Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
A clockwork orange critical interpretations
A clockwork orange key coursework essay
Elements of violence in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: A clockwork orange critical interpretations
Creation and Destruction in A Clockwork Orange
In the novel A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess shows his readers a society in which pure destruction seems to reign supreme. The lead character, Alex, and most members of his generation, spend their evenings recreationally beating passersby, having small but brutal gang fights, and generally destroying both property and people. Yet these images and instances of destruction constantly interact with images of art, of things created, usually thought to be the diametric opposite of such violence. Indeed, over the course of the novel, creation and destruction become almost indistinguishable. The motivations for creation and destruction are more important to the novel than the distinctions between the two.
Alex and his three droogs, Pete, Georgie and Dim, commit many acts of violence in the first five chapters, vivid and graphic enough that even Burgess admits in his introduction that "my intention in writing the work was to titillate the nastier propensities of my readers" (Burgess ix).1 The crimes are always committed with a certain theatricality, giving Alex’s narration the tone of an artist’s pride. The "maskies" that the four wear are not only "real horrorshow disguises," but also provide dramatic effect (153). It is ars gratia artis (art that comes purely out of a desire to create art), as Alex does not cite any motivation for his violence besides the fact that he derives pleasure from it, and these four perpetrators consider their violence art. Alex’s repetition of "O my brothers," particularly in the more grueling scenes, gives the novel the feel of one of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories,2 a creation myth. Both the manner of telling the tales and the tales themse...
... middle of paper ...
... Alex eventually grows up. Violence, at the end of the novel, ceases to be his most desired form of creativity. Alex is ready to put his energies elsewhere. "At eighteen old Wolfgang Amadeus had written concertos and symphonies and operas and oratorios and all that cal, no, not cal, heavenly music" (189). The Ludovico technique that would have destroyed Alex would not have been something he could outgrow.
A Clockwork Orange blurs the lines between creation and destruction, to the point where distinctions between the two become almost irrelevant. What is important to Burgess is the motivation behind each, and the ability of characters doing either, or both, to change their ways.
Works Cited
1) Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1986).
2) Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1974).
In conclusion it is seen that Alex has effectively changed into a man and has become a morally sensitive individual. He, for himself has chosen good
As victim count continues to rise, its difficult to see how such great numbers of men, women and children are bought and sold every year. Trafficking can be found in many forms, including: prostitution, slavery, or forced labor (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). It wasn’t until the 1980’s that international human trafficking became globally noticed. With the lack of government intervention and control in several nations, and the free trade market, slavery once again became a profitable industry (Harf and Lombardi, 2014). As previously mentioned, easier movement across nations borders is one of the outcomes of globalization. It is also what makes human trafficking so easy today. It is estimated that about 20.9 million people are victims across the entire globe (United Nations Publications, 2012); trafficking accounts for 32 billion dollars in generated profit globally (Brewer, n.d). 58 percent of all human trafficking was for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and of this 55-60 percent are women (United Nations Publications,
If all of these events did not happen, Alex would still be a static character. Through all of his courage, he found what he was looking for. He dug deep and went to the extremes that were not normal of himself. All of his work lead to his dynamic
All Alex knew was to be violent due to the failure and lack of family structure, the school system and the law. The lack of these assertive institutions Alex couldn’t properly generate proper moral values and social norms. According to Mead he analyzed that a child gets some sort of understanding of how to act properly by how others act toward the child. Later on in the child’s development he/she learns and understands “the generalized other”, values and cultural rules (textbook). Alex was never pressured into going to school, there is one scene where his mother wakes him and tells him to get ready for school and Alex tells her “he doesn’t feel like going today” and that was the end of it. With Alex missing out on school he never really self-aware and knowledgeable. His family is absent also. Again with Alex telling his mother he doesn’t feel like going to school and his mother just lets it go shows the carelessness of his parents. Alex can pretty much do whatever he wants when he wants. With their lack of parenting he never truly gained proper values and morals and instead he created his own by the morals and values his “droogs” know. He had many run in’s with the police even before he was
"John (Anthony) Burgess Wilson." DISCovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2012.
