Passage 9

Passage: “ ‘It’s a book,’ I said. ‘It’s a book what you are writing.’ I made the old goloss very coarse. ‘I have always had the strongest admiration for them as can write books.’ Then I looked at its top sheet, and there was the name-A CLOCKWORK ORANGE-and then I said: ‘That’s a fair gloopy title. Who ever heard of a clockwork orange?’ Then I read a malenky bit out loud in a sort of very high type preaching goloss: ‘-The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, to attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creature, against this I raise my swordpen-‘ Dim made the old lip-music at that and I had to smeck myself. Then I started to tear up the sheets and scatter the bits over the floor, and this writer moodge went sort of bezoomny and made for me with his zoobies clenched and showing yellow and his nails ready for me like claws. So that was old Dim’s cue and he went grinning and going ere r and a a a for this veck’s dithering rot, crack, crack, first left fistie then right, so that our dear old droog the red- red vino on tap and the same in all places, like it’s put out by the same big firm- started to pour and spot the nice clean carpet and the bits of his book that I was still ripping away at, razrez, razrez.”

This passage was extremely important to this novel, for it distinguishes the narrative hook. For the past couple of chapters the author has been giving information about Alex and his gang, and what they do; their background. But now a reader begins to see how the book begins to form. Alex and his gang are once again roaming around, creating havoc on other people’s lives, when they stumble upon this man and his book. A book that clearly has the same title as the one I am reading. But the irony of this is not the title, but of the contents of which Alex reads. He briefly reads about the law and conditions our world has imposed upon us, a structure Alex so desperately tries to destroy. Not only is this passage ironic, especially due to the fact that the author even makes fun of his own title through a character, but it also has great strength to foreshadow future events. Something has to get in Alex’s way for him sustain the proceeding chapters, and this brief passage allows us to see how the law will come between Alex one way or another in this novel. I also would like to point out the author’s use of onomatopoeia, his sounds help to describe the characters and his work. The repetition and sounds are significant, for they emphasize the brutality of Burgess’ main character.

Passage 8

Passage: “Then we took the road west. There wasn’t much traffic about, so I kept pushing the old noga through the floorboards near, and the Durango 95 ate up the road like spaghetti. Soon as it was winter trees and dark, my brothers, with a country dark, and at one place I ran over something big with a snarling toothy rot in the headlamps, then it screamed and squelched under and old Dim at the back near laughed his Gulliver off- ‘Ho ho ho’ –at that. Then we saw one young malchick with his sharp, lubbilubbing under a tree, so we stopped and cheered at them, then we bashed into them both with a couple of half-hearted tolchocks, making them cry, and on we went. What we were after now was the old surprise visit. That was a real kick and good for smecks and lashings of the ultra-violent. We came at last to a sort of a village, and just outside this village was a small sort of a cottage on its own with a bit of a garden. The Luna was well up now, and we could viddy this cottage fine and clear as I eased up and put the brake on, and the other three giggling like bezoomny, and we could viddy the name of the gate of this cottage veshch was HOME, a gloopy sort of home.”

Most criminals break the law for a purpose, for they have some type of motivation. Alex, on the other hand, just does it for the hell of doing it. He makes people cry just to see them cry. In a lawless society, there is nothing to stop him so he sees no reason to not do whatever he likes. It’s interesting in the passage however, how Alex has used a simile to compare the road to spaghetti. Someone as violent and slightly insane as this tough guy can only compare a road being torn up to the ingestion of spaghetti. He goes on stating that this visit will bring forth the “ultra-violent.” This again represents how Alex pushes all extremes; he is testing how horrible he can act when his society stands completely orderless. When suggesting a psychological criticism, I can say that is shown that children often look for boundary lines; how far they can push their parents and how much they can get away with. Alex continues to push for that boundary but has found none, hence his need to continue a life of crime. The Luna’s, note its capitalization, symbol stands for the night. Alex’s gang moves quickly in the night, for they know they have a lot of time ahead of them by the Luna’s positioning.

Passage 7 (Due Saturday, January 10th)

Passage: "We waited panting, and we could slooshy the sirening millicents going east, so we knew we were all right now. But poor old Dim kept looking up at the stars and planets and the Luna with his rot wide open like a kid who'd never viddied any such thing before, and he said: 'What's on them, I wonder. What would be up there on things like that?' I nudged him hard, saying 'Come, gloppy bastard as thou art. Think thou not on them. There'll be life like down here most likely, with some getting knifed and others doing the knifing.'"

In A Clockwork Orange the darkness symbolizes the gang's crulity and destruction. They prowl around town raping and beating others in the dark. It seems as though such darkness is Alex's best friend; he is most comfortable in the dark. Dim is the stupiest member of the gang. He looks up at the light and wonders what another world might be like. Unlike Alex, Dim is not as comfortable in the dark and is a developing character that could probably be persuaded into joining the good side of town. Alex continues to reinforce his dictatorship as seen through such syntax, "I nudged him hard.." Although Alex's persuasion has kept Dim in the gang for now, this passage foreshadows Dim's longing to see what other type of life he may continue in the future.

Passage 6

Passage: "He cried out: 'It's a stinking world because it lets the young get on to the old like you done, and there's no law nor order no more.' He was creeching out loud and waving his rookers and making real horrowshow with the slovos, only the odd blurp blurp coming from his keeshkas, like something was orbiting within, or like some very rude interrupting sort of a moodge making a shoom, so that this old veck kept sort of threatening it with his fists, shouting: 'It's no world for any old man any longer, and that means that I'm not one bit scared of you, my boyos, because I'm too drunk to feel the pain if you hit me, and if you kill me I'll be glad to be dead." We smecked and then grinned but said nothing..."

This passage presses on the major theme of Alex's free will. He does whatever he wants, for the idea of free will allows him to do so. He has chosen a life of wickedness and cruelty. This passage is extremely significant because this old man is the first person to be fearless of these boys. As soon as this old man speaks out against them, the boys become more and more excited to beat him up. The idea of rebellion and power consume the boys. They let the old man speak of whats wrong with the world, but then beat him to a close death. The diction of this passage is important for the old man states how there is no order nor law anymore. This line represents the idea of how insanely wild the situation has become. The theme of free will is presented again, for without such law and order, the boys can actually do whatever they please. This adds to the idea that without laws, our world would be even more corrupt. Humans need to have boundaries set for them, it is in fact what sets us apart from every other animal in the existence.

VVV Blog Post for December 12th, 2008