Diction In A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess, the author of A Clockwork Orange, said “… by definition, a human is endowed with free will. He can use this to choose between good and evil. If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange… it is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. The most important thing is moral choice” (Burgess, Introduction, page xiii). This theme is thoroughly explored during the novel, as well as during modern history. In A Clockwork Orange, Alex discovers how his opinion on moral choice contrasts with that of the government that he is living under. It is evident that Alex believes that the freedom to make choices for yourself determines if you are truly human or not. The purpose of A Clockwork Orange revolves around this theme of fate and free will, and how your freedom to make decisions will impact you later in life. Anthony Burgess uses diction and emotional appeals to convey his purpose in writing this novel. Burgess uses diction to make the reader understand Alex and his point of view early on in the novel. In the second sentence of the novel, Alex speaks in nadsat, which is the slang terms used by teenagers in the futuristic dystopian city that the novel is set in. Burgess’s use of nadsat is evident when Alex says “There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill