Clockwork Orange Analysis

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A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel by Anthony Burgess, printed in 1962. The story takes place in a futuristic society that features a grouping of extreme youth violence. The protagonist Alex narrates the story of his violent acts and his encounter with the authorities trying to reform him from his evil self. However Burgess tries to persuade the reader that Alex is not such a bad person, as he appears to be by hiding a big part of the evidence of his violence through certain techniques. The biggest of them being Alex’s use of “Nadsat” a language created by Burgess, which combines English with some Russian words. This language allowed for the novel to target two different types of readers whom will have two different perceptions of the novel and especially of its protagonist. Furthermore the narration overall inspires the creation of a contradiction between good and evil, providing a freedom of perception of Alex himself. One of the readers (reader #1) may sympathize towards Alex and let his understanding of the novel be manipulated in a way by the character, leading to the eventual assumption that Alex is not as bad as he appears to be and that there is actually some humor in his way of living. On the other hand reader #2 sees the novel through a whole different perspective. He finds disgust in the character of Alex as a whole and recognizes that he is a complete madman who should’ve had an even worse punishment than what he had. The different way in which each reader

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