The main idea is to be yourself, not to change for someone else. In the beginning, Alex lived in Quill, a place where you could be anything but yourself. If you showed creativity in any way shape or form, you had an infraction. At age thirteen, those with infractions were Unwanteds, depending on how serious the infraction. Quill believed that all unwanteds were eliminated in the Great Lake of Boiling Oil- Even the high priestess.When Alex was “eliminated” he was welcomed by Marcus Today, and the world of Artimè, where creativity was embraced and taught- pretty much a polar opposite of Quill. Alex becomes good friends with 3 other Unwanteds, Samheed, Lani, and Meghan. They were all really close- until they all began Magical Warrior training- all except for Alex. Alex pulls away from the others for a while, until eventually he starts training himself. The whole group was really brought back together after the battle with Quill.
O'Neil, A. (n.d.). Human Trafficking Statistics [Scholarly project]. In Polaris Project. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
The war started in September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded the territory of Poland, which was allied with Great Britain and France. German officials signed a peace treaty in August 24-25 with the Soviet Union to prevent them from acting in the invasion and to stay in peace between both countries. So Great Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany the day of September 3, 1939. After this event, Canada also declared war on Germany at September 10, 1939. Germany rapidly crushed Poland, since it had an incredible army with 100 infantry divisions and six armored divisions. Due to the peace treaty between Germans and Soviets, in September 17th the Soviet also invaded and took eastern Poland. Later in the year, on November 30th, the USSR invaded Finland while Great Britain and France where occupied with Germany. At this time, Japan was in the Far East, and had Asia in turmoil. Imperial Japan invaded china and various other territories ...
Levy, Rachel, et al., eds. “Great Debate: Human Trafficking.” The Morningside Post. Columbia, 4 Dec. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2013. .
Human trafficking is the trade in humans, most commonly for the purpose of sexual slavery, forced labor or for the extraction of organs or tissues, including surrogacy . Trafficking is a lucrative industry, representing an estimated $32 billion per year in international trade, compared to the estimated annual $650 billion for all illegal international trade circa 2010. This is one of the fastest growing problems of the world, and if not tackled properly, it will continue to grow at an immense rate. It is mainly described as the movement of children, men, and women illegally across borders for use in various inhumane practices. Human trafficking violates fundamental human rights, and infringes provisions of international law such as the prohibition on slavery and forced labor in Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Laczko, Frank and Elzbieta Gozdziak, eds. “Data and research on human trafficking: a global survey.” International Organization for Migration 43, no. 1/2 (2005).
There is an extensive variety of crimes occurring internationally, and human trafficking is one of many severe crimes that cannot be stopped. Human trafficking is the form of modern day slavery, and is one of the largest and most crucial crimes on the globe. Without having an actual date of when it started, human trafficking has been going on for centuries. This crime involves sex exploitation, which exposes the victim to diseases such as HIV or STD’s, and in some cases unwanted pregnancies. Human trafficking also entails forced labor such as work in factories, agriculture, and at restaurants. The forced labor that is being involved in this crime is one of the main concept that ties in with slavery. Human trafficking also includes the
In December of 2003, the United Nations made human trafficking a crime in over 110 countries. However participating countries have not effectively enforced the ruling or fail to deliver sanctions. Very few criminals are convicted, victims do not receive the help that they need, and some victims are even convicted of other crimes such as illegal entry.
Human trafficking is the third most profitable and fastest growing criminal activity in the world, after guns and ammunition and drugs. Roughly 2.5 million people are trafficked every year, they are recruited through some form of coercion or deception and exploited, mainly for forced labor or sexual exploitation. The market value of human trafficking is approximately $32 billion per year. (Polaris Project.) “This is a global problem, no country is spared.” (Slavery Today). About three out of every 1,000 persons worldwide are trafficked at any given point in time. Women and children are the primary targets, but men are also trafficked. Forced labor claims 20.9 million victims, of whom 90% are exploited in the private economy (Slavery Today).
Human trafficking has become a global problem, as it happens everywhere to all kinds of people. [1] Every year, more than 80,000 people are transported to another country to be sold as a prostitute, a worker, or a slave. 80% of them are women and children. Human trafficking happens in almost every country in the world. Everywhere in the world, you can see it in Hotels, bars, or even on the road.