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? Like all good dystopian stories, the world of A Clockwork Orange shocks us because it is not impossible to achieve. The perfect tyrannical societies portrayed in George Orwell’s 1984, or Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, or Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, or even Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series are all realistic because they beam present-day society into a twisted mirror and show us how close we are to becoming a daunting, hellish civilization. Similarly, A Clockwork Orange reflects English society as Burgess perceived it in the 1960s- fresh off the boat, he was startled by the prevalence of an irreverent youth subculture of coffee bars, teenage gangs, and rising incidents of juvenile delinquency. This, coupled with the fact that pioneers of behaviorism such as B.F. Skinner were gradually growing in importance, caused him to investigate the
In George Orwell's dystopian novel, 1984, the author uses cacophonous and anaphora diction with rhetorical and imperative syntax to convey the fragility and selfish state of human nature; the author further portrays the immense suffering guided by abused power at the hands of a totalitarian government. An analytical and commentary writing on society, 1984 discusses topics such as the exploitation of and total control in the absolutist manner of tyrannic leadership. Written through the perspective of Winston Smith and his conflict between reality and illusion in a deceptive society, Orwell intentionally warns the future society of these topics. While forcefully observing himself in a mirror, Winston notices that “a…skeleton-like thing was coming towards him… [with] a bald scalp, a crooked nose, and battered-looking cheekbones” and under the layer of dirt, “the red scars of wounds, and… the scraggy neck seemed to be bending double under the weight of the skull” (296-297).
The movie, The Village, and the novel 1984 provides new insight and connections on a “utopian” society. Both are very similar to each other in a way that their utopian society has many flaws. 1984 is about a rebellion against an iron-fisted totalitarian government while The Village is about an attempt to protect the innocence of people. In these societies, the leaders lie in order to try and achieve a utopian world. Both societies have different purposes to control the people through fear, but despite their attempts to create a utopian society, they were only successful to a certain extent.
Many a literary critic claims that the strongest aspect of the book 1984 by George Orwell is its plot. Indeed, there is some merit in this conclusion, as the entire purpose of Orwell’s writing of this book was not to create a literary classic, but to warn the public about the dangers of communism if it got out of hand, and what better way to do this than to write an engaging plot? Others may claim that 1984’s greatest strength is in its character development. This aspect, too, is quite strong in the book, as not only are the minor characters effected in serving the dystopian theme, but the major characters are believable and very human in their failings. Winston’s transformation from an oppressed office worker to revolutionary and finally
The two distinct novels Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell is a very thorough description warning the future were high ranked working people such as governments and politicians will misuse their positions to control the citizens which can already be illustrated throughout the world by means of using media, language and telephones to track them and manipulate news stories by way of misleading the citizens for their own purposes and desires whereas the novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo 's Nest by Ken Kesey likewise demostrates in a more microcosmic world were head administratives control and applies various methods that will only benefit them rather than everyone. This essay focuses on what methods of control is implemented on the residents in
It is startling to read how nonchalantly teenagers talk about violence, drugs and minors engaging in sex. Thus, it is not astonishing that the novel caused outrage among its readers in the 1960s even though the story is fictional and set in the future. The novel initially appears to be straightforward in its critique of society, but only an in-depth analysis of A Clockwork Orange which engages with the author’s word choice and structure illuminates the important issues. Contemporary society is presenting dystopian aspects to a worrying degree: teenage delinquency, social decay, violence and indifference. I would argue that Anthony Burgess wants to draw attention to the changing society of his time, especially the urban landscape that has seen the development of teenage gang culture and the growing tension between countries over conflicting
Clockwork orange really tells readers more about predicting the future in stories made long ago. Clockwork Orange takes place in a small, hard governed dictatorial city. In this story citizens of the city are brainwashed not really paying attention to the corrupt society run by the youth. The entire city is getting destroyed slowly by violent crime committing youth. This story really told the future because in the story it talks about a futuristic city taking place in the future.
