The novel ‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess is set in a dystopia, a society that cannot truly exist, and is usually a depiction of what the author believes the future will, heavily emphasizing negative aspects of society. The novel is set in an ultra-violent dystopia, in a society in where he government lacks power to control the youth who regularly terrorize the civilian populations. The author describes these gangs with great detail, using their slang (Nadsat) throughout the novel, and describes with excruciating detail the pain and torment that the victims of the crime go through. However, the victims of his ultra-violence are not the group that is marginalized in this text, the feelings and opinions of a largely forgotten yet important group within the society and throughout the novel as a whole are being suppressed. Even through Alex and his ‘droogs’ assault a multitude of people, seemingly, the gang prefers one group within the dystopian society, namely the group that is marginalized, women.
Silencing, or not even giving a voice to women throughout the text emphasizes their seemingly inferior role emphasized by the author. In terms of Alex and his gang, a woman’s opinion has no relevance, and because Alex is the narrator, women’s voices are never heard. The fashion in which women are described in the novel give them a feeling of numbness, of objects, rather than actual human beings with emotions. To Alex, women are merely objects, an item for amusement, never more. Even towards the end of ‘A Clockwork Orange’, the author through Alex mentions a use of woman that has just occurred to Alex. When writing of how Alex is telling his audience that he envisions a son in the future, he only briefly mentions the women, but ev...
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...tely, Burgess used the novel to express his views on free will, the extent of violence in the world around him, as well as the transformation that maturing brings on a person. When reading the novel, the reader is able to experience Burgess’ own dystopia, and the world he sees in which women are marginalized, not only by the assaults that effected his personal life, but the general disregard of women in society at the time. The way in which the novel is written shows that such a society could exist, and that in order to avoid this, one must go a gradual, authentic transformation to avoid this perceived trend. Knowing Burgess’ past experiences, accompanied with the actions and moral revelations contained within ‘A Clockwork Orange’, the reader is able to see women were marginalized for a distinct purpose, and to add yet another negative aspect to Burgess’ dystopia.
There are many books that have been banned or challenged, but the one that is being presented in this paper is Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. The topic of this paper is to inform you of many things and when you have finished it will have you leaving asking yourself one question. First, a summary of A Clockwork Orange will be shared with you, so that you can have an insight as to how the rest of the paper relates to the book. Second, you will find out where, why and when the book was banned and/or challenged and you will discover what the book contains that would “offend” people. Finally, you will discover the literary merit of this book, which means you will discover if is a work of quality.
Atwood, in The Handmaid’s Tale, uses the voice of Offred to explore the juxtaposition between life before The Society of Gilead came into power and the life during the society’s power. Through flashback Offred frequently retells stories from her old life, the reader is able to see the discrimination that the women now face and the unfairness of this. Offred seems to live half in The Society of Gilead, and half in the past. Only in memory does she have any sort of freedom. The reader empathises with Offred and the injustice of her situation. Although Offred can remember the old ways she is happy that she has been given a chance in The Society of Gilead, ‘Humanity is so adaptable, my mother would say. Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.’ This encourages the reader to empathise with Offred’s lack of freedom. The reader can see that Offred is unhappy, but they can also see that she believes she could be worse off and that she is happy that she has a place within the society. Similarly, in The Color Purple, Spielberg uses the narration by Celie to influence the viewer to identify the cause of women. The narration by Celie establishes the views that the society has, and how those views can be damaging to the women of the society. It also shows how control can affect a person. ‘She said she write, she
An Ivy League girl who has no daddy issues and a rich family is no better than any other woman because she has never taken her clothes off for money. A girl is no better than a woman who allows people to caress her, or escorts on the side based on her boundaries. Different things work for different people. Free a woman to live the life in which she is more than the way she looks, what she buys or what she has to sell, and she will amount beyond what society could have even imagined for her. Compromise for the sake of being accepted is insolent. Once the boundaries set by society are broken, society does everything within its power to contain the beasts again. Daphne Du Maurier felt the restraints 1920s society placed on her with idealizing domestic women. By using Rebecca as the backbone within her novel and counteracting such a strong character with the weak narrator, Du Maurier displays that oppression can only be destroyed with rebellion. In Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier uses the contrast of female personas to emphasize the 1920s society’s malevolence towards women and justify their right to break out of patriarchal submission in order to be distinguished as an equal.
The film, “A Clockwork Orange,” is, to me, an almost exact replica of today’s society. Basically, one kid, who seems to have come from a financially sound home and community, goes through about three stages--1. He violates the laws society has set forth to maintain order. 2. He is caught and punished for his crimes against society. 3. He feels remorse for his violence and sexually deviance (although, at the end of the film, he’s back to his old, delinquent self).
“WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” Part 1,Chapter 1,pg. 6. These three principles were repeatedly emphasized throughout the book and helped lay the foundation of the dystopian society George Orwell imagined in his novel 1984. Fear, manipulation, and control were all encompassed throughout this dystopian society set in the distant future. The freedom to express ones thoughts was no longer acceptable and would not be tolerated under any circumstances. Humankind was rapidly transforming into a corrupt and evil state of mind.
