Tags
1984, A Clockwork Orange, books, Burgess, control, evil, freewill, goodness, Literature, Nadsat, Novella, Orwell, society
Many a-greetings from your humble narrator my ‘droogs’!
If you ‘viddy’ this blog, then you’ve probably read the controversial ‘ultra violent’ words that Burgess wove into the novella ‘A Clockwork Orange’; if you haven’t read it, then you probably don’t ‘pony’ any of the ‘horrorshow’ Nadsat ‘slovos’ that I am typing.
Here, I bestow upon my brothers, a translator for you ‘lewdies’ that are clearly not at the height of fashion as the rest of us ‘malchicks’ and ‘ptistas’.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:A_Clockwork_Orange
‘A Clockwork Orange’ has irrevocably integrated itself into my life. It’s one of those rare books, that you can’t stop thinking about for weeks after you put it down! Many ‘nochy’s’ I have spent, my brother, picturing Burgess dystopian world as a reality; a world where the youth roam free to ‘crast’, and give a bit of the old ‘in out in out’ to unsuspecting, victimised ‘cheenas’.
And then my nightmare vision explodes after the realisation that Burgess world is not so distant from our reality.
What is more troubling brother, is that anti-hero, and protagonist Alex’s amoral ways are the least of the ethical issues raised in the novella.
Strangely I find myself warming to Alex (even if he is a ‘malenky’ bit of a ‘brachny’). Despite the very ‘adult activities’ he commits to, Alex is still a child needing guidance. This is highlighted through the constant references to the old ‘moloko’ symbolic of infancy and childhood. This may be young boy who rapes, steals, and kills, but I believe his ways are almost overshadowed by my favourite thing to hate… society.
Freedom is not something which society truly offers, both in Alex’s world and our very own. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ attempts to higlight the ‘illusion’ of freedom and freewill in a society which only gives us one option.
The option of goodness.
Society does not tolerate evil, and negative behaviour so does not higlight it as an option to take.
But where is freedom when there is no choice my droogs?
(SPOILER ALERT)
In the novella, Alex is conditioned to such an extent that he is riddled with sickness whenever even thinking about doing the old ‘Ultra-violence’; consequently the lack of choice and inability to do anything but good means that he cannot display any emotion, or even listen to classical music (the only thing Alex truly loves) as it stirs the ‘evil’ feelings within him, and gives him the old sickness.
Alex’s force to be good, takes away the very essence of goodness; doing something because it is understood to be right, not because we have to.
Even more troubling was when I no longer needed the Nadsat dictionary to understand Alex’s slang. I felt I had become a part of this not-to-distant society which has the power for total control over everyone… Sure crime will be reduced, but what is life without freedom? We’ve all read/seen 1984, and can see that total control = utter misery… no-one needs all that ‘cal’!
I accept that I won’t be getting a good ‘notchy’s’ sleep for as long as the disturbing moral messages of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ plagues my mind… these ‘slovos’ i type are just a handful of the questions that penetrate and alarm my brain. This being said, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is one of my favourite books, and I am glad that I found this ‘horrorshow’ piece of fiction.
Alex and his ‘droogs’ along with every other ‘lewdie’ in the book (no matter how repulsive!) have mainly taught me how not to live! But also how to recognise that you and me, your humble narrator, (that is curly) are as beautiful and full of life as an orange; a beauty which cannot be wound up, and controlled like clockwork until our freewill means nothing… and all that ‘cal’
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