Study of George Orwell\'s Politics and the English Language

Politics and English Language

POLITICS AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

George Orwell in his essay 'Politics and the English Language' discusses the flaws and degeneration of English language. He believes that since the language is clearly losing its focus and direction, it is rapidly becoming unclear and vague giving rise to literary pieces that make little or no sense at all. Many people share Orwell's observation and feel that for some odd reason, English language is bringing on its own decline by making some common mistakes repeatedly and persistently. It has been noticed that with frequent use of words and phrases that sound fancy enough but actually lack meaning, English writing is becoming unclear and unfocused. The author has cited some examples of how the so-called learned people make clear mistakes in English writing and the vocabulary they use simply is mind-boggling. Readers are left in a sate of confusion and they wonder whether their own standards have declined or have they suddenly lost command over this language for what they read certainly doesn't sound like English to them. This modern English is very different from what we call Standard English and we notice that modern English is guilty of four very common mistakes or blunders. These errors are as follows:

Orwell believes that the first terrible mistake made by modern writers is the use of old and almost dead metaphors. He is of the view that since writers no longer try to build their vocabulary or invent new and better phrases for themselves, they often use similes or metaphors that have become so dry and dull, that they do not serve their purpose and fail to excite the readers. He writes, "there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. Examples are: Ring the changes on, take up the cudgel for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the hands of, no axe to grind, grist to the mill, fishing in troubled waters, on the order of the day, Achilles' heel, swan song, hotbed."

Orwell is convinced that modern writers use their metaphors without being fully aware of their meaning and simply to save themselves the trouble of developing better phrases. Now we can't blame Orwell for being so harsh with modern English writers because we must have come across similar vague pieces ourselves. Pick up some newspaper or magazine and you will find countless examples of unclear writing where use of obtuse and almost senseless metaphors completely destroys the essence of the write-up. For example read the following definition of democracy by E.B. White and you might have to spend a day or two encoding the passage: "Democracy is the line that forms on the right. It is the don't in Don't shove. It is the hole in the stuffed shirt through which the sawdust slowly trickles; it is the dent in the high hat. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time. It is the feeling of privacy in the voting booths, the feeling of communion in the libraries, the feeling of vitality everywhere. Democracy is the letter to the editor. Democracy is the score at the beginning of the ninth. It is an idea that hasn't been disproved yet, a song the words of which have not gone bad."

The second common mistake according to Orwell is the use of inappropriate verbs or nouns. He feels that we tend to overuse 'verb phrases' instead of verb words, which mean that even when a single word can convey the message, we would deliberately, pick up a phrase, which only renders our writing meaningless. He cites various examples from everyday modern phrases, which are used commonly but can certainly complicate the writing. The following passage from David Lodge's Small World might give you some idea about what is meant by unclear modern writing. "Language is a code. But every decoding is another encoding.... It is the terpsichorean equivalent of the hermeneutic fallacy of recoupable meaning, which claims that if we remove the clothing of its rhetoric from a literary text we discover the bare facts it is trying to communicate.... To read is to surrender oneself to an endless displacement of curiosity and desire from one sentence to another. The text unveils itself before us, but never allows itself to be possessed; and instead of striving to possess it we should take pleasure in its teasing."

According to Orwell, the third common mistake is the use of passive voice instead of active. The author feels that when writers replace active sentences with passive, they make simple language more complicated, which adds to the vagueness of the writing. For clearer and more precise writing it is better to use active voice, which conveys the message directly instead of in a roundabout manner.

The fourth mistake pointed out by Orwell is the use of pretentious and meaningless words. Orwell maintains modern writers find it important to use foreign words or pretentious phrases which are not well understood by the readers and only give rise to the risk of possible misinterpretation. This is a very common mistake that is often regarded as a sign of knowledge and vast vocabulary by the writers but tends to leave readers more confused. For this reason, instead of trying to decode the writing, they would much rather switch to some other writer with more meaningful and less obscure views. But if we thought that only few modern writers make these errors, then we are certainly grossly mistaken. This is because some of the best institutions in the country that are known for their quality education are found guilty of these common mistakes in writing. For example, the following passage is extracted from an anthropology course description at Stanford University and this is by far the most unclear piece of writing I have come across.