George Orwell's The Politics And The English Language

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
119 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
George Orwell's The Politics And The English Language
“The Politics and the English Language (1946)” written by George Orwell suggests the idea that English language is corrupting as language develop over time because of their use in dead metaphors and meaningless words. Orwell express his opinions that the English language has become “ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, and that the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” Throughout the essay, Orwell recommends that if all authors were to follow his six rules, then they will be able to reverse their process of using their bad habit of imitating professional sounding sentence structure. He also argues that if thought corrupts language then it can corrupts our thoughts as well.
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    George Orwell's Essays: Politics And Language In Vietnam
    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    George Orwell's Essays: Politics And Language In Vietnam

    George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language” written in 1946 discusses how language can be used to obscure what one is saying. Orwell states that language can be snow obscuring details (2). He talks of how politicians use this to their advantage when trying to win the public's opinion. Some twenty years this is exemplified by the US’s involvement in Veitnam. The famous statement “We had to destroy the village in order to save” is what Orwell was describing in his essay. Although the origin and authenticity of this statement is often challenged it does does summarize the U.S.’s stance on the Veitnam war; meaning the use of deception through media, and the disregard of Vietnamese civilians wellbeing.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Comparing Orwell's Politics And The English Language
    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page

    Comparing Orwell's Politics And The English Language

    A major theme for both of Orwell’s works is the idea that people, ignorantly, don’t care about what they say or think, and then because they don’t have minds of their own they are easier to manipulate. In his Politics and the English Language, Orwell says how people don’t think about what they are writing and how they have no control over their own mind as ready-made phrases fill their paper and their mind. Then in 1984, Orwell takes this idea a step further showing how easy a civilization of thoughtless ignorance can become one of mindless devotion towards the government. In the book the characters lose their sense family ties, lose sense of time, they lose emotions, they lose their individuality, they lose their ability to remember the past,…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Examples Of Diction In 1984 By George Orwell
    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Examples Of Diction In 1984 By George Orwell

    Orwell's use of satirical diction is another way that he is able to send his message to his audience. One way his satire is shown is through the ministries within the party. Each ministry is named in a way that it contrasts their actions. The ministry of love is responsible for the treatment of party members who have "lost their ways". Their methods include torture which utilizes the deepest fears of captives.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of 1984 By George Orwell
    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of 1984 By George Orwell

    1984, by George Orwell, comes off as very bleak and grey, as it was intended to be portrayed to the reader. This helps us to understand that the world Winston Smith is living in is grey, depressing and overall quite commonplace. A place where he always has to look over his shoulder to make sure that the omnipotent Big Brother won't catch a minor slip of a few choice words or see him flirt with the woman across the way. Orwell successfully accomplishes this through his use of literary methods.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell 1984 Rhetorical Analysis
    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages

    George Orwell 1984 Rhetorical Analysis

    In Oceania when you step out of line, you will be punished accordingly. That is the message George Orwell tries to get across to his reader in 1984. Since that is the notion he is trying to get his reader to understand as the author in this book, he obeys that rule as well. Orwell uses many literary devices and techniques such as symbolism, metaphors, tone, allusions, and many more… to make the reader understand what kind of society Winston is living in.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of George Orwell's Politics And The English Language
    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Analysis Of George Orwell's Politics And The English Language

    As it is mentioned in the beginning of "Politics and the English language " that "George Orwell (1903-1950), one of the most brilliant social critics of the twentieth century...", Orwell states that English Language is losing its identity. He illustrates six solutions to improve language and the language usage for explanation is manipulative. In "Politics and The English Language", George Orwell is trying to tackle the issue of English Language decline due to bad language usage, but the six solution that Orwell stated are being broken by him that weakens his argument on English Language destruction that leads an individual to have sense of manipulation.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Beast Of England By George Orwell Ap Language
    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Beast Of England By George Orwell Ap Language

    “The singing of this song [“Beasts of England”] threw the animals into wildest excitement” (Orwell 13). Using a simple sentence, Orwell meant to convey an idea (the singing) in one thought without adding other thoughts/ideas to take the focus away from the topic. In this sentence, Orwell refers to the USSR national anthem and Marx’s communistic speech when he mentions the song, “Beasts of England”. Furthermore, the animals’ excitement to hear the song correlates with the eagerness to believe in the success of the Soviet Union. “Everyone fled to his own sleeping-place” (Orwell 14).…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Moonshine During the Great Depression
    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Moonshine During the Great Depression

