Week 13: "Goodness Comes From Within" (Reading: A Clockwork Orange)

“Life is of course, terrible.” (Burgess p.2) This is the incredibly positive way the author introduced the novel I read this week: A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. I’ve recently watched all of this novel’s film adaptation. I had seen bits and pieces of it in different classes before and felt like it was upheld as a kind of work of art and a great example of film. However, when I watched it I honestly struggled to follow a lot of the dialogue and I didn’t feel like it had tied up quite right at the end.

I’m still not satisfied with the reason it was left out of the film, but I was glad to hear that a little more did exist to the story at the end. From the start of reading the novel, I was most excited to see how the author had intended it to be resolved.

It was nice that the book had a reference to translate all of the “Nadsat”. This made a huge difference in reading comprehension in comparison to how well I was able to follow the film.  When I started I was checking every word of Nadsat but that slowed everything down a little too much. It took the flow out of the story. I do feel like establishing what a couple common Nadsat words meant I was able to follow most of what was being said throughout the book.

I think that the dialect added a lot to the book. Often even if you didn’t know exactly what was being said, there was a certain mood or implication from the sound of the word that was being used. Things felt almost like an abstract painting when it got a little harder to follow. Strange, but still beautiful because of it.

The most effective way that this made up language was used, was when Alex described music, “my gulliver on my rookers on the pillow, glazzies closed, rot open in bliss, slooshying the sluice of lovely sounds. Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed.” (Burgess P. 22) The description exhibited in this passage is exquisite. It takes you on a flowing journey through the character’s experiences. The precise and vivid description tells the audience enough to imagine the scene in detail. The way that it is told to the audience lets them emotionally experience the moment.

A large portion of the book matches up almost exactly with the book. Although with the almost lyrical dialogue, I’m not sure there was any other choice but quoting it word for word in the film.

The language used as well as some of Alex’s core principles present this odd mishmash of rough chav like behavior mixed with elements of refined society. "You seem a sufficiently intelligent young man. You seem, too, to be not without taste. You've just got this violence thing, haven't you? Violence and theft, theft being an aspect of violence." (Burgess P. 65) A prime example of this dissonance is seen in chapter 3 where there is a contradiction created when Alex is mean to Dim based on Dim’s lack of manners.

I think this is interesting because people often associate violence with a lack of education. They dissociate it from refinement. This story constantly challenges that idea. “You've got a good home here, good loving parents, you've got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside you?" (Burgess p. 24) Alex just does bad things, it’s not based on poor upbringing or lack of intelligence.

Throughout the story, it is shown that his antisocial behaviors are connected to youth more than anything else. Ultimately, it’s also simply down to Alex. He wanted to do bad things so he did bad things.

Once I had finished the 21^st chapter I reflected on what was written by the author at the start of the book. “The American or Kubrickian Orange is a fable; the British or world one is a novel.” (Burgess p.3) I don’t feel like I fully grasped what Anthony Burgess wanted the audience to gain from the story until I had finished the British version. It felt aimless. In the movie, everything goes back to how it was. It sent a message that change is impossible and things will always revert to evil.

If the audience is watching/ reading to take in the pure spectacle of the extreme violence, then I could maybe understand wanting to end before the last chapter. The violence is at least interesting or exciting, even when it’s not directly enjoyable. When you cut the story off there, it leaves open the opportunity for more “adventures” of the violent nature – which isn’t boring like settling down. Alex has been restored to his former self at the end of the 20^th chapter. This can be taken as a positive regardless of the returned violence if you focus on his returned ability to listen to music.

While I do believe that Anthony Burgess wanted to show that the government can’t control people and force them to change, I see that a large part of his message is based on the fact that wholesome or natural change results from an inward inspiration.

Alex never looks for ways to blame his behavior on someone else when talking directly to the audience. He says that it’s a part of ourselves. If we are drawn to act out, then that means that we were created to be that way. He says that when the government denies people the freedom to behave poorly, then they are denying people their right to being themselves.

These ideas are explored in a different light through the prison minister’s point of view. He focuses on good being a natural characteristic of people. Goodness comes from within, 6655321. Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man." (Burgess P. 49) I think that quote sums up the entire point of the book. The movie fixated on good having to be natural and not forced. It returned Alex to being a man with the freedom to choose. But what the novel adds completes the idea. Man is free to choose, so we finally see Alex choose to leave his life of violence. I think that adds a beauty and hope to the book.

In regards to quality of the story, the twenty-first chapter also adds a lot to Alex’s character. Within the last chapter, we finally see character development. Without this, his character line is extremely flat. I find that totally unsatisfying as an audience member.

Another distinction between the two media is the way that sounds are translated to the audience. When watching the movie, you just hear what sounds Dim makes when he laughs. In the novel, the narrator describes it. He then also details his feelings of repulsion in response to these noises. I loved the way that onomatopoeia was used throughout the story. Often novice writers fixate on describing just what is seen. The way that Burgess approached the description of sound was brilliant. I appreciated that he was always mindful of it and wrote it into the story.

Finally, the book played up elements of Alex’s dreams more than the movie. They played a large role in the story. At the start, there were prophetic aspects to Alex and his father’s dreams. Alex used dreams to compare aspects of life, he compared and contrasted sleeping with drug use. Also, when he was so consumed by the films he was shown, he began to integrate them into the way he described his dreams. “A dream or nightmare is really only like a film inside your gulliver, except that it is as though you could walk into it and be part of it.” (Burgess P.64)

I really enjoyed A Clockwork Orange. I think I gained a lot from reading it as opposed to just watching it. It uses youth to challenge societal issues as well as political ones. It does this in a way that presents the issues without really offering the solution to all aspects of it. The novel offers material to inspire contemplation. The language that is used throughout the story forces the audience to pay close attention which effectively captivates the audience’s attention in a way that forces them to also notice the author’s ideas. I think it’s interesting that through a couple small changes, I got completely different messages out of the movie and the book. I want to keep this in mind as I go into the film industry.

As a film major, I particularly enjoyed this quote from the Novel, “It's funny how the colours of the like real world only seem really real when you viddy them on the”

screen. (Burgess P.59)