Anthony Burgess has been heralded as one of the greatest literary geniuses of the twentieth century. Although Burgess has over thirty works of published literature, his most famous is A Clockwork Orange. Burgess’s novel is a futuristic look at a Totalitarian government. The main character, Alex, is an "ultra-violent" thief who has no problem using force against innocent citizens to get what he wants. The beginning of the story takes us through a night in the life of Alex and his Droogs, and details their adventures that occupy their time throughout the night. At fifteen years old, Alex is set up by his Droogs—Pete, Dim, and Georgie—and is convicted of murder and sent to jail. At the Staja or state penitentiary, Alex becomes inmate number 6655321 and spends two years of a sentence of fourteen years there. Alex is then chosen by the government to undergo an experimental new "Ludovico’s Technique." In exchange for his freedom, Alex would partake in this experiment that was to cure him of all the evil inside of him and all that was bad. Alex is given injections and made to watch films of rape, violence, and war and the mixture of these images and the drugs cause him to associate feelings of panic and nausea with violence. He is released after two weeks of the treatment and after a few encounters with past victims finds himself at the home of a radical writer who is strongly opposed to the new treatment the government has subjected him to. Ironically, this writer was also a victim of Alex’s but does not recognize him. This writer believes that this method robs the recipient of freedom of choice and moral decision, therefore depriving him of being a human at all. These themes are played out and developed throughout the entire novel. Alex eventually tries to commit suicide and the State is forced to admit that the therapy was a mistake and they cure him again. The last chapter of the novel which was omitted from the American version and from Stanley Kubrick’s film shows Alex’s realization that he is growing up and out of his ultra-violent ways on his own. He realizes that he wants a wife and son of his own and that he must move up and on in the world.
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.
The 4-Way Test is a test, that questions or declares that if everything we think, say, or do, is the truth and fair to all concerned, it will build goodwill and friendships, and will it be beneficial to all. As a challenge, my teacher has asked me to tie this theory into Anthem, a book I am reading in class. Anthem is a fiction novella written by Ayn Rand. It is placed in a dystopian society where technology has been eradicated and individualism has been eliminated. The world will be a better place if everybody followed the 4-Way Test because mankind has advanced on the principles of truth, fairness, friendships, and goodwill.
"John (Anthony) Burgess Wilson." DISCovering Authors. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Student Resources in Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2012.
Dystopian novels are written to reflect the fears a population has about its government and they are successful because they capture that fright and display what can happen if it is ignored. George Orwell wrote 1984 with this fear of government in mind and used it to portray his opinion of the current government discretely. Along with fear, dystopian novels have many other elements that make them characteristic of their genre. The dystopian society in Orwell’s novel became an achievement because he utilized a large devastated city, a shattered family system, life in fear, a theme of oppression, and a lone hero.
Love and the oppression of women have been key thematic concerns in novels throughout modern history. Wells and Orwell depict two very different dystopian futures that feature ambiguous women- the vulnerable Weena and tenacious, indomitable Julia. Love becomes part of the gender war and both novels centre on the growing power struggle between men and women in the time that the novels were written. Wells uses visual imagery to magnify the misogynistic views of patriarchal Victorian men as Weena; “very quietly took my hand and stood beside me”.
This novel was set in the early 1900’s. During this time, the black people were oppressed by white people. They were abused and taken advantage of. Not only were the black people were oppressed but also women were oppressed. They had little freedom and were unable to be self-sufficient.
Throughout time women have been written as the lesser sex, weaker, secondary characters. They are portrayed as dumb, stupid, and nothing more than their fading beauty. They are written as if they need to be saved or helped because they cannot help themselves. Women, such as Daisy Buchanan who believes all a woman can be is a “beautiful little fool”, Mrs Mallard who quite died when she lost her freedom from her husband, Eliza Perkins who rights the main character a woman who is a mental health patient who happens to be a woman being locked up by her husband, and then Carlos Andres Gomez who recognizes the sexism problem and wants to change it. Women in The Great Gatsby, “The Story of an Hour,” “The Yellow Wall Paper” and the poem “When” are oppressed because the fundamental concept of equality that America is based on undermines gender equality.
Similar to Freder, Orwell’s hero, Winston, serves as a vehicle for the audience to empathise with the composer’s revulsion of such tyrannical institutions, through the first person narration in “his mother’s death was…sorrowful in a way that was no longer possible.” The unequivocal tone emphasises the paucity of emotion that pervades Oceania, and thus the dehumanisation of society, reiterated by the simile “they swallowed it with the stupidity of an animal.” Here, the collective pronoun “they” suggests that the masses have lost their individuality, paralleling the workers in Metropolis as highlighted by their uniform. Sharing Lang’s fear of technological repression, Orwell’s satirical attack on totalitarianism is furthered by the hyperbolic
Anthony Burgess integrates many social issues today between the Government and People into Clockwork Orange. Many of the issues that Alex faces along with the government are relatable in today’s society. Within the story Anthony Burgess teaches us how people act and how the government works in a more brutal way, The Clockwork Orange expresses this through free-will, maturity and karma, and treatment of people.