Dystopian texts espouse a variety of didactic messages that depend significantly upon both the context and zeitgeist of the time in which they were created. Differences can be found when comparing the techniques and perspectives the authors have chosen to represent their contextual concerns to audiences. Together both Fritz Lang’s silent black and white film ‘Metropolis’ 1927 and George Orwell’s novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (*referred to as 1984) 1948, confront and provoke audiences to consider the impact that (abusive power + unquestionable control= insert question statement) can have not only on the characters in these two texts, but also on the cultural and political lives of the reader and viewer. By subjugating & dehumanising the lower classes, dictators are
George Orwell 's novel 1985, was adapted into a movie, directed by Michael Radford. The movie coincidentally came out in the year 1984 and starred John Hurt. The movie received a 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb, a popular movie rating site,which is a higher rating than most of today 's movies. Although the movie did do alright to the general public, the movie did have some flaws when compared to Orwell 's original writings. The movie did not include all of the same details, it went very quickly over many of the events and was difficult to get into and understand for those who haven 't read the book.
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
Society is made up of multiple factors including individuality and opposition. George Orwell’s 1984 is a novel that depicts a communist dystopian society. Orwell wrote this novel to show what will happen to society under Communist control—more specifically, Joseph Stalin’s control. Orwell presents the reader with a protagonist, Winston, and through Winston, the reader can see the effects of extreme, forced conformity in a society. Through 1984, the reader can conclude that a society as a whole cannot thrive when constrained.
The novel 1984 by George Orwell and the movie V for Vendetta are both dystopian themed works of fiction. Both depicted the dangers of a totalitarian type of regime and the horrors that come along with it. In 1984, Winston Smith the main character, lived in a poverty-stricken country called Oceania wherein the government controls all aspect of the people 's lives. On the contrary, in the movie V for Vendetta, the main characters named V was a vigilante who sought to overthrow the totalitarian government of London. He met a girl named Evey Hammond, who just like Winston Smith in 1984, was stuck in a country ruled by despotism.
Living through the first half of the twentieth century, George Orwell watched the rise of totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Soviet Union. Fighting in Spain, he witnessed the brutalities of the fascists and Stalinists first hand. His experiences awakened him to the evils of a totalitarian government. In his novel 1984, Orwell paints a dark and pessimistic vision of the future where society is completely controlled by a totalitarian government. He uses symbolism and the character’s developments to show the nature of total power in a government and the extremes it will go through to retain that power by repressing individual freedom and the truth.
In the novel 1984, by George Orwell, he uses truth and reality as a theme throughout the novel to demonstrate the acts of betrayal and loyalty through the characters of Winston and Julia. Orwell expresses these themes through the Party, who controls and brainwashes the citizens of Oceania. The party is able to control its citizens through “Big Brother,” a fictional character who is the leader of Oceania. Big Brother is used to brainwash the citizens into whatever he says. Orwell uses truth and reality in this book to reflect on what has happened in the real world such as the Holocaust and slavery.
Although these two messages seem different, they carry a lot of similarities which is why I decided to look further into: A comparison of George Orwell and William Golding’s representation of the primal structures of human society in “1984” and “Lord of the Flies” The scope of the essay is limited to these novels however it offers the authors’ ideas and beliefs and reference to secondary sources while critiquing the novels. It also offers primary sources in the form of direct quotations from the novels.
By some it was highly regarded for confronting the heavy challenges of its time by demonstrating an accurate depiction of the violent youth culture. Burgess created a ‘dissonant, hyperreal but easily recognisable world’ (The Telegraph, 2017), and that ‘The violence is slapstick and theatrical’. However, others felt disturbed by the novel’s barbarism, arguing that it was ‘not be up to stomaching…and uninviting’ (The Guardian, 2012). During the 1970s, A Clockwork Orange was held accountable for the crimes, corruption and violence that transpired in the British nation (International Anthony Burgess Foundation, n.d.). Burgess grew to be a prominent figure on violence in the media and was repeatedly defending allegations made on his