Entertainment Lengthy

"The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness," said George Orwell in his essay 'Politics and the English Language.' Yet, here I type, about to write a mini essay on why, specifically, I enjoyed, hated, feared, loved, or otherwise felt out Orwell's piece. Although, in the essay Orwell broke many of his own rules on purpose so perhaps this will be fitting.

I was rather surprised to discover that this was actually an entertaining read. Orwell discussed many things that writers do that often leave the reader feeling lethargic and just plain confused while blatantly disregarding everything he wrote down. My favorite example of this was when Orwell would discuss the different ways of leaving the reader lost and I would sort of zone out and then jolt back to reality. I found the end of (the long) paragraph that begins on the bottom of page 515 and ends at the botton of page 316 very important in my own writing. "A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is unavoidably ugly?" I really like that quote because it is something I am working on. For our last essay I was constantly asking myself, "Does this connect to my thesis and I still don't know if I did a great job on it.

The best line in this essay was when Orwell talked about how political writing is very vague and is generally written to confuse people. He then writes, "it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a 'party line.'" I loved that quote for a number of reasons the first being that it is amusing. I think it is the addition of "some kind" because I can just picture myself saying this

almost sarcastically. The second is because it is true. Getting truth out of a politician is like trying to get Mother Theresa to lie. (I spelled politician wrong and spell check thought I was trying to spell 'pollution.' Coincidence? I THINK NOT!) The third reason is because I hadn't really thought of it before and so it actually made me think. That passage as a whole was very insightful about how politicians talk to the public.

This essay, while being amusing and an enjoyable read, really drove home the idea of be original, specific, and think for yourself. It doesn't really matter what your paper sounds like if it doesn't mean anything. Also, I would like to add that what he wrote about didn't make me afraid to write, just more conscious about how I write.

And on to 'The Science of Scientific Writing' by George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan. This one was very long, very long indeed. However, I will say that the writing was very well done and despite being rather boring, overall it was very easy to follow, which is great evidence to support their claims. Although it was interesting to note that their 'concluding movement' started off by saying "We began this article by arguing..." I have spent my writing career avoiding those words and here they are, trying to tell me how to write and throwing that into the mix, it was jolting.

I thought they had really great pieces of advice in their essay. One of those tid-bits was, "every unit of discourse, no matter the size, should serve a single function or make a single point..." This just reinforces what Orwell was talking about. Writers need to continually be asking themselves, 'what am i trying to say here.' That helps keep the writing from being vague and open to too much interpretation.

One of the things that the authors discussed when passages are not clear in what they are trying to say.

"When that happens, we tend to berate ourselves for not having paid close enough attention. In reality, the fault lies not with us, but with the author." I really appreciate this because it has definitely happened to me. I'll get to the end of something and then wonder what I just read, blame myself for not paying enough attention, and then wonder if I should try to read it again. It also makes me aware of how I need to direct my audience as an author. Although, to a certain extent, there are instances when it is the readers fault, not the writers. For example, what if the reader is very sleepy, they may zone out and then snap out of it after they have skimmed a paragraph. But overall it was a nice reminder of the power of the author.

"Most writers produce prose linearly (from left to right) and through time. As they begin to formulate a sentence, often their primary anxiety is to capture the important new thought before it escapes." This quote is really relatable to me because I use writing to work out my ideas. That is one of the reasons revising is so important, because I don't know what I'm saying when  I first start out.

I thought this essay had a lot of great advice and so did Orwell's. I also read the next three essays we were supposed to read and over all I am starting to realize the power of the author.