The influence of George Orwell
George Orwell, the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, had an enormous and lasting influence on literature, politics, and culture. His work has reshaped how people think about truth, power, and language. In my case, he had a big effect on my writing style. I’ve read every word he wrote - novels, essays, columns. He is one of the writers who have influenced my own writing (the others being Edward Gibbon and Winston Churchill).
Orwell’s novels and essays have profoundly shaped modern political consciousness. He gave us the words in which to write (and think) about totalitarianism. His ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ became the defining warning against oppressive governments, surveillance, and thought control. Terms such as ‘Big Brother,’ ‘doublethink,’ and ‘thoughtcrime’ are now part of everyday language to describe manipulation and authoritarianism. The word ‘Orwellian’ is used to denote oppressive surveillance and control.
Yet, while he hated Soviet Communism, which he encountered during the Spanish civil war, he was committed to the defence of democratic socialism. In works like ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’ and ‘Homage to Catalonia,’ Orwell critiqued both capitalism’s inequalities and the corruption of socialist ideals by authoritarian regimes, especially Stalinism, which he ruthlessly parodied in ‘Animal Farm.’
Orwell believed that language shapes thought, a concept now commonplace in linguistics and media studies. His essay ‘Politics and the English Language’ argued that vague, euphemistic language is a tool of political deception.
1984’s invention of ‘Newspeak’ showed how limiting language can limit freedom of thought. This has influenced fields from journalism to philosophy, inspiring critical thinking about media, propaganda, and what we now call ‘spin.’
Orwell’s blend of literary artistry and political purpose have helped to redefine modern writing. He championed clear, direct prose, rejecting elitist or obscure styles. His commitment to truth-telling in journalism set ethical standards still admired today.
His influence extends beyond literature into culture and politics, and his ideas helped shape the language of Cold War discourse and civil liberties movements. Modern debates about surveillance (CCTV, social media, facial recognition technology), fake news, and information control often make reference to 1984.
His work is a warning about the fragility of freedom and truth. He taught the world to be wary of power, precise with words, and vigilant about truth.
His six rules about writing in ‘Politics and the English Language’ are worth repeating.
1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
One of my favourites is when he quotes the (Communist) Daily Worker’s endless use of ready-made metaphors. When Italian submarines were sinking the ships that took arms to Republican Spain, the Daily Worker urged the British Admiralty to ‘sweep the mad dogs from the seas’.
If there were mad dogs on the surface of the seas, it is doubtful if brooms would have sufficed to remove them. He wrote that people capable of using such phrases have ceased to remember that words have meanings.
Madsen Pirie