A Clockwork Orange “How does Anthony Burgess engage the audience in his text, A Clockwork Orange?” A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess’s novel portrays a vision of the futurist England, with his “humble narrator” Alex and his “Droogs” spending their nights getting intoxicated at the Korova Milk bar before embarking on irrational and reckless nights, consequently leading to major complications throughout the novel. The novel has been known for its exceptionally distinguished plot and setting. The most prominent use of literary throughout the novel was the use of the unique language setting Nadast and the numerous themes and symbols presented throughout the text. The use of these literary techniques attracts and engages its readership. Throughout …show more content…
the novel, symbolism is a significant aspect of the audience’s engagement as there are several symbols that are notable in the novel. There were numerous references to Christ throughout the text whilst also some references to the cover page of the novel. This adds a controversial element to the novel and provides entertainment for the readers. Alex’s life throughout the end of the novel is similar to Christ’s, as it invokes Christ’s last three final days. As Jesus dies, he is then buried and is resurrected on the third day. Correspondingly Alex gets caught and is ‘buried’; in prison and later returns to his former self by the end of the novel. References to Christ such as these engage the audience by allowing them to contemplate their own views on the references made in the novel. The use of milk was also significantly important, as the milk is a substance that primarily nurtures young animals and children and milk symbolizes the immaturity of the people who regularly drink it at the Korova Milkbar. Their drinking of milk also suggests the lack of mental stability and their childlike behaviour. The Milk also symbolizes uniformity among the teenagers due to Milk’s bland colouring. The references to Christ and Milk provide the readers meaning to the text beyond what may be written, therefore symbolism enhances the novel’s plot and setting. A Clockwork Orange provides entertainment through these references and therefore engages the audience. Undoubtedly one of the most fundamental facets of how the novel entertains the readers are through the numerous themes presented throughout the text.
The significance of evil as well as good in human nature was a central aspect of the novel. Alex is despicable due to his irrational and reckless acts, but that sense of freedom is also what makes him human, as “The important thing is a moral choice Evil has to exist along with good, in order that moral choice may operate. Life is sustained by the grinding opposition of moral entities.” Consequently the freedom of individuals to make choices becomes a problem when those choices undermine the safety and stability of society. This essential need of evil as well as good in human nature is a significantly controversial issue in modern society; this controversy allows the readers to ponder their own role in society. Thus, engaging the readers. In A Clockwork Orange, the government is willing to protect society by taking away freedom of choice through the Ludovico Technique that eliminates the evil aspects of an individual, therefore Alex becomes less of a threat to society, but he becomes nothing more than a thing as “When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man”. Burgess believes that the freedom to choose is the greatest human attribute, meaning that the presence of moral choice distinguishes human beings from other machines and animals. This belief allows the readers to build their own perspectives on the novel’s plot and
setting, therefore engaging the readers. Anthony Burgess’s novel uses an exceptionally unique and original language Nadsat to entertain his readership. Numerous parts of the novel are written in ‘Nadsat’ where a slang of teenagers is used with minimal correct grammar and punctuation. Russian and Cockney English were the initial inspiration for the use of ‘Nadsat’. Nadsat is an important aspect of the novel as it works as a literary technique temporarily illuminates and separates the readers from the world of the protagonist-narrator. Initially the readers are not entirely conscious of the moral judgments of Alex, as they do not recognize the dialect used in the novel. As the readers steadily learn to decipher the language throughout the first few chapters, however, they begin to build a connection with the protagonist and his “droogs” over time. The use of Nadsat in novel requires the readers to frequently conjure meaning, thus, allowing the readers to habitually be engaged with the novel. To summarize, Anthony Burgess uses several distinctive techniques in his novel to effectively communicate its plot and provide entertainment for his readership. The novel used a unique language style Nadsat that engages the audience due to its uniqueness and originality. Undeniably symbolism was a prominent aspect of the novel’s construction and its entertainment value as it enhances the different meanings of the novel, allowing the readers to develop their own perspectives on the text. Several different themes were present in the text, most are considerably controversial and allow the readers to examine their own position in society and this provides entertainment for the readers whilst also engaging them. The use of these techniques effectively illustrates the situations the protagonist Alex and his “droogs” are indulged in throughout the novel, thus providing entertainment for the readers and engaging them.
to read. A Clockwork Orange is an interesting book, to say the least, about a young teenager, named Alex, who has lost his way, so to speak, and commits several serious crimes. These crimes that Alex and his “droogs” commit include: murdering, raping, beat downs, robbery, etc.
