Politics and the English Language

“Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it.” (1) This is the first line of Orwell’s essay and it instantly reminded me about his novel 1984. In this quotation, the key phrase is conscious action. Conscious action meaning thought. In 1984, Winston only thinks of rebelling and acting out against the Party and Big Brother. He is not the mastermind of creating a plan to rebel against them. It is only when O’Brien makes the first step and reaches out to Winston that he commits himself.

Next it discusses sentimental archaism. Archaism means a survival of something from the past. At the mentioning of this, the beautiful piece of coral that Winston bought from a prole clouded my mind. This coral was an excellent example of sentimental archaism. It is a part of history that contains a meaning that Winston struggles to interpret.

Orwell’s essay says that society and language are connected. “Our civilization is decadent”, meaning our civilization is spoilt and cannot be controlled. In addition, language is not an instrument and hence cannot be controlled. Both of these elements are in relation to each other. If civilization falls then language collapses. (“Dying metaphors”, “operators”, “pretentious diction” and “meaningless words” are all causes of language collapses.) This contradicts 1984 completely as Orwell portrays an image of a very controlled society limited in their thoughts, feelings, imagination, action and beliefs. The language that is used in Oceania is called Newspeak. Everyone must communicate with that language and all tasks are done with that language. There was the language Oldspeak but the language Newspeak was created and was constantly being perfected to show the party’s absolute power. Language and society is controlled in 1984.

This essay establishes what is essential to a story. In some clips that Orwell provides, there is a “staleness of imagery” and “lack of precision”. A captivating story like 1984 has powerful imagery and precise details. Precision can be difficult to achieve because everyone has their own private definitions. However in 1984, Orwell is sure to include detailed descriptions about any political views.

The question that continuously pops into mind is what causes the language to collapse? The answer that Orwell gives is thought. Thought influences everything that one decides to do. Thought corrupts language. Winston’s rebellious thoughts corrupt him from speaking Newspeak like every other comrade. Overall, this essay focuses on the idea of how thought can influence society and language.