Orwell

I found Orwell’s essay and its critique on politics to be very interesting. After reading his essay, I felt as if my eyes were opened to the truth. I have to say that I found myself guilty of a lot of his criticisms. For example, his criticism of pretentious language and its role in “fashionable writing” definitely had some truth. I’m not going to accuse anyone of this, but I sometimes find myself searching for bigger, longer and more advanced words to express my meaning. In my view, these words give credibility to my writing while making me seem more intelligent. The truth, however, is that simply knowing these words makes me no smarter than someone who uses less advanced alternatives. Also, a lot of the time when we think we are using intelligent words or phrases, they most likely have been recycled throughout literature by many different people. And like Orwell said, these words probably have the same vague meanings that can be applied to various situations.
The connection between the decline of language and politics by Orwell was also logical. Using vague metaphors and ambiguous language not only buffers the argument, it hides the true purpose and conceals hidden points. I do disagree with him that language as a whole is declining though. I feel that this type of writing has always been present. There are negative aspects, but it is in our nature to present versions of ourselves that make us seem better than what we actually are. Using pretentious words or phrases is just a manifestation of that desire in our language. This will also not change. I feel that if all writing was short and to the point, some of the beauty of language will suffer. I feel that Orwell’s critique of language was correct, but solving the problem would be impossible.