Music, Violence, and Identity in Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange

The use of the phrase “viddy him swim in his own blood while we counted the takings”, shows how criminals such as Alex and his “droogs”, can get away with such vicious acts of crime so often that it has become a hobby for them as they