George Orwell Politics And The English Language Essay

Tags: Undergraduate Research PaperEssay CompositionThesis On FilmResearch Papers On Bullying In The WorkplaceWhat Is The Critical Thinking And Negative ThinkingLayout For A Research Paper

It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language.

It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.

Hitchens expands: He had to suppress his distrust and dislike of the poor, his revulsion from the ‘coloured’ masses who teemed throughout the empire, his suspicion of Jews, his awkwardness with women and his anti-intellectualism.

By teaching himself in theory and practice, some of the teaching being rather pedantic, he became a great humanist.

While Orwell’s writing often paints a hopeless picture of humanity, his self-taught humanitarianism proves that great change at the level of the individual is possible.

His work cautions us about the seduction of selfishness, but his life shows us that compassion is not inherited — it’s cultivated.

The following list provides some insight into the prophetic themes of Orwell’s work: All those themes are somewhat related, but in this article I’ll be focusing on the last listed item: Orwell’s views on language and its corrosive influence on the individual and the state. With Orwell’s guidance, I will show you how politicians distort facts and deceive listeners with their word choices, how our constant exposure to political speech dulls our sensory acuity, and how learning to write well (a subject on which Orwell will soon instruct us) is the best practice for thinking well, and, ultimately, reforming the world.

Orwell’s main argument in is that language and thought act much like conjoined twins of the human psyche, and thus, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” If we disregard the health of one twin, we encumber the other.

Orwell wasn’t just a critic of his times: he is a critic for all times.

Even now, sixty-five years after his death, his work seems just as, if not more, relevant.