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A Clockwork Orange Nadsat Essay

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Introduction
In order to throughly understand how and why the fictional language nadsat is used in the novel A Clockwork Orange the term nadsat should be clearly defined. Anthony Burgess uses nadsat as a term for the teenage subculture described in the novella as well as an abbreviated form of ‘nadsat language’ which is used by this very subculture. As the fictional language is fairly dynamic, that is changing constantly through each generation, and received as slang by the people of the novella, ‘nadsat language’ does not have an officially accepted name. Thus, the fictional is mostly referred as nadsat. It is seen only used by this specific subculture marking the distinction between the teenagers and adults, whom only use simple English. Upon first glance, the most discernible aspect of Anthony Burgess’s novella A Clockwork Orange is the extensive use of fabricated vocabulary forming a language called ‘nadsat’ as the narrative …show more content…

The novella glorifies free will of the individual by exploring dilemmas such as ethical implications of brainwashing potential threats to public wellbeing in expense of their ability to make choices. At the same time, it criticises extreme political systems such as totalitarian or fascist ones based on ideals irreconcilable to human nature that are decided and forced on by the state for common welfare. Congruently, the fictional language, nadsat, by itself is a collective representation of the rebellious youth against compliance to the governing mechanism. The existence of a separate language disaffiliates the nadsat subculture from the state, characterised by its adult members who use simple English, presenting the nadsat as a somewhat anarchist

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