Comparing Orwell's And Joan Didion

n comparing George Orwell's and Joan Didion's writing pieces there are many different factors in triggering an author’s imagination to come up with what they want to write, and why they want to write it. Both authors made very descriptive points to how their minds wander on and off their writings while trying to write, concluding into two very different styles. They both often were writing about what they didn’t want to write about before they actually wrote what they wanted too .In most writers such as Orwell and Didion a purpose is not found before the writer writes, but often found after they have decided to start writing.
While both styles in both approaches in the writing of these same-title essays “Why I Write” are pervasive and convey …show more content…
However, as Didion does describe her personal life and experiences in a more profound detail than Orwell, gives her essay a more personal, and aesthetic feeling. Additionally I conclude that she writes to answer the questions she has for herself, and connect to her more creative side. She uses aesthetically pleasing words to paint a picture in the mind of the reader, to convey her message.“The arrangement of words matters, and the arrangement you want can be found in the picture of your mind. The picture dictates the arrangement…. The picture tells you how to arrange the words and the arrangement of the words tells you, or tells me, what’s going on in the picture.” (Why I Write, 9.) This relates to the prominent phrase she repeats a few times throughout her “Why I Write” essay, “nota bene”, meaning “it tells you, you don’t tell it.” This shows you a glimpse into Didion’s motives as to why she writes. Orwell would claim these motives as aesthetic enthusiasm “the desire to share an experience which one feels is valuable and ought not to be missed”(Why I Write,4) and sheer egoism because the coming up of the word “I” in her