Word Choice in A Clockwork Orange

            "He looked a malenky bit poogly when he viddied the four of us like that" (Burgess 7). Wait what? What is he talking about? Most readers have to pause, and dissect almost all the sentences in the beginning of, "A Clockwork Orange," because the author, Anthony Burgess, decided to give the teenagers, or nadsat, their own unique language. This invented vocabulary makes the reader feel as though they are joining Alex and his crew, and experiencing their conversations unabridged. Although it is somewhat hard to pick up in the beginning of the novel, the use of this nadsat language is essential to the point Burgess is trying to make with his book. Most importantly, this language is an identity. It highlights the nadsat's naive personalities, and differentiates them from the adults. Furthermore, Burgess purposefully leaves out a glossary for these words, because he wants the reader to struggle and grow with Alex, the main character; eventually growing closer to him. The language also serves to euphemize most of the harsh violence in the book; the addition of a glossary would only reveal these extreme words, and provoke a negative attitude towards Alex.
             Similar to the fact that different cultures and tribes can be identified by the unique language that they use, Anthony Burgess made the nadsat language, unique to the youth of his novel. Vocabulary such as, "appy polly loggy," and, "eggiweg," is bizarre, and shows the naive, uneducated aspect of the youth. Therefore when this language is spoken, the reader is almost certain that a teenager, more specifically Alex, is speaking. The adults in the novel can identify the language as the universal tongue of teenagers, because it symbolizes their natural character. F. Alexander, an elderly writer in the novel, even uses Alex's language to identify him as the person who broke into his house and raped his wife. F. Alexander claims, "Strange, strange, that manner of voice pricks me.