...Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange is a post-apocalyptic tale warning against the dangers of totalitarian government. Combining recent psychological revolutions involving Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning and the dystopian genre, the novel presents the idea that change and the capacity to make conscious decisions is indicative of an individual’s sense of humanity. Burgess originally constructed the novel to be separated into twenty-one chapters, with seven chapters each being split up into three parts. When releasing the novel in America, however, the publishers opted to omit the last chapter even though those in other countries left the novel as is. The primary question left resonating with several readers is whether or not this last chapter is necessary in providing the novel with a wholesome conclusion....
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...According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, human nature is defined as “the nature of humans, especially, the fundamental dispositions and traits of humans” (Dictionary). Efforts to identify the exact nature of humankind date back centuries ago, as numerous thinkers and theologians debate the topic. The issue whether human nature is programmed in humans’ brains or if it is a decision based on beliefs, society, and the culture is very arguable. Philosophers throughout history, such as Thomas Hobbes, have offered their viewpoints of human nature, eventually reaching Sigmund Freud and other modern philosophers. However, in A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess writes a story of a dystopian future version of Britain with the story revolving...
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...Introduction It was the year of 1516 when Utopia was brought into being by Sir Thomas Moore, and from then on to the 19th century, utopian fiction has experienced a development and a dramatic turn into just the opposite tone, dystopian. These two distinctive streams in British literature, with a same distant source, contain totally different settings—if the utopian novels have demonstrated the perfectly idealized future society for mankind, then the dystopian ones describe the least ideal society, and it is usually considered that a dystopia is the vision of a society in which condition of life are miserable and characterized by poverty, oppression, war, violence, disease, pollution, nuclear fallout and/or the abridgement of human rights, resulting in widespread unhappiness, suffering, and other kinds of pain.1 As material civilization develops into a certain level and can be considered as more than sufficient, then the world is superior to spiritual civilization; however human spirit is the reflection and is controlled by the substances. So, in a highly-developed society with rich material life and high technology, human spirit indeed has no real freedom. Of course, flooding modernized technologies provide human beings a better living condition, but they are covering up an empty and weak spiritual world. Human beings are made to be squeezed to become the flat and instrumental existence surround by machines which makes them feel it is a perfect world. It is obvious...
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...Does goodness really come from within or is it possible for one to change their evil ways? Issues such as the battle between good and evil are presented in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick classic film, A Clockwork Orange. If you are easily intrigued by the sight of violence and sounds of Beethoven then this is the film for you. Stanley Kubrick’s complex mind pulls an idea together that will leave you thinking for days. Aside from the inappropriate and disastrous story, it is an enjoyable and intriguing story for any audience member over the age of eighteen. Containing images of a rather violent and obscene nature, the film’s unique portrayal of a London dystopia becomes the backdrop of the story and the exploitation of the issues between the government...
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...Language and Behavior in a Clockwork Orange The novel, A Clockwork Orange, set in a dystopian future, tells a coming of age story about the world a sociopathic fifteen year old named Alex. Alex, “your humble narrator,” narrates using an argot language called Nadsat, a Russian translation for teen, and lives a life of crime doing whatever his twisted heart desires, he might say his life is “real horrorshow.” The first half of the novel is full of rape and malicious beatings by Alex and his droogs, Pete, Dim and Georgie, until Alex is arrested for murder and subsequently subjected to the "Ludovico technique,” a scientific method to "cure" criminals of their violent desires through brainwashing. Author, Anthony Burgess combines English, Russian and Cockney to create the made up language of Nadsat. Through the use of varied language, Burgess is able to represent the immature teenage mindset of Alex during his transformation into adulthood in the vicious world in which he lives. As with most adolescents growing up, there is a struggle to find one’s self, especially in a dystopian world where everyone is made to a mold. Alex expresses this search at the beginning of each section in the novel with the phrase, “What’s it going to be then eh?” and through his use of Nadsat. The special language of Nadsat helps create individuality from the world for Alex and his droogs. Alex explains his language to Dr. Branom, one of the doctors that gives him the “Ludovico technique,” “These grahzny...
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...Examining Classical Conditioning in A Clockwork Orange: Realizing its potential for good and bad Cory Latour St. Lawrence University Psychology blossomed as a relevant field of study in the 19th century, as emerging social constructs like individualism and romanticism encouraged scholars to evolve the study of human behavior (Carlson, Miller, Heth, Donahoe, & Martin, 2010). At the beginning of the 20th century, one question provoked notable research: how can learning be studied? Learning is defined as an enduring shift in behavior or knowledge due to experience, and Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike both designed experiments that measured how these long-lasting changes occurred; the pair’s research introduced the idea of conditioning into the field of psychology (Carlson et al., 2010). Pavlov and Thorndike differed in experimental methods, but their research ultimately concluded that one achieves learning through conditioning, which is a construct that modifies behavior through the operant and classical procedures (Carlson et al., 2010). Thorndikes’s investigation exemplifies operant conditioning, while Pavlov’s study highlights classical conditioning. Operant conditioning is a type of learning where responses are the result of consequences (Carlson et al., 2010). One example of the experiment placed a cat in a box where a latch was the only means to get out; whenever the cat successfully pulled the latch (the response), Thorndike rewarded it with food (eliciting...