In the novels A Clockwise Orange by Anthony Burgess and Misery by Stephen King, they both express what is portrayed to be socially right and what is socially wrong. In A Clockwise Orange, the novel is taking place in a futuristic London. Alex Delarge is the leader of a gang that they call the “Droogs”. After a night of drugs and intoxication they engage in violence by fighting a rival gang and stealing a car to travel to the home of a writer F. Alexander where they nearly killed him. After beating Mr. Alexander’s nearly to death he rapes his wife while singing. In Misery, there is a famous novelist named Paul Sheldon who is the author of a successful series of novels that features a character named Misery Chastain. Paul has decided to focus his mind on more serious novels and writes a new manuscript for an unrelated novel. Paul is later caught in a blizzard while driving home to New York City and his car goes off the road. His number one fan Annie Wilkes rescues him and she brings him to her house in a remote location where she attempts to take care of him. Both of these well-known novels and their respected films portray what is deemed to be socially right vs. socially wrong.
Stanley Kubrick was one of the first people to make great use of the extreme wide-angle lenses so tremendous that the lenses cause some sort of barrel distortion. For Example, in the A Clockwork Orange, is a great example of how Kubrick uses the wide-angle lenses. The lenses were used in both dolly handheld shots. The wide-angle lenses were very consistent and steady with the tone of the movie all together. His camerawork was something people should really resemble off of. The camerawork really makes a big
At the start of A Clockwork Orange, you are introduced to Alex and his droogs. They are at a milkbar drinking milk-plus. Milk, plus types of drugs that enhance Alex and his droogs ultraviolence, which is the main backdrop to the story that leads to other psychological events. Drug addiction is a complex disorder that is compulsive and often uncontrollable. This is a chronic relapsing disorder, and treatment for drug addiction is about as effective as treatments for chronic medical conditions.
1. As I was reading the book Clockwork Orange, I felt like it deserved a 8 out of 10. I enjoyed the book because while I was reading it, I did not have such a clear image of all the rape, sex, and violence. Talking from personal experiences, I did not want to picture those images in my head. Finding out there was a movie of Clockwork Orange kind of scared me but also gave me excitement because I wanted to see how different the the book was from the movie. After viewing Clockwork Orange, I would rate it a 7 out of 10. I rated it a 7 out of 10 because the rape and violence was overused. In the beginning of the movie, there were non-stop sex and rape scenes. For example, when Alex and his goons fake their way into an emergency just so they could attack a older man and rape his wife, who later dies because of this accident. Toward the end of the movie, there was a lot of
over evil and needed no treatment to help him do so. It is realized that in being unable to choose, one is not at liberty, and free will is taken away. Also if one has no say whether good or evil is chosen, it is of no importance because such a decision could be made by a machine. Alex was able to make two evolutions. He evolved from a machine into a human, and the evolved from a human choosing evil, to a human choosing good.
