Did anyone else feel harshly reprimanded after reading this? I swear it was like having a flash back to the eight grade when my little four-foot-nothing teacher Mrs. Rue was rapping her desk with a ruler telling me and the class that writing was a privilege and that she was going to revoke ours if we didn't straighten up! (True story.)
Of course the reason I feel reprimanded, (then as much as now,) is because I am guilty of just about everything he listed. But, the one that really got me to thinking was when Orwell wrote, "When you are composing in a hurry -- when you are dictating to a stenographer, for instance, or making a public speech -- it is natural to fall into a pretentious, Latinized style." My down fall is of course the fact that I hurry. Now I don't always hurry because I procrastinate; I usually hurry because I am afraid that if I don't get down what I am thinking right away I will forget. Then, when I go back to read over I apparently gloss over the fact that I sound a little pompous and just move on through the text.. I would like to blame society for modeling me into the fast-pace-have-to-accomplish-everything monster I have become, but in truth it is my own choice to live in such a lie.
I started off mentioning the story from eight grade in which my teacher informed me that writing is a privilege and I believe it's true. Keeping that truth in mind however I have to think about how I approach my writings. Do I treat them like they are a privilege? No I often treat them like a drudgery. For me this article reminded me that writing is a mind set. I think Orwell's rules for correcting writing are great, but for me it is more than just the rules to learn it's about finding myself, (even a small part of myself,) in whatever I am writing.
I read it the first time and found myself thinking, "Who are YOU to say all of these things?". I still think his certainty is less than warranted, but after giving it several reads it became less offensive. I like your immediate inclination to blame society for modeling you. I find myself doing that more often than I should. If nothing else, at least he asks us to accept responsibility.
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