"Human interaction takes place primarily through language." Discuss the use of dialogue in works of your choice to test the cogency of this statement.

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Amy Hales                         Tutor: William Rossiter

                ENG105

Orwell to Atwood – Assessed Essay

“Human interaction takes place primarily through language.” Discuss the use of dialogue in works of your choice to test the cogency of this statement.

Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four are widely considered to be two of the most influential and exceptional novels of the twentieth century, above all because of the authors’ revolutionary and unique use of language.

Anthony Burgess intended the novel A Clockwork Orange, published in 1962, to be a study on free will and behaviourism, but its extraordinary use of language and the formidable character of Alex have gained cult status.

This is similar to the way Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949 became notorious for the way George Orwell uses language politically and to deceive and manipulate the people in Oceania, leading to a society in which the people unquestionably obey their government and mindlessly accept all propaganda as reality.

When discussing the statement that “Human interaction takes place primarily through language”, it is essential to take into account the most revolutionary features of A Clockwork Orange, which is the language used by the four “droogs”. Rather than speaking a formal English, they use a dialect known as Nadsat, which when translated is the Russian suffix for ‘teen’. At first glance, the vocabulary of anti-hero and narrator Alex sounds incomprehensible:

“You could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other

Veshches”, but eventually the reader will become familiar with the meaning, as the context makes it clearer. “We gave this devotchka a tolchock on the litso and the krovvy came out of her mouth” translates as, we gave this girl a blow on the face and blood came out of her mouth.

The slang of Alex and his gang is derived from Burgess’s own interest in linguistics and the history of language, but to fully understand why he used Nadsat, it is necessary to look at the main themes of the novel. This will aid us in the analysis of the idea that language is the main form of human interaction.

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A Clockwork Orange is largely based on psychological oppression and governments exercising power over the youngsters in the book. Alex’s so-called ‘friends’ frame him and he goes to jail, where he learns of the ‘ludivico program’ that would get released from jail in two weeks. He was sentenced to be ‘cured’ and given shock treatment. He is told: “You have no power of choice any longer. You are committed to socially acceptable acts, a little machine capable of only doing good.” The restriction placed on Alex would limit him from free thought, which would therefore restrict his language use.

Nadsat is ...

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