George Orwell
George Orwell, pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, was a twentieth-century reporter, essayist, and fiction writer. He is the author and narrator of “Politics and the English Language,” in which he attempts to persuade his…
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Writers and Readers
Orwell writes for an audience of writers and readers who want to improve their political condition. To begin, he outlines two shared concerns with the audience: bad writing and bad politics. Early on in the…
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Professor Harold Laski
The author of the first of five passages that Orwell lists to illustrate what he later describes as “inflated style.” Laski’s short passage appears to compare English writers Shelley and Milton. However, it’s difficult to…
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Professor Lancelot Hogben
A zoologist and linguist, Hogben is the author of one of the five passages that Orwell uses to illustrate bad writing. While the point of his passage is difficult (if not impossible) to parse out…
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English Professor
Orwell invents a hypothetical English professor defending Russian totalitarianism to help explain his argument for honesty and concision in writing. After connecting laziness to political trickery, Orwell argues that bad actors adopt an “inflated style”…
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Stuart Chase
An American economist and socialist whom Orwell mentions in his discussion of “abstract language” near the end of the essay. Throughout “Politics and the English Language,” Orwell opposes the use of abstract language. For instance…
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