"Politics and the English Language" Response

“Politics and the English Language” is an essay written by George Orwell, and very well known political activist and novelist, in 1946. Within the essay he address the English language and the many flaws writers have when writing persuasive arguments about politics But he says that these flaws are not the fault of writers but that of the language itself. “Modern English … is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble,” says Orwell which he earlier likes unto a man that drinks because he’s a failure but then fails all the more completely because he drinks. So instead of just accepting the problem and not trying to fix it (making it ultimately worse than it was before), we can do what is necessary now to better our written language for generations to come.

Through out the essay Orwell addresses a variety of passages as examples of “bad writing,” one from the Communist pamphlet another from the Bible, and then shows what we as writers should not do within our own writing. “Pretentious diction” stuck out to me, using words such as “phenomenon, categorical, exploit,” and so on are used to address simple statement but in turn “give an air of scientific impartiality to biased judgments,” meaning that by using these words writers are trying to make their own opinions on a subject seem factual.

At the end of the essay Orwell actually lists six rules that we as writers should follow when writing an argumentative piece. Two rules that I thought were very applicable to my own writing were: (ii)”Never use a long word where a short one will do” and (iv)”Never use the passive where you can use the active.” My argument essay is completely political because I am rallying behind and arguing for gay rights, a very heated topic in today’s society. To make my argument valid and to persuade readers to see my reasoning I feel it’s very important that I follow the rules George Orwell has outlined in his essay. Many times in my writing I unknowingly use “pretentious diction” or “meaningless words” which only distraction from the actual point I am trying to make and in some cases discredit my argument all together because it seems like I might not understand my topic fully because of the extra “fluff” that I’ve added. Though the reading was difficult, I thoroughly enjoyed it and the lessons it has taught me and I will definitely be using Orwell’s rules in my argument paper.