Writing An Essay About Writing

Writing An Essay About WritingIn his essay 'Politics and the English Language,' Orwell looked at what happens when English is part of a group of languages that have diverged. These 'special cases' that have not merged were best left unmarked, but when they do merge, the English language in the group is expected to speak exactly like the other languages of the group. It is the role of the speaker in a merged group to find out if this is the case, because if it is, English will disappear as an official language of the group.Orwell then looked at what happens to the English language if there is a conscious effort to integrate one language into another. He used the example of how French speakers in France might adopt English as their second language in order to have better access to the media, be able to read more easily, and to speak more fluently.Orwell went on to describe how French speakers would speak English more fluently when they are fully integrated into English society. In shor t, it seems that it would be easier for French speakers to speak fluent English than it would be for English speakers to speak fluently in French.Orwell then described some of the social and cultural barriers faced by English speakers that make it difficult for them to speak French fluently. These barriers, he argued, are something that even English speakers should consider when they write essays about writing. After all, the essay will be read and discussed with other English speakers, and these readers of other writers will be looking for ways to communicate meaningfully.Orwell wrote, 'No writer who wishes to write an essay of serious literary merit can avoid the need to think about how he is going to write about English. If he wishes to present an impersonal picture of English life or to make a generalisation about English culture, he has to break down these barriers of linguistic and cultural difference and speak the English tongue with the same zeal and attention to detail as a ny other English speaker.'Orwell went on to conclude, 'A writer can do no good by writing merely as an observer, except insofar as his own name is the observer in a story. But to write well he has to place himself in the position of someone else.'For this reason, Orwell concluded that he had been forced to write a piece about writing that was difficult for him to write. In his essay, he had done what was best for his readers by leaving certain points out, but this wasn't necessarily the case.Writing an essay about writing can be difficult for anyone. However, when you consider the question of writing in the face of linguistic and cultural differences, you can see that you don't have to restrict yourself to writing from a voice that can only sound like another writer.