A Clockwork Orange

What's it going to be then, eh?

In this brief review of A Clockwork Orange I'm not going to run through the plot of the book, just the thoughts I had when I was reading it. Set is a dystopian near future it focusses on Alex, “your humble narrator”, a 15 year old anti-hero, who spends his day indulging in ultra-violence, rape, theft and listening to classical music. I also watched the Stanley Kubrick movie too before I read it; I'd recommend doing this as it certainly helped me to grasp the structure of the story and what the Nadsat slang (a version of Russian and Cockney English, along with Shakespearean and Biblical influences) referred to.

Actually, I did think the movie was more shocking than the novel because the use of the poetic Nadsat slang slightly reduced the brutality of the violence diverting my focus to trying to understand what was being described. While you could initially guess what the slang terms meant it's progressive and constant use soon meant you became accustomed to it. It also sucked you into Alex's world and made you part of his gang. This is especially true as Alex addresses readers as “oh my brothers”, which is disconcerting: if I am his brother then should I accept or tolerate what he does? This then begs the question, what effect does language have on the way we think and the way it can be used to control and influence others?

One of the major themes explored is that of free will. Your own voluntary choice to be moral or not distinguishes humans from other “lower” creatures, who rely more on genetic intuition. Alex chooses to be evil, this choice is later taken away by the Government, so does this make any subsequent good behaviour meaningless as the prison chaplain suggests?

”Goodness comes from within... Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.”

While the book describes acts of terrible violence these are not glorified, rather they are used to show that individuals have free will:

“Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?”

The book also distrusts government which it suggests tries to supress individual thought using media, technology and violence amongst other things to demand compliance with a collective and accepted way of thinking and acting. Perhaps this is why Alex and his droogs drink milk; a homogeneous liquid of choice for helpless infants? Is this a comment on the uniformity and passive nature of society?

Classical music is referred to constantly and is used to structure the novel itself; Parts 1 and 3 of the novel seem to mirror each other (Alex is free), with Part 2 being markedly dissimilar (Alex is not free), for instance. Also the dichotomy between music and violence, which provoke the similar feelings in Alex, generates a certain dissonance in the reader. The two things are not supposed to exist in the same mind and at the same time. Interestingly, I know that Burgess did try to structure other novels such as Napoleon Symphony like Beethoven's Third Symphony, and elements of this approach are present in A Clockwork Orange.

Finally, one last word on the film: it omits the last optimistic chapter which suggests that the cure delinquency is simply maturity. However, this assumes that irresponsibility in teenagers is almost inevitable and something that you simply have to grow out as you enter adulthood. I'm not so sure about this and I can see why Kurbrick decided to leave this out as it doesn't make much sense to me.

So in summary, A Clockwork Orange was both horrific and wonderful. There is no doubt that it is a thought provoking novel which everyone should read. While it is a challenge, the fascinating way it is written and the manner in which it conveys its ideas set it apart from other novels I've read. Definitely recommended, o my brothers.