Orwell’s Perspective

1. What is Orwell’s argument?

The English language is continually being corrupted due to unconscious writers that use it inappropriately. We should be conscious of what we are writing and have a concrete idea of what we are going to write about before jotting down the words that we believe may work. Political and economical distress are causes of the changes the English language confronts and suffers.

2. Identify two cases of irony.

•After exploring the possibility that our intent in changing the language is impossible and that the language’s decline follows our decline Orwell states that “it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer.” After stating this he will employ the examples of five specific writers to support his ideas, somewhat ironical to what he had previously stated.
•As Orwell introduces the five examples of bad writing he states that the “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.” He realizes that if the five passages are not bad he will not be able to extract anything from them so he explains that they “are a little below the average, but are fairly representative examples.” Orwell will later criticize these examples completely but he seems aware that the writers from whom he is citing must not be depicted as bad writers. But the reader understands that Orwell really wants to say that their writing is wrong, something that is highlighted by the ironical, a little below average, but fairly representative.

3. Define dying metaphors, pretentious diction, meaningless words.

Dying metaphors: Metaphors that have lost their original meaning. Authors who use them are not conscious of what they are talking about.

Pretentious Diction: Foreign words that are used in English instead of employing the appropriate English words. Foreign words are overused and loose their original meaning.

Meaningless Words: Words that have lost their meaning through overuse, are excessively vague and unnecessary.

4. Create ten steps to good writing according to Orwell.

•Understand what you are going to say before you say it.
•Say it in the simplest way possible.
•Revise what you wrote and if it reflects what you wanted to say.
•Use appropriate English words in your writing. This eliminates the use of pretentious diction.
•Avoid the passive, look for active alternatives for your writing.
•Your writing should reflect original thoughts, no clichés involved.
•Eliminate all words and sentences that don’t mean anything to your writing. Avoid fluff.
•Look for words that work well with what you want to say.
•Avoid jargon, scientific and foreign words and phrases by employing everyday English alternatives.
•“Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”