In
‘why I write’ by George Orwell,
Orwell writes about the history of his writing and its motivation. He suggests
four motivations, which are sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical
impulse, political purpose. The writer wrote because of three motivations
except political purpose when he was young. However, he had changed and started
to write for political purpose which means he wrote because of desire to push
the world in a certain direction. In this essay, the writer unfolds his thought
by dealing with political purpose and other motivations. He claims that writers
should write for political purpose but not abandon other motivations.
The
genre of this essay and the writing style support the main idea of it. First,
The essay includes two genres, personal narrative and poem. The writer writes
about his writing history from his childhood to present. In the writing, the
writer has grown up. Also, the writer's motivation of writing and thought about
it changed. Usually, people consider growing up as a development. The main idea
of this writing is a thought of the present writer who has grown up and
developed. Then, the writer contrasts his past thought with present thought.
Naturally, his present thought seems more sophisticated, persuasive and
reasonable than his past thought. In other words, by contrasting present with
past thought, the writer shows an excellence of the main idea. Personal
narrative supports the main idea in another way. Personal narrative gives
experiences which are related to motivations of writing and relevant thoughts.
There are examples of the essay which are motivated by four motivations like
'nature poems' in the Georgian style, Paradise Lost, Animal Farm. It
helps readers to understand characteristics and concepts of those motivations.
In addition, this genre gives specific reason for change in the writer's
motivation and background of the last motivation. The writer mentions a
poverty-stricken experience and the job in Burma which made him understand
imperialism. Moreover, readers can find that the time setting changes to
Hitler, the Spanish Civil War from peaceful era. These experiences and time
setting inspire the writer to think about fourth motivation. Then, those give
an inevitability of the main idea.
Poem
also supports the main idea. The writer quotes the poem and it is a part of
genre in the writing. Even though the poem deals with dilemma of the writer, it
seems the poem claims writers should write for political purpose because the
era has changed. However, the genre of poem includes other motivations
especially the aesthetic value and the writer quoted it to show his dilemma. It
was effective. Therefore, the poem reveals necessity of political purpose and
effectiveness of other motivations simultaneously.
The
writing style also supports the main idea. For example, the writer's tone and
attitude are confessional in the first part. In the beginning part of the essay,
it seems he wrote badly because he wrote when he was young. In addition to
them, intended boring description -'He pushed the door~ a dead leaf'- is also
used to emphasize defects of the writing without political purpose. However,
the writer doesn't only support the fourth motivation in the first part. He
says if he escapes from this early influence (other three motivations), he will
kill his impulse to write. The writer keeps neutrality and supports main idea.
Word
choice in the poem also supports the main idea. It is related with time change,
too. 'A happy vicar I might have been two hundred years ago ~ But born, alas,
in an evil time.' Before the time changed, it was peaceful time. However, it
becomes an evil time (it symbolizes Hitler and Spanish Civil War.) This also
gives inevitability of the writing for political purpose.
And
in the last part of the writing, the writer repeats the same structure. The
structure of emphasizing the importance of political purpose and aesthetic
values repeats continuously. It seems inconsistent, so readers could have
question about which is more important. However, the writer writes it with
consistency. He emphasizes the excellence and importance of both. Because they
are important, they are repeated in the last part. However, the political
purpose is written in the last line. Therefore, political purpose is little bit
more important than aesthetic values in this writing.
To
conclude, the main idea is the writer should write for political purpose but
should not abandon aesthetic aspects and other motivations. George Orwell used
many genres and writing styles to support main idea. As a result, George Orwell
succeeded in sending a message that writers should not be naive in the world
but also be a politician.
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