Essay Club Response to ‘Why I Write’ by George Orwell

I write because it lets me analyze things, releases creative energy, and calms me

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Here’s my response to the most recent Essay Club weekly exercise.

Learn more about Essay Club.

Task: Read ‘Why I Write’ by George Orwell (Eric Blair).

Prompt:Why do you write?

I write because it lets me analyze things, releases creative energy, and calms me.

Why analyze things through words? There are limits to language, but also there are things our fingers and tongues can’t reach where stories can. Fiction or non, stories can be more true than the most succinct scientific observation.

Is it possible to over-analyze? Yes. Hm, how about ‘maybe’. I can afford to look deep into things. This luxurious position might allow me to find secrets kept hidden from the beginning of the world.

There are secrets in a person, too. How much truth will I be able to tolerate when I wander naively into my inner caverns? What if I enter cynically? What if I venture courageously?

Either way, I may not return.

But supposing I do, there may be a story that is worth one person’s time.