Monday, January 31, 2011

Orwell "Politics and the English Language"

    In George Orwell's essay, "Politics and the English Language," I believe he brings up some important points.   However, there are some things that he talks about that I do not agree with.  First, I do not believe that our language is declining.  I think that language changes and morphs to reflect the current society that is using it.  For example, the word disrespect was not used a generation ago as a verb.  Now, our generation uses this word as a verb all of the time.  I would not say that it is a butchering of the word, the usage of it has simply changed over time.  There are words that we use now that our children will use in a different way than we currently use it.
    However, I do agree with Orwell's argument that the writing of our society today is declining.  I feel that it is unacceptable that a student can graduate from high school and he is not able to write an error free paper.  I do feel as though that today's youth (I'm afraid that I can not exclude myself from the group) rely so heavily on predetermined phrases they have heard before.  Orwell says "if one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly."  However, I think that one must think clearly in order to rid his writing of these habits.  And so the argument commences, which comes first?
    On a totally different note, I enjoyed the examples he outlined of common mistakes the modern writer suffers.  I like finding these mistakes in people's writing myself.  Honestly though, I think that it is a little much for a writer to follow all of his rules he outlined.  As you can see, if you've read Orwell, I have already broken these rules.  :-(

Monday, January 24, 2011

A History of Reading 125 - 223

    After reading this section of Manguel's book, "A History of Reading," I found several things to be quite fascinating.  Honestly, I would have to say one of the most interesting parts I found in this section was the history of the shape of the book.  As a nut for both reading and history, this section was practically made for me!  (Joking of course!)  However, I think that it was incredibly interesting that the shape of the book has evolved to fit the purposes of the reader.  How a book could transform from the tablets of the Mesopotamian people, to the scrolls of papyrus of other ancient civilizations, and to the parchment codex that rose from the desire of a multi-paged book.
    Another aspect of this section of "A History of Reading" that was interesting to me is how people of the past had a thirst for reading, so much so that they invented new ways to make reading possible.  It's hard for me to imagine, as a member of today's society, to believe that someone invented a chair to make reading easier.  It amazes me that there was such a need, a desire for books that someone invented a printing press to make mass production of books a possibility.
    I guess I would have to say that my overall feelings after reading this section of text are that of desire as well.  I honestly wish that society felt this yearning and desire for books to a point that they would go to great extents to fulfill those desires.  I am well aware that there are some people in our society, English majors, that have this need to read; however, I truly wish that our society, as a whole, would share in our strange addiction.  :-)