Politics and the English Language

By George Orwell

According to George Orwell, the English language is following the same route as our declining society;
there are political and economic causes for the decline in our language, and that decline causes further
corruption of thought. However, Orwell believes that the spread of the bad habits influencing modern
written English can be stopped if one takes control and thinks clearly.

Five passages were chosen to demonstrate the difficulties with modern English. The main difficulties are
an absence of creativity and inaccuracy of description. He states that political writing consists
of unoriginal phrases strung together without regard for their meaning, resulting in bad writing
and often the wrong message is sent. Inconsequence, examples are provided of the tactics used to
avoid the work involved in proper writing. Orwell illustrates his point by comparing a well-written
passage from Ecclesiastes to a modern version, which uses meaningless words and phrases.

Orwell also outlines the steps a thoughtful writer should follow. He still believes that many writers
resort to the ready-made phraseology rather than writing what they really mean to say. To get a
better grasp of the language, the meaning should determine the words used so that the writing
creates an accurate image of what the writer wishes to convey. Orwell provides some elementary
rules to aid in better writing, and believes that, in time, the political circumstances can be
improved by simple and clear verbal and written communication.

Faith

By Robert Kendall

Robert Kendall begins his poem by introducing the opposing word Logic as it falls and hits the
word Faith with a tinkling sound. Through this stage of the animation he states that logic cannot
displace faith. As the animation moves forward, the addition of new sounds, new words defined by
their colour and the reconfiguration of the original text change the poem. Throughout the poem
there is a back and forth motion of accepting faith and ignoring logic. He tries very hard to accept
logic over faith, but persists in believing that faith is the consummate vision of the world. Kendall
ends in referring to Leap as the true word to describe the importance of faith, as the overall
contradiction to logic is Leap of Faith. At the end of the animation, almost all the words crash
to the bottom but for a couple of created words. The word Faith then gently glides down and sits
on the pile of words and forms the phrase, just to sum up Faith. Despite the attraction of logic
and all of the things he describes that can actually be seen or heard, Kendall cannot bring himself
to accept logic over faith.