Nothing Clockwork About This Orange The 1960s in Europe was a time focused on its youth. The parents of the 1960s generation had spent their young adult and teen years fighting against the Axis in World War II and wanted their kids to enjoy being young. This generation spent time making a name for themselves by reinventing music, shocking fashion norms, and causing trouble in their gangs. Anthony Burgess was interested by this generation of young adults and focused his chef d'oeuvre, A Clockwork Orange, on a shocking, violent gang of teens. Burgess's A Clockwork Orange was influenced by his wife's assault, his trips to the Soviet Union, and his fascination of the youth subculture. The influences on A Clockwork Orange began before Burgess …show more content…
In one of his classrooms in 1959, Burgess collapsed and was then misdiagnosed with a brain tumor that was predicted to kill him within a year. Burgess then began working on numerous novels including A Clockwork Orange. In 1961 he took his first of many trips to Leningrad which was a part of the Soviet Union at the time. During his trip, Burgess was “appalled at the degree to which the communist state controlled people's lives” (“A Clockwork Orange” 1), this led to the idea of free will being a major theme in his most famous novel. When Alex goes to jail, he is brainwashed into thinking the way the government wants him to think, giving him no control over his own mind which is very similar to the amount of control the Soviet Union had over its subjects. Burgess also dabbled in Russian language during his visits, Szeman points out the prevalence of Russian in Alex's made up language, “Burgess's most memorable novel, A Clockwork Orange, cannot be discussed without addressing its language 'nasdat', a combination of Russian, English, and slang...” (Szeman 295). An example of Russian in the novel is what Alex calls his gang, droogs, which is derived from the Russian word “drugi” meaning friends in
“The Yellow Wallpaper” and “The Revolt Mother” are both based on women who are completely undermined by their spouses. Each one took a stand against their husbands in two completely unique ways. Sarah in “The Revolt Mother”, opposes her husband by moving the family out of their home into the barn. The nameless woman in “The Yellow Wallpaper”, defies her husband toward the end of the story which leads to her going insane. Both women in each story move to a new home but for several different reasons.
Orwell here places an other allusion to the Russian totalitarian state by instilling the concept that conspiring against the government can result in execution. By alluding to concepts of real totalitarian states in 1984, George Orwell warns of instilling these concepts in current
Lead- [Authors widely use symbols to give the reader a greater understanding of the themes shown in a book. Symbols are the gateway for readers to allow them to recognize a brighter symbolic aspect further deepening the themes found in a novel.] Thesis: In the novel The Catcher In The Rye by J.D Salinger, Holden resists the process of maturity as he is evidently troubled by adulthood throughout the novel. 1.
The Bolshevik Cause was needed to further the advancement of the people of Russia from socialism to communism. Shortly after the Civil War of and the Great War, it became imperative that Russia gain support from its people and other nations around the world in order to convert as many people as possible to communism. Using her novel, Mess-Mend (1923), Marietta Shaginian developed a piece of communist propaganda that would lure readers into believing that the communistic government of Russia was the “ideal” form of governing rule. Shaginian described capitalism through her American characters in her novel. Throughout the story, the reader was trying to solve the mystery of various crimes and murders that occur in America and the offences involving American characters outside of the United States.
Colloquialisms are often used in literature to give their character more lifelike qualities. If the character speaks with their own slang it gives the character more defining qualities and makes them more memorable. Burgess uses colloquialisms to the fullest with his character Alex in A Clockwork Orange. Alex has his own slang that he uses throughout the entire book, which makes him an extremely different and memorable character. Alex uses his slang very early in the book, on page two Alex states, "There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim being really dim..."(Burgess 1.1.2).
INTRODUCTION “What’s it going to be then, eh?” It is hard to improve upon Anthony Burgess’ classic opening line to his masterpiece. With this bold, taunting question, A Clockwork Orange’s protagonist, 15-year old Alex, opens the door for our descent into a terrifyingly grim world where ultra-violence and apathy pervade a shocking totalitarian society. The book is partly written in a Russian-influenced argot called nadsat which serves to minimize the horror of the violence depicted. It revolves around a devastatingly simple premise; when state authorities seek to reform young criminals like Alex, Burgess asks- what’s the cost?