    Enforcing the law proved almost impossible. Smuggling and bootlegging were widespread. Two New York agents, Izzie Einstein and Mo Smith, relied on disguises while staging their raids--once posing as man and wife. Their efforts were halted, however, after a raid on New York City's 21 trapped some of the city's leading citizens. In New York, 7,000 arrests for liquor law violations resulted in 17 convictions. Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1919 to 1933.…

    • 913 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    1984 By George Orwell Language Analysis
    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1984 By George Orwell Language Analysis

    In 1984 by George Orwell, novelist and essayist creates a dystopian novel that features his frightening vision in 1949 of the world we were soon to become. Orwell’s purpose in this passage is to convey the effect of Winston's stolen and mysterious past. Orwell uses foreshadows and symbols. He adopts a nostalgic and mysterious tone in order to hypothesize a horrific ending.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Annotated Bibliography On George Orwell
    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Annotated Bibliography On George Orwell

    Orwell, George. "The Spike." Fifty Essays by George Orwell. Project Gutenberg of Australia, Aug. 2003. Web.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    George Orwell's Politics And The English Language
    • 226 Words
    • 1 Page

    George Orwell's Politics And The English Language

    George Orwell wrote “Politics and the English language”, in his essay he talks a lot about how nowadays in his time the writers and politicians use really long and complicated ways and words of saying things he even called the language of his time “ ugly and inaccurate”, when really they should just be short and straight to the point. His argument made so much sense that’s just so understandable.…

    • 226 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four 1984
    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages

    George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four 1984

    In Nineteen-Eighty four, the protagonist begins a diary and finds that he hates the party that rules and watches over him. With that being said Winston begins to do things to rebel from Big Brother. Towards the middle of the book, Winston meets and falls in love with Julia. Winston and Julia believe that they are sneaking around behind Big Brothers back undetected. However we find out later that they have been betrayed and turned in. After being beaten, they separate the two and drag them to the Ministry of Love. This incident affects both Julia and Winston, they have to be separated and tortured to wipe away any rebelling thoughts about Big Brother. Once they have been captured we begin to wonder if they will crack under the pressure and accept…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Euphemism In George Orwell's Writings
    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Euphemism In George Orwell's Writings

    Language plays an important role for political debates and government decisions. Information is often misrepresented to gain the favor of the populous. This is evident in Orwell’s writing and in the “Hackvists” documentary, often during the course of Knappenberger’s documentary it is shown that euphemisms can greatly mislead and disrupt events in society. Orwell expresses similar views on the topic of euphemisms. In his writings Orwell conveys that a government's ability to abuse power for gain is completely unjust, this coincides with the hacktivist point of view on freedom of speech and oppression. The theme of censorship is commonly seen in the film, in relation to Orwell, he describes that the withholding of information can only lead to…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of 1984 By George Orwell
    • 1359 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis Of 1984 By George Orwell

    The first article, Search Engine Agendas by Gary Anthes is based on how the internet can redirect your political views by giving pleasant or unpleasant, information or news on a platform you’re searching up. The author, Gary Anthes, is a technology writer and editor based in Arlington, Virginia therefore he is able to speak about this topic because of the research he implements into his written article. Right away in the first paragraph, Gary gives a summary of the main ideas of George Orwell’s novel, 1984. One of the ideas presented in 1984 is of the invisible entity that manipulates the truth and perspectives of citizens without their acknowledgement. The author compares this idea to today’s internet because search engines…

    • 1359 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    American Fat
    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    American Fat

    In George Orwell’s passage, his tone was more critical and serious and his style was specific and formal. In his writing he used many references and details to support his ideas in the passage. He wrote about how the English language has progressively gotten worse because of people using too many sophisticated words in order to sound smart, but resulting in losing the meaning in what they are trying to say. In order to prove his point by researching passages that are guilty of using unnecessary words. For example, on page 541 he stated, “These five passages have not been picked out because they are especially bad – I could have quoted far worse if I had chosen – but because they illustrate various of the mental vices from which we now suffer. They are a little below average, but are fairly representative samples. I number them so that I can refer back to them when necessary:” This shows the amount of research he did and the amount of thought process put into his work. In addition, he separates his passage into and organized list of topics that are commonly used wrong in the English language such as Dying Metaphors, Operations or Verbal False Limbs, Pretentious Diction, and Meaningless Words. This shows he organized his thoughts to clearly get his point across to his readers in a well written passage. All of these examples show that…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics