"What's it going to be then, eh?" - the opening line of Anthony Burgess" A Clockwork Orange, being the adventures of a young man whose principal interests are rape, ultra-violence and Beethoven. .
In the story, we are introduced to young Alex and his droogs, who like nothing more than "lashings of the old ultra-violence". It is Alex who commits their first murder, and after being betrayed for droog-related political reasons, is sent to jail. Through a new controversial rehabilitation treatment, designed to curb violence and sexual behaviour, the state uses our unlikely hero as their guinea pig. The experiment is a success (I use this word loosely), Alex begins to feel physically repulsed by violence of any sort, and as a side effect, also to Beethoven. He will not commit crime, but he has also deprived of the capacity to chose not to. This leads us to the central point of the novel, concerned with free will: Do we lose our humanity if we are deprived the choice between good and evil? .
Burgess skilfully introduces us to his futuristic slang, or nadsat, making A Clockwork Orange valuable not only for the questions it raises, but also for its creative and experimental use of the English language in which we see hints of Russian. This is no fluke. What perhaps makes the novel so good is that each word Burgess uses has been chosen intentionally. .
Stanley Kubrick's film version is cannot be left unmentioned, it is, in fact, a masterpiece. Being very faithful to the text, its violent scenes still shock us 30 years on. But perhaps the most interesting thing about the film is that its ending is different to that of the book: chapter 21 is left out. I would agree with many critics in saying that this changes the whole mood of the story. In the book we see Alex's character maturing, putting his old self behind him by choice, while the film shows Alex regressing to his former self. This has much to do with Americans (Kubrick being American) having a different edition of the book, which does not include this final, crucial chapter.
A Clockwork Orange Authors who write of other times and places help us to better understand our own lives. Discuss A Clockwork Orange in terms of that statement. ... He is a walking robot conditioned by the government - a clockwork orange. ... "A Clockwork Orange" deals with moral judgment and the thought of taking it away from someone. ... The Clockwork Orange", what does the title mean? ...
A Clockwork Orange Authors who write of other times and places help us to better understand our own lives. Discuss A Clockwork Orange in terms of that statement. ... He is a walking robot conditioned by the government - a clockwork orange. ... "A Clockwork Orange" deals with moral judgment and the thought of taking it away from someone. ... The Clockwork Orange", what does the title mean? ...
Violence is the universal element in A Clockwork Orange. ... There is not just one function of violence in our lives, just as there is more than one function of violence in A Clockwork Orange. ... Clearly A Clockwork Orange, in comparison to violence of the present day, may be seen as harsh. ... Everything that happens in A Clockwork Orange happens everyday in our society. ... That is what A Clockwork Orange does and why it is perceived as so violent. ...
"A Clockwork Orange" is an anti-utopian novel, describing an imminent future in a stately supervised country. ... "A Clockwork Orange" confronts us with an anonymous, totalitarian country, as well as in "1984". ... But which warning does "A Clockwork Orange" imply? ... Firstly, "A Clockwork Orange" includes a warning against totalitarian state forms. ... In "A Clockwork Orange" the people feels threatened by growing criminality and for that reason elects an authoritarian party. ...
The novels, A Clockwork Orange and 1984 both represent a future dystopia. ... Irony and betrayal are devices used in both, 1984 and A Clockwork Orange. ... In A Clockwork Orange, the Ludvico Technique is used. ... This is similar to the Ludvico method in A Clockwork Orange. ... A Clockwork Orange also includes a warning against a totalitarian state. ...
He will be best remembered by his eighth novella, A Clockwork Orange. ... Burgess also plays with puns throughout A Clockwork Orange in order to add humor to serious situations and dialogues. ... The most principle theme of A Clockwork Orange involves the freedom of a man to choose between good and evil. ... Another very important theme in A Clockwork Orange is that of youth vs. old age. ... That is something that not many writers are able to do, which is why A Clockwork Orange is one of my favorite books. ...
Classical Conditioning in "A Clockwork Orange" The movie "A Clockwork Orange" is often described as one of the most disturbing films ever made. My question is what really disturbs them so much about this film, Is it the gratuitous sex and violence transparent throughout most of the film? Or is it...
An orange is ripe or not. ... There is a great use of orange and red in the set, perhaps used to represent the orange which can not be fixed. ... The title has two primary meanings: first, the basic meaning of the Cockney expression (not an example of rhyming slang, incidentally) "as queer as a clockwork orange", something that on the surface was normal, but inside was artificial and unnatural. ... This particular clockwork orange is human on the surface, but inside is no such thing. ... An orange cannot be "repaired!" ...
When Anthony Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange, John Anthony Burgess Wilson created his own world set in London during a future time when gangs and violence are rampant on the streets, "which is his own particular vision of horrors yet to come." ... This particular brand of literature stressed the overly pessimistic view of human nature and featured, as was presented in A Clockwork Orange, violence as well as the dark areas of human behavior and society. ...