A Clockwork Orange Short Task

‘A Clockwork Orange’ is a bildungsroman and dystopian novel about a teenager named Alex, a Beethoven-loving, head-bashing punk who leads his gang of “droogs” on “ultra-violent” assaults. In ‘A Clockwork Orange’ Burgess often uses language, form and structure to help the reader understand the bizarre, dystopian society in which it is set and the unique personality of Alex. Nadsat language often appears throughout the extract; we usually experience it through Alex or his droogs. We see the use of “vecks”, “cheenas”, “droogs” and “gulliver” during the extract. This use of language creates a feeling of individuality for Alex and other youths in this society. This may be seen as dangerous by older members of society or by the government as it is almost an attempt by youths to exclude themselves from society, which may be a threat to their collective society. Alex and his droogs also appear as a danger to society as Alex sees violence as a hobby or pastime and we see a very callous side to his nature through his sadistic acts of cruelty; this is emphasised by him “scaring old vecks and cheenas”. Alex often describes his acts of violence as “horrorshow”, which peculiarly means good. This glorification of violence again emphasises his vicious and reckless nature. We see further evidence of Alex’s casual violence where Burgess writes “half hearted tolchocks”; this behaviour portrays him in a negative light which is further emphasised by his immaturity and insensitivity to sex. He calls it “lubilubbing” which shows his immaturity as it is a very childish.
Burgess uses language throughout the extract to make us feel more involved with Alex. An example of this is where he addresses the reader by saying “my brothers”, which makes us feel that Alex has an amiable and friendly side to his personality. This may perhaps instil sympathy in the reader towards him and make us feel that he isn’t as lost a cause as some make him out to be. This use of form, directly addressing the