Politics and the English Language

Orwell himself uses similes and metaphors. Locate five of them, and explain their relationship to the author’s analysis.

  Orwell uses is when he is talking about overused metaphors and says, "there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors." This shows to illustrate how useless the overused metaphors are and how many there are. Another metaphor he uses is "Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions." This shows that there are many ways that English has been changed and he is listing them. Another metaphor he uses is "when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them" This shows that when people use English without thinking it makes them inhuman. Another metaphor he uses is saying "the great enemy of clear language is insincerity" This shows how it is a legitimate problem to try and talk clearly without caring about the topic. Finally, a metaphor he uses is when he is talking about go- to phrases in English that eliminate originality saying, "continuous temptation, a packet of aspirins always at one's elbow." This shows that people rely too heavily on pre-made phrases in English.

One of the most crucial rhetorical strategies is defintion. What important concepts does Orwell define? What methods of definition does he tend to use?

The important concepts that Orwell defines are "dying metaphors", "operators", "pretentious diction", and "meaningless words" The methods he tends to use to describe these are with examples. He gives examples of other people's writing that displays these traits and outlines them to show what he is talking about.

Identify an example of hypothetical reasoning in the essay. How does it contribute to the thesis of the essay?

An example of hypothetical reasoning in the essay is when Orwell writes, "One could keep all of them and still write bad English, but one could not write the kind of stuff that I quoted in those five specimens at the beginning of this article." This shows that even though he is outline the major and most popular misuses of the English language, it is still easy to misuse it even if you follow what he says.