Human beings love to be entertained. We love being interested in the things we like, and intrigued by the things we’re not supposed to like. Whether it be someone else’s pain or another person’s joy, all of us hold the capability of finding entertainment within anything. Thus, contrasting the capability of boredom. However, the point of all this is to express the duality. The duality between good and evil; joy and pain; entertainment and boredom. It’s an inevitable fact that we humans have the freedom of choice, but without detailed studies and thorough research, those effects are a mystery. In the film A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick, the main protagonist had an evil mind and committed evil acts. After being imprisoned, he submitted to a behavior modification experiment in order to shorten his sentence. The experiment was based on the Pavlovian study of conditioning. The researchers had Alex, the main protagonist, constantly
Free-will is a major part in the actions of this book. “The free will compels him to murder and rape, but also foster his esteem.” (LifeCharts). The opportunity to do as Alex wishes is what makes him to the crimes. It fuels him and in a way allows him to find himself. Alex is all about choices and he chooses to do the crime but also chooses to turn his life around. “Alex realizes that he benefits from living a normal life staying under the radar and it out-weighs the consequences of being a
As teenagers deviate from the constraining grasp of their parents, they begin to establish their own identity through decisions; however, their development of self-identification is frequently hindered by manipulation of societal institutions such as: justice system, religion, and media. Anthony Burgess, author of A Clockwork Orange, establishes the idea of freewill and how it is suppressed when Alex, the main protagonist, undergoes the manipulative Ludovico's technique, religious lectures, and social norms influenced by media- used to instill pain when Alex's desires violence/music and finding salvation, which is similar to the treatment of criminals in our society; ultimately utilized to mitigate crime, but also suppresses freewill through repercussions, fear, police officials, indelible ads, and the law. Therefore, American citizens are not privileged with the power of choice because the hindering paradox that exists in society: possessing the ability to consciously establish identity is entwined with manipulation, subliminally.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on A Clockwork Orange.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 19 Apr. 2012.
Amidst a population composed of perfectly conditioned automatons, is a picture of a society that is slowly rotting from within. Alex, the Faustian protagonist of A Clockwork Orange, and a sadistic and depraved gang leader, preys on the weak and the innocent. Although perhaps misguided, his conscientiousness of his evil nature indicates his capacity to understand morality and deny its practice. When society attempts to force goodness upon Alex, he becomes the victim. Through his innovative style, manifested by both the use of original language and satirical structure, British author Anthony Burgess presents in his novella A Clockwork Orange, the moral triumph of free will within the controlling hands of a totalitarian society.
Freedom and liberalism are catchwords that appear frequently in both philosophical and political rhetoric. A free man is able to choose his actions and his value system, to express his views and to develop his most authentic character. What this kind of idealistic liberalism seems to forget, however, is that liberty does not mean a better society, better life or humanistic values such as equality and justice. In his novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), Anthony Burgess portrays an ultimately free individual and shows how a society cannot cope with the freedom which it in rhetoric so eagerly seeks to promote.
Imagine existing in a world run by sadistic and insane street gangs who reek havoc on innocent civilians, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Anthony Burgess created this world through his novel, A Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess was born in 1917 and died in 1963. A lot of social changes occurred during this period of time, such as: the roaring twenties, prohibition, the Great Depression, World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and many more. Burgess not only lived through those changes, but also helped influences some social changes in literature and music. Anthony Burgess was a jack-of-all-trades throughout his 76-year-old life. He was a novelist, composer, children’s book writer, play writer, essayist, critic, and poet. Burgess is most famously known for his controversial novel, A Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess pushed the boundaries of what the “norm” was throughout his lifetime.
In the novel A Clockwork Orange, the author Anthony Burgess tells a story about a young man name Alex and his friends, every night they go around and start committing violent acts. In the novel Alex expresses his freedom of choice between good and evil. The freedom of choice is a decision that every person must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and to take control of his own future. This Freedom of Choice, no matter what the outcome is, displays person power as an individual, and any efforts to control or influence this choice between good and evil will take way the person free will and enslave him. In this novel the author uses this symbolism through imagery. He shows that through the character of Alex, and the first person narrative point of view to prove that without the ability to choose between good and evil person becomes a slave.
Are we human if we don’t have a choice to choose between acting good or acting evil? A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick is a brutal film that entails many sociological meanings. Alex DeLarge and his “droogs” (gang) live in a derange society of “ultra-violence” and rape. Alex and his gang cause havoc around the town that leads to the “droogs” turning on Alex during a mischievous act on an innocent women and Alex getting arrested. While in prison he is chosen for “treatment” that is suppose to purify Alex and turn him into the “perfect citizen”. We’ve gone over many sociological concepts in class, but the three that I believe apply the most to this film are socialization, deviance, and resocialization.