A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, contains one of the most popular themes of the twentieth century. The debate between free will and the morals of others is thrust upon the anti-hero of the novel, Alex. Alex is a 15-year-old ruffian who spends most of his time beating up men and raping women. After he is imprisoned for killing an old woman, he is chosen to partake in an experiment that is supposed to make him ‘safe for society’. The ‘Ludovico Technique’ ends up destroying his free will and makes him helpless to the will of others. Back in society he is beaten by a group of people that he had previously attacked, and he is also attacked by his old nemesis and one of his former droogs. Though he might’ve been able to fight back before the experiment, it has left him with a physically ill feeling whenever he is around or the victim of violence or rape. This hopelessness eventually drives him to attempt suicide, which he does not succeed at. In a twist of fate, the government bribes him after all of the bad press that they got from his suicide attempt, and he discovers that he is ‘cured’ of the Ludovico Technique’s effects.
One of the most amazing aspects of the book is the language that Alex narrates in. The Nadsat is a mix between Russian and other colloquialisms. This language, that all of the youth in the novel speak, separates them from the adults and creates a society within a society. Even though the youth and the adults are not different in the slightest, the language barrier prevents a connection between the two groups. It also is used by Alex to soften the graphic nature of his actions, and it makes his intentions seem more innocent than they truly are.
The innovative language and Burgess' allowance for the reader to decide what hands the power and laws of society should lay in make A Clockwork Orange one of the best novels of the twentieth century, and possibly even all time.
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