Although George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’ seems like it is undecorated, the real color of the essay clarifies itself as we dig deeply into the essay. He refrains from using descriptive words, such as adjectives and adverbs, and induces the same effects via detailed and realistic delineations. The unique writing style can be foun
d both in the content and the appearance of the essay. Therefore, it is important to identify his writing style in order to fully comprehend the main idea. He even gives a hint in the title. George Orwell backs up the main idea that you need to know a writer’s early times in order to assess his motive of writing by introducing examples of his life. He says, “I give all this background information because I do not think one can assess a writer’s motives without knowing something of his early development”.
             George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’ can be considered as a work of a few different genres. The definitions of these genres are crucial, because they almost answer the ultimate question. Above all, it is obvious that this is a non-fictional essay that contains poems.
George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’ is a personal narrative that answers the question stated in the title. Most part of this essay is about his experiences, and at the same time this is used as a chief method of supporting the main idea. The fact that this is a personal narrative allows readers to approach ‘Why I Write’ without formal barriers. Even though George Orwell is an incredibly famous writer, the readers are able to sympathize his childhood and think more freely about the true meaning of the main idea due to the comparatively informal writing style that personal narratives naturally provide. The link between his childhood and the kind of writer he grew into is made very evident thanks to his unique writing style.
Also this is an analytical essay which the ideas and facts are analyzed and critically examined. He analyzed how his solitary childhood begot his writings styles and the type of work the he began to pursue. For example, George Orwell mentions ‘but quite soon my ‘story’ ceased to be narcissistic in a crude way and became more and more a mere description of what I was doing and the things I saw’. As an analytical essay, the content tends to support the main idea with various levels of logic and comprehensive analysis. He broke down the motives of all writers into 4 different categories, and explained how they function accordingly to their childhood. He says ‘I am a person in whom the first three motives would outweigh the fourth. In a peaceful age I might have written ornate or merely descriptive books, and might have remained almost unaware of my political loyalties’. Furthermore, such analyses allow the reader to trust the information in the essay. This is very important because other nameless writers would be very difficult to expect the same reactions of the readers as George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’. His reputation and the commensurate level of analysis pull the readers into the essay as they read through the context, enhancing the value of his main idea.
Lastly, ‘Why I Write’ can be perceived as an expository essay which consists of facts, rather than opinions, creating a line of straightforward logical reasoning towards the main idea. Descriptive phrases are replaced by elaboration of the correlations between his diverse experiences and changing perceptions of writing. This allows George Orwell to persuade the readers to agree with the main idea while being deluded that they are reading in a disinterested manner. Secondly, it allows the expansion of interpretation beyond the boundaries of what is written within the essay. It enables the generalization of the fact that writers’ backgrounds beget the motives of writing through the example of George Orwell.
             The genre of ‘Why I Write’ and George Orwell’s writing style support the main idea by making the delivery of the author’s message more fluent and building logical reasoning within the content. I believe it is this skill that makes George Orwell one of the best writers in the history of English literature. He is able to maximize the effectiveness of his essay by utilizing not only the content but also the tone and atmosphere that the readers sense while reading it. ‘Why I Write’ is a typical essay which proves that there is always something more than what’s written down.