Fifteen year old Alex de Large is the narrator and main protagonist of “A clockwork orange”, who, along with his 'droogs ' (comrades), rampages through a dystopian Britain committing random acts of 'ultraviolence ', brutal rapes, robbery and ultimately murder. Alex 's other great source of intense enjoyment is listening to classical music, and above all the music of Beethoven or 'Ludwig van ' , which seems to heighten his pleasure and intensify his savage and psychopathic impulses. He is a classic anti-hero, and this includes him having a quality of innocence, even at his most depraved. Deceived by his 'droogs ' and arrested for murder, he is then conned by his fellow cons, who lay blame on him for the murder of a new prison inmate. After
Literature is an art form that allows readers to express their ideas and grasp numerous concepts. It allows readers to experience historical moments from the past in the present. Connie Willis does a fantastic job of expressing her thoughts about literature and how her experiences contributed to her view of literature. Connie Willis says that literature is a way for authors of the past to communicate with readers of today in the quote from the Passage, "That's what literature is. It's the people who went before us, tapping out messages from the past, from beyond the grave, trying to tell us about life and death!
Gary Soto, an inspiration writer, grew up in a small working class family that experienced various hardships thought their life. Soto learned from many experiences and later in life used these experiences for inspiration in his poetry. Soto, a prestigious writer with many awards, has written numerous books of poetry and fiction novels. “Oranges,” is a light, humorous poem about Soto growing up as a boy and walking with a young beautiful girl on a date to a local candy shop. Soto was born to a working class Mexican- American family with two other siblings in 1952.
Clockwork Orange? RZ: Not really, although I guess if you really followed the book you could do something different than the Kubrick film. But why bother? Kubrick's film is the only version anyone is ever going to care about, so best to leave it alone. G&C: You have used The Munsters classic DRAG-U-LA coach, created by the late great legendary designer George Barris (R.I.P.) for your music video for “Dragula.”
A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess, deals with the essence of humanity and morality. Being difficult topics to grapple with, many turn to a religious perspective to inform their beliefs on these subjects. Burgess himself is a strongly Catholic individual and this ideology shows through in the ideas presented by A Clockwork Orange. The book contains a number of allusions to the Bible, Jesus and God’s intentions for humanity. These religious references build upon each other to develop Burgess’ notion that God created humans with free will, and how this leaves humankind flawed and prone to evil tendences.
Nadsat, being made up of British slang mixed with Russian vocabulary, suggests influences of communism to the conservative ruling class (Sumner). While nobody outside of the teenage world can understand the meaning of the words themselves, the ideas of opposition and hostility to authority are still conveyed by the language, allowing the gap between generations to widen. Dr. Brodsky even refers to nadsat as “the dialect of the tribe” (Burgess 124), suggesting that the speakers of the language are a separate entity from the rest of civilized society. But this description of a teen “tribe” can also be used to invoke a sense that the teen community is tight knit and familial.
The Catcher in the Rye Final Essay (Draft) In J.D. Salinger's fiction book, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden, a teen living in the 1940’s, experiences his teen years in strange and unusual ways. Holden teaches us that everyone experiences frustrations throughout life but can always manage them. Some readers of the novel believe that the book has lost its significance due to the fact that it was written so long ago.
Marxist Within the Mockingbird Today the world is open to people of all races, economic classes and much more, but in the 1930’s the world was not as accepting. To Kill A Mockingbird, is a book by Harper Lee which takes place in the 1930’s. Throughout the story there are issues with feminism, racism, and injustice. It starts with a young girl and her family, and as the book progresses the reader gets to find out some of the things that go on in their life and around them. Such as a stressful case which includes, a black innocent man who is accused for something he did not do.
He argues that the British’s support for social control, meant renouncing the individual alone, and given his propensity towards anarchy, he disapproved of their socialist nature. He denounced the cultural homogeneity of American society, their heedlessness and indifference, and the crooked, nefarious nature of law enforcement. Deemed as his most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange has been regarded considerably influential in areas of literary, visual, and music culture. However, prior to its release there was hesitation on publishing the novel due to worries of being an ‘enormous flop’ (Independent, 2012).