Reading Response #5

In “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell writes about how the written English language is becoming bad due to the lack of honesty and of its vagueness.

To me, this whole essay was a blur. What I really got out of it was that some people write long, complicated paragraphs that make no sense, politicians are “dumm[ies]” who are vague and dishonest, and that there are rules Orwell thinks everyone should follow so they can write well.

Most of Orwell’s examples of bad language were confusing to me. I did not understand what the writer was trying to say. It’s filled with long words that made the text sound smart but also made me feel a little dumb for not knowing the words. In the beginning, I wondered if people actually did that. Do people actually change simple understandable sentences/paragraphs and turned them into long, extensive, ambiguous ones? Do people just string along pointless phrases and call it good? Then I realized that I sometimes change words or add phrases to make my paragraphs longer and make my sentences more complex than it should be, so I can’t really judge.

 Orwell talks about how politics/political speeches are a good example of vagueness and dishonesty. Politicians use words that have different meanings to people, so when giving a speech, what he says can be interpreted in many ways depending on the person and that can be completely different to what he is really saying. Most of the time, it is unclear to what the politician is really trying to say. I think politicians are vague and use certain words is to try to please everybody. I think he relies on the audiences’ imagination to figure out what he means under their own terms. He lets the audience manipulate what he is saying to what the audience wants to hear.

I see why Orwell was perturbed with the written language. Instead of straightforward sentences, some people, especially politicians, weave through their ideas but do not actually make solid points. I would be really mad if I had to read a long, confusing passage that really had no point or meaning to it. It’s like watching a movie with no story; the movie may seem all exciting and thrilling and all that, but in the end, what was the whole point of the movie?

Orwell also appears like a jerk in this writing. It seems like he feels superior in writing because he is a renowned writer. He’s putting down writing styles of other people and saying its wrong and that people should write more like him. Even though I agree with some points he makes, I wouldn’t go and publicly write an essay about how bad people write and show/criticize their works.