A Critical Analysis of George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language"

Orwell, G. (1946). Politics and the English Language. Horizon (April Issue), 1-8.

In his essay Politics and the English Language, George Orwell, author of the famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, argues that political speech and writing have corrupted the English language by introducing several “bad habits” (Orwell, 1). The paper states that politicians intentionally use vague language in order to veil the true meaning of their words and that this trend has carried over into academia and writing in general, where people emulate the style of speech used by politicians in order to seem intelligent (Orwell, 5-6). While the majority of the paper is unstructured, Orwell designates specific sections for each of the “bad habits” he discusses in his critique of modern writing, namely the use of dying metaphors, the tendency to “pad out” sentences with extra syllables, the use of pretentious diction, and the use of meaningless or vague terms (Orwell, 2-3), helping them to stand out from the rest of the paper. Examples from various sample texts are provided for each of these habits. By framing his writing tips between the two halves of his main argument, Orwell encourages the reader to learn about good writing while keeping the emphasis of the paper firmly on his thesis. Near the end of the paper, Orwell also includes a numbered list of rules for writing well, providing an easy checklist for the reader to follow when writing their own material.

Orwell's formal tone lends him an air of authority which suits the intended audience, namely fellow writers who may be looking to learn from him. His style throughout the text follows his own guidelines of brevity, lack of jargon, and use of the active voice.

While Orwell does not back up his main argument with facts, his opinions may prove interesting to those studying the interplay between politics and language. Moreover, the writing tips offered in the paper could be very useful for any writer looking to improve their style, especially in situations where concise, formal writing is required.