I just recently finished Anthony Burgess’s dystopian novel, A Clockwork Orange. For those of you who
may not be familiar with dystopian novels, a dystopian novel usually takes
place in a future society, although not always, and is characterized by misery,
squalor, oppressive governments and any host of other deplorable aspects of life
(1). Arguably the most famous dystopian novel is Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. Which is about a society that
seems perfect or utopian but on closer inspection, the whole society is morally
on its head. Anyway another good book should you find yourself in need of one. A Clockwork Orange takes place in
futuristic England, in what is supposedly London. Note that this book was
written in 1962, so the future in the book seems more like the early 1970’s but
the themes are still very relevant. The book follows the exploits of Alex, who
is a teenager growing up in the declining state Great Britain. Alex with his
gang, go out and terrorize the city at night, robbing, raping, and beating up
whoever they see fit. Without giving too much of the plot away Alex eventually
is forced to change his ways, to the point where he physically cannot do harm
to others. This is where the main theme of the novel comes into play, even
though doing evil is wrong should we be allowed to force wrongdoers to do good?
Again, I do not want to give the plot away so I will have to leave you hanging
about how this theme materializes in the novel, if you want to find out I
recommend reading it or at the very least watching Stanley Kubrick’s movie
based on the book. A Clockwork Orange is very psychologically challenging with
many disturbing acts of violence, the book used to be banned.
Very nicely said!
ReplyDelete