A Clockwork Orange

As requested, I attempted to read 'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess, and it was a very different type of reading experience. I found it really hard to follow with the 'nadsat' colloquial language of the protagonist Alex, which meant that I had to quite often re-read sentences and phrases in an attempt to understand what was being said. It is written in the first person, which I always love, as it allows for the voice of a particular character to be heard, and for the reader to see how one person views their world and their role within it, and 'A Clockwork Orange' is certainly no exception from that, with the unique voice and use of language to demonstrate the status, background and values of Alex.



Originally, I thought I would read the book and then watch the film and write a "from page to screen," but I have to admit, I'm a bit afraid to watch the film. I'm not a fan of scary, graphic violence, and as the book holds many of that, I don't think I would be able to sit through such a terrifying and probably disturbing movie. However, I completely understand why 'A Clockwork Orange' is famous, because not only the language and style of writing is one of a kind, the novel is fantastic case of morality and ethics, asking great philosophical questions, which can lead to great discussion and debate. It is one of those books that English teachers (also philosophy teachers) would absolutely love to teach, as the context of this dystopian world is truly an interesting study. The underlying question that Anthony Burgess addresses in 'A Clockwork Orange' is: whether it is better to have free will but do bad things, or do good things, but because you are conditioned to do so, which, through the teenage delinquent, Alex, he responds that it is better to be bad but free, which I'm not altogether sure if that is Burgess's personal view or not, but, as I mentioned, this book and this question allows readers to explore where they stand in that continual debate.




Unfortunately though, since I was struggling with the writing style, I didn't complete reading the entire novel. I feel utterly horrible about that, but it really is a quite challenging read, and now that uni has started again, I'm back to the overwhelming overload of study and readings, so perhaps one day in the future I may have a second take on reading this classic. But for now, I apologise for not completing the book, however, hopefully I was able to write a decent review based on the amount I did read.