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...Schaffner’s planet ruled by apes and the slavery of Man in Planet of the Apes (1968), Stanley Kubrick’s dystopian future where gangs rule the streets in A Clockwork Orange (1971), George Lucas’ futuristic dystopian society controlled by drugs and police robots in THX 1138 (1971), Boris Sagal’s end of the world plague and the last Man in The Omega Man (1971), Douglas Trumbull’s post-apocalyptic future and the last remaining plant life in Silent Running (1972), Richard Fleischer’s dire near future world of overpopulation, starvation, and the runaway greenhouse effect in Soylent Green (1973), Norman Jewison’s future worldwide society is controlled by corporations and a violent game known as Rollerball in Rollerball (1975), Michael Anderson’s futuristic post-apocalyptic survivors live in pristine dome cities with murderous population control done by “sandmen” police in Logan’s Run (1976), which leads...
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...also steals the freedom of individuals to think independently. Society is now completely brainwashed and unable to realize their potential and ability to expand their views upon world around them. Survival. It is what’s left for mankind when all of civilization has come to an end in a downward spiral. The causes and effects of a dystopia are the same causes and effects that can occur to our own society. The possibility of young adolescents slaughtering each other for the entertainment of the wealthy, like in the Hunger Games, or the possibility of a world where criminals are put through brutal behavioral modifications by the system in return for freedom, as seen in the cult classic film A Clockwork Orange, are all probable events destined to happen in the not so distant future. The dystopian genre gives readers and viewers a glimpse of what can occur and harm society if we are not able to prevent a world that ends in chaos. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and The Road, written by Cormac McCarthy and directed by John Hillcoat, present worlds in which individuals deal with their terrible reality by fighting for a better one. Utilizing stylistic elements to depict a horrific world that can be easily end up as our own, both authors are able to display the possible fate of civilization. Part 1: The Social Commentary and Style within Fahrenheit 451 In Ray Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, he depicts a society that is in denial about how unhappy they are and how they pretend like...
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...It is decided by those in power. Isaac Asimov said the “book described society as a vast world-wide extension of Stalinist Russia in the 1930s” Orwell shows us through his dystopian novel where “two and two could become five if the fuhrer wished it” 1984 warns that totalitarianism essentially will equate to the control of our minds and our bodies he tries “to make Winston understand he has no personal control over his mind.” , through this idea we can see that once our minds are controlled by those in power, this will eventually translate to the control of the body, for example, Winston has a hatred for children ‘Nearly all children nowadays were horrible’ Page 29 children are susceptible to easy manipulation, especially when left in ignorance, therefore, we can see that when proles are both sub literate and verging on ignorance and the vernacular of the society has been changed where they can’t think of words that...
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...Compare and contrast the theme of control in The Handmaids Tale and Nineteen Eighty-Four Control is a central theme in both dystopian texts and control is present in both novels. Both societies in the novels are heavily controlled and restricted, but the key difference is in the regime used by the respective governments in each text. In The Handmaids Tale the government’s ideologies are theosophical whereas Nineteen Eighty-Four is based on socialism. These ideologies play a key role in the ways that control is presented in each novel. The governments use different forms of control to maintain their regimes and power and these include: indoctrination through control of hierarchy, language and religion. The governments act as totalitarian regimes which constantly monitor the lives of its citizens to keep them under their control. Orwell took inspiration from the plight of Britain during the time the novel was written; 1948. Britain had just come out of a horrifying war that devastated the world - World War Two - and her economy and overseas relations were in deep water. Britain’s economy was at its lowest in decades and very unstable; her Empire was dissolving in to the common wealth and international relations were quickly turning sour. Similarly to The Handmaids Tale, Nineteen Eighty-Four warns against governments’ overwhelming acquirement of power. Orwell himself was well-versed in the world of politics and strategies deployed by governments to gain control. He was also a traditional...
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...The English novel is an important part of English literature. This article focuses on novels, written in English, by novelists who were born or have spent a significant part of their lives in England, or Scotland, or Wales, or Northern Ireland (or Ireland before 1922)]. However, given the nature of the subject, this guideline has been applied with common sense, and reference is made to novels in other languages or novelists who are not primarily British where appropriate. Portrait of Samuel Richardson by Joseph Highmore.National Portrait Gallery, Westminster, England. Contents [hide] 1 Early novels in English 2 Romantic period 3 Victorian novel 4 20th century 5 Survey 6 Famous novelists (alphabetical order) 7 See also 8 References Early novels in English[edit source | editbeta] See the article First novel in English. The English novel has generally been seen as beginning with Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722),[1] though John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678) and Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (1688) are also contenders, while earlier works such as Sir Thomas Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and even the "Prologue" to Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales have been suggested.[2] Another important early novel is Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift, which is both a satire of human nature, as well as a parody of travellers' tales like Robinson Crusoe.[3] The rise of the novel as an important...
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...Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 i RTNA01 1 13/6/05, 5:28 PM READING THE NOVEL General Editor: Daniel R. Schwarz The aim of this series is to provide practical introductions to reading the novel in both the British and Irish, and the American traditions. Published Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890–1930 Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Daniel R. Schwarz Brian W. Shaffer Forthcoming Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel Paula R. Backscheider Reading the Nineteenth-Century Novel Harry E. Shaw and Alison Case Reading the American Novel 1780–1865 Shirley Samuels Reading the American Novel 1865–1914 G. R. Thompson Reading the Twentieth-Century American Novel James Phelan ii RTNA01 2 13/6/05, 5:28 PM Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Brian W. Shaffer iii RTNA01 3 13/6/05, 5:28 PM © 2006 by Brian W. Shaffer BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Brian W. Shaffer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and...
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