Analysis of George Orwell’s "Some Thoughts on the Common Toad"

6. Conclusion
The article by George Orwell is a prototypical written text. The text is made to be very personalized; in order to make the reader feel more involved in the text, the author uses direct address to the audience (e.g. […] to enjoy the spring you have to; […] they can't stop you enjoying it; […] who as you are not actually ill) and rhetorical questions (e.g. Is it wicked to take a pleasure in spring and other seasonal changes?). The author reveals his opinion with the repeated usage of grammatical cohesive devices (personal pronouns ‘I’ and ‘we’) which create a feeling of solidarity between the author and the audience. When using personalisation the author also shows the readers as agreeing with the pronoun ‘we’ and the adverb of degree ‘certainly’ (e.g. Certainly we ought to be discontented). The author describes one of the key concepts (coming of spring) in much detail; in order to make the reader understand the importance of the idea, the author creates a feeling of being present in the situation (e.g. spring is here; at this period).
The author has constructed two types of attitudes in the text. A positive attitude is shown for the SF of Nature, which is highlighted by the usage of the SF of Satisfaction and justified by the SF of Religion and SF of Culture. A negative attitude is expressed for the SF of City and SF of Politics, which is emphasised by the repeated usage of the SF of Gloom and SF of Misery. The author shows his opinion on the matter by using evaluative expressions: giving praise to one (e.g. first-rate performance; peaceful and decent future; like gold) while criticizing the other (e.g. blitzed site; sordid street; narrow and gloomy streets). …