A Clockwork Orange: Futuristic Fantasy

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A Clockwork Orange: Futuristic Fantasy?

A Clockwork Orange is a book with a moral. More than that, it is a warning: a caution to the 1960s society of which Burgess was a part. His predictions of the world to come are bloody and his depictions of militant regimes and totalitarian states are fantastic and profound. But they are not so far from the truth as one would think…

Burgess formed his picture of Alex’s world in the world he saw around him in the 1960s. This is most notable in the language that is used. It is absolutely full of Russian words: “horrorshow”, “krovvy”, “ptitsa”, and “tolchock”. This is of course a reference to the Soviet regime, which ruled over the USSR with an iron fist. At the time the Cold War was in full force, animosity was high and Soviet communism posed a real threat to the western democracies. But it is possible that Burgess was depicting the future world as well as his own. He is suggesting that if his own society were to carry on the way it was in his time, then it could possibly end up being as strict and oppressive as the Soviet regime. It is even a possibility that Burgess believed that the western countries, including his own country, the UK, would fall under the rule of communism and become Soviet states themselves. If this is true, then it suggests to me an admiration for the Soviet regime, not a dislike: he considered that the Soviets were so strong and organised, that western occupation was an actual possibility.

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But if this happened, Burgess believed it would be the end of the world as he knew it. Throughout the novel he makes subtle references to certain things he believed would not last under state control: art and literature. Alex himself says that “newspapers [were] not being read much”. Later he describes the “Public Biblio”, or library, “which not many lewdies used those days”. The boys wear masks later in the first chapter, and these are also significant. “Peebee” Shelley is seen as a novelty now; an age-old poet from years ago, long dead and long forgotten. Even Elvis ...

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