In the Mind of a Sociopath

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is a novel like no other. The story takes place in a dystopian future of the 1960s where “ultra-violence” reigns on the streets at night. It is a disturbing story in which teenage kids roam about the streets at night robbing stores, assaulting innocent people, raping women, and committing other heinous crimes. Yet, the story manages to be captivating because it contains many elements of excellent storytelling. A Clockwork Orange is an example of excellent writing because of its writing style, which includes a fabricated slang and descriptions that develop the characters and their motives, and because of its main message to the reader about the dehumanization of a person to prevent violence, which invites the reader to learn something about his or herself and about humanity.

Burgess’s writing style, specifically his fictitious slang dialect, Nadsat, plays a critical role in both developing the setting of the story as well as the characters, which are closely intertwined with the setting since the characters are representative of the large amount of teenagers that commit “ultra-violence” every night. One example of this slang is “milk-plus,” also called “moloko,” which according to the main character and narrator, Alex, is milk infused “with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches which would give you a nice quiet horrowshow [good/excellent] fifteen minutes” (Burgess 3). This essentially means that it is milk laced with drugs, but since this invented slang is used, the setting seems much more realistic and has more depth. This slang is also used when Alex and his fellow “droogs” (gang-members) gang rape a man’s wife and force him to watch:

So he [one of Alex’s droogs] did the strong-man on the devotchka [woman], who was still creech creech creeching away in very horrorshow four-in-a-bar, locking her rookers from the back, while I ripped away at this and that and the other, the others going haw haw haw still, and real good horrorshow groodies [breasts] they were that then exhibited their pink glazzies, O my brothers, while I untrussed and got ready for the plunge. Plunging, I could slooshy [hear] cries of agony… (27)

Through the use of Nadsat slang, this passage illustrates and exposes Alex’s sociopathic nature, including his and his gang’s complete indifference to and, in fact, enjoyment in all forms of violence. Furthermore, Alex’s use of language to describe the woman he is raping dehumanizes her, foreshadowing the theme of the novel. Additionally, Alex’s continuous use of the phrase “O my brothers” throughout the novel, serves as both another aspect of Alex’s disturbing pathology and as means to glorify Alex’s crimes and violent behavior. In these ways, the writing style of A Clockwork Orange effectively develops both the characters and the setting; thus it is an example of excellent writing.

            In addition to the writing style, the main theme of the novel contributes to its status as an example of excellent writing since it provides a meaningful message to the reader. However, the delivery of this message is one of the weak points of this novel since the novel directly states this principle to the reader rather than allowing the reader to discovery the theme for his or herself. The theme first becomes apparent after Alex goes to jail for his crimes and endures “Ludovico’s treatment,” which renders him incapable of committing violence without experiencing immense pain. Later on, Alex arrives at the house of the man’s whose wife he raped though the man does not recognize Alex and takes care of him in his house. At this point, seeing what the treatment has done to Alex, he remarks that he has been turned “into something other than a human being. [He is] committed to only socially acceptable acts, a little machine capable only of good” (174) While this message offers insight into the proper ethical treatment of sinful human beings, the novel’s presentation of this idea is not strong since the idea is practically forced onto the reader. However, the novel also discreetly offers a second viewpoint on this message, which comes from the same man, who states that if he found the person who raped his wife, he would “tear him. [He would] split him, by God” (184). By this statement, Burgess points out that while idealistically people should not be tortured to remove violence from the world, realistically, when people that a person knows are victims of the violence, a person wishes for the criminals to endure harsh punishment. Through the themes about humanity that A Clockwork Orange conveys to the reader, it is an example of excellent writing even though the message is sometimes somewhat ineffectively communicated.

            Overall, A Clockwork Orange is an example of excellent writing due to its characters, its setting, and its fundamental messages about the human conditions. Its well-developed characters are despicable though contain intricate “shades of grey,” so that at times, even the villainous Alex is pitiable. The novel’s believable setting is further enriched with its fabricated slang. Finally, its fundamental message about human existence to the reader leaves the reader with something to ponder after the novel is over. Thus, truly A Clockwork Orange is great literature.

My Top 7, In No Particular Order

1. Truman, David McCullough—This was the first biography I read and at over 1,000 pages, I was not particularly looking forward to it. However, the writing style was very good and the length instead made the book more detailed, interesting, and involving instead of boring.
2. 1984, George Orwell—With its great insights into political philosophy, this book is one of my favorites, especially because of the way Orwell integrates the theme into the plot.
3. Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger—To be honest, when I first read this book I absolutely hated it. I did not like the character of Holden Caulfield and did not really understand what the book was trying to do. However, after analyzing the book in Mrs. Driscoll’s class, I gradually began to understand the book, and it opened a whole new way of looking at literature for me.
4. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess—This book’s use of an anti-heroic protagonist really made the story involving for me. Even though the main character was evil, the way he told the story diminished the repulsiveness of his actions, which was both fascinating and creepy in a way. The fabricated Nadsat slang also made the book more interesting.
5. Sphere, Michael Crichton—This book is memorable to me simply because of the plot. It also presents a somewhat cliché perspective on human nature in a creative way.
6. The Road, Cormac McCarthy—Cormac McCarthy’s diction and writing style simply brings this novel to life. Also, the character development is extremely good and I was really able to feel and understand the relationship between the father and the son.
7. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card—Overall a good sci-fi novel though the twist-ending really makes this novel. I read the rest of the series also, but none quite matched the quality and excitement of Ender’s Game.

1984, A Vision of a Story

A book containing good story telling that I recently read was 1984 by George Orwell. This was in part due to Orwell’s lucid and descriptive explanations of the pervasive tyranny of the socialist regime, Ingsoc. One passage that exemplifies this trait is as follows:

“The mutability of the past is the central tent of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it. It also follows that though the past is unalterable, it never has been altered in any specific instance. For when it has been recreated in whatever shape is needed at the moment, then this new version is the past, and no different past can ever have existed. This holds good even when, as often happens, the same event has to be altered out of recognition several times in the course of a year. At all times the Party is in possession of absolute truth, and clearly the absolute can never have been different from what it is now.”

This passage not only illustrates George Orwell’s writing style, an important characteristic in good writing, but also the novel’s insight into philosophical issues, in this case political philosophy. This attribute is critical in good writing because it permits analysis of a particular facet of human existence relating to the philosophical idea being discussed. Without such discussion of the human condition, novels tend to fade away because with society’s ever-changing fads, values of the society during the time when the novel was released may not be important to a society ten years down the road. Novels with philosophical discussion, however, tend to be valued for considerably longer periods of time since such philosophy is often still applicable for many years into the future. For example the political philosophy in 1984, which cautions the reader of a government (socialist in the novel, though the philosophy can be applied to any type of government) yielding too much power over its subjects, is still important today because this scenario remains a potential threat in today’s world.  (In fact, certain predictions in 1984 have been realized, such as complete government surveillance over its people through tactics such as satellite imagery, email monitoring, and wire-tapping.) Because 1984 contains principles and insights applicable today and likely for many years into the future, it is an example of great writing.