Terry Fong
11Eng6
Orwell Essay What does Orwell offer us through his essays? Write a personal response through a detailed analysis of at least THREE essays.
Through his essays, Orwell offers a critique on nationalism and politics and educates the audience on the central issues of his historical and political context, urging them into active participation against the issues. His essays uphold his values of truth, freedom and justice, as seen in the essays Politics and the English Language (1946), Notes on Nationalism (1945) and Writers and the Leviathan (1948). The use of essays to convey his arguments increases his credibility as an author, and allows for greater understanding and acceptance of his beliefs. The contextual environment of a post-war Europe with high political tensions was essential in the shaping of his ideologies and thus, significantly influenced his essays. In the essay Politics and the English Language, Orwell argues three main points, that the debasement of English as a language is widespread and detrimental, that language in politics is manipulative, and that the audience is able to prevent the degradation of language if action is taken. These arguments reflect the context of his time, this being the post-war Europe plagued with political tensions having seen the rise of nationalism such as in Nazi Germany and the Stalinisation of the USSR, where the degradation of language through politics such as the use of euphemisms occurred on a large scale throughout the world. Literary techniques are used by Orwell to emphasise his points as well as improve his credibility as an author, and therefore strengthen his argument. Imagery is one example of a literary technique employed by Orwell, as seen in the sentence "Our civilisation is decadent and our language...must inevitably share in the general collapse", which depicts and imagery of collapse and decline. This emphasises his point that the debasement of language was widespread and dangerous. The rhetorical technique of classification is used, seen in the third paragraph, where he lists a few examples of where language has been corrupted. Intertextual references references compliment the classification, and both improve his credibility and strengthen his argument. Therefore, Politics and the English Language offers a critique of nationalism, enlightening the audience on this central issue of their time. The essay reflects the anti-nationalist stance Orwell Orwell took during his entire political life, as seen in his early essay, Notes on Nationalism. Orwell's Notes on Nationalism seeks to educate the audience on the degrading effects of nationalism, offering a detailed definition and analysis analysis of nationalism internationally. The essay was written in the turbulent context of post-World War II Britain, condemning nationalism and the threat it posed to the values he prized such as freedom and tolerance. Notes on Nationalism defines nationalism as "habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or unit…", and through this definition, he shows the reader how widespread this
issue is as it encompasses many ideological parties. parties. Thus, Orwell offers the reader knowledge on this central issue of his context, with his highly condemnatory tone urging the reader to action against nationalism. The literary and rhetorical techniques employed by
Terry Fong
11Eng6
Orwell strengthen his argument by increasing his credibility and authority as an author, and thus increases the audience’s understanding and acceptance of his argument. The use of simile, "...that human beings can be classified like insects…", shows the dehumanising
nature of nationalism, adding to his argument. Classification is used heavily, seen in his classifying of various political parties and characteristics of nationalists. This rhetorical technique increases his credibility, and argument strength. The shifts in narrative mode are also important as they allow him to connect with his audience using first person view to increase empathy, or third person view to create distance between nationalists and his audience. The highly condemnatory tone used by Orwell in Notes on Nationalism is also seen in some of his other essays such as Writers and the Leviathan. Writers and the Leviathan, written in 1948, offers the reader a critique and education on totalitarianism and state control, and attempts to show the importance of freedom of creative thinking. This argument was responding to “an age of State control”, where there were “strong tendencies towards totalitarianism” on a global scale, as seen in the actions of
politicians such as the Zhdanov. The title itself reveals this, emphasising the dichotomy between writers and the centralised state, which Orwell believes to be a struggle between free will and repression. The term ‘Leviathan’ is an example of an intertextual reference, not only referencing Milton’s Paradise Lost where the Leviathan was representative of Satan,
but more importantly referenc ing Thomas Hobbes’ political text Leviathan which advocates centralised governance. This example of a literary device criticises centralised power, particularly that such as totalitarianism, by comparing it to a monster and consumer of nd
souls. A rhetorical technique employed, accumulation, is seen in the 2 paragraph, “War, Fascism, concentration camps, rubbe r truncheons, atomic bombs etc.” This not only highlights the importance of context in influencing writers, but emphasises the crucial concerns of his time. The use of inclusive pronouns is used by Orwell to involve the audience and connect with them, making his thesis more meaningful to the readers. The motif of struggle and battle, seen frequently in his other essays such as Politics and the English Language, is against used in this essay, "the invasion of literature by politics was bound to happen". Therefore, it is shown that through a litany of literary and rhetorical devices such as imagery, accumulation and tone, Orwell in his essays offers the reader a critical and analytical view on nationalism, politics and the effects of these on populations and writers principally. The essays also show the importance of context in influencing writers, particularly during the turbulent post-war period Europe underwent in the mid-late 1940s.
