A Clockwork Orange-Anthony Burgess (Davis Beveridge)

A Clockwork Orange: A Book Review

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, is a fictional tale that I seemed to enjoy more than any other fiction I have ever read. There is a certain diction and dialect that truly pulled me in, as if I were walking the terror stricken streets of the night alongside Alex, Pete, Georgie, and Dim. I feel that I can really enjoy a book if I am a part of it, and Anthony Burgess does a great job of giving the reader an active role in the development of the book. Burgess’s “nadsat” language comes quite quickly with just a little dedication to learning as the reader. With the slang of nadsat being so heavily embedded in every page, the reader is forced to interpret every word as if they were living amongst Alex’s gang in England. This gives the reader the job of being a language interpreter or almost a translator, in your own mind.

My choice with A Clockwork Orange has given me a chance to add another book to my recommendations list. A fiction set in a futuristic, violence-oppressed city is bound to catch the eye of a guy like myself, interested in suspense, as well as the inside look of a gang of teenagers who run the streets of England at night. This book is a by far one of the best suspenseful fictions I have ever read, comprised of the night-after-night violence impended upon the streets of dark England, the government’s attempt to “kill the criminal reflex” in the State Jail (Staja) filled with “concentrated criminality” (p.92). The government’s need to release “common criminals” from Staja introduces their “Ludovico’s Technique”, a plan to brainwash inmates who previously “[had] the desire to commit acts of violence or to offend in any way whatsoever against the State’s Peace” (p.95). The government in doing this is taking away the human choice of morality, which in the end, is seen to dehumanize Alex and take away his title of being “A clockwork-orange”.

Although with much interpretation, the theme of morality can be found to be the most significant footing behind the book’s fictional story, I enjoyed the book also for just its plain simple characteristics, such as the characters, the plot/story, the setting, and of course the unique dialect of the main characters that brings the whole story to life. These entire literary tools tie together to create a suspense that lingers among the streets of corrupted England at night. This was a feeling that triggered Goosebumps on my skin, a feeling that grew from being almost a fear of Alex’s gang, to a comfort with being around Alex as an individual. I felt this comfort grow along with Alex’s confidence voice, which seemed to have not even a slight bit of fear as he troubles the streets of the night.

As a whole, A Clockwork Orange is a great fictional novel that I would highly recommend to high school students, not only because of its deep theme of morality, but also because of the small literary techniques that Anthony Burgess defines so exceptionally, that truly make the reader feel that they are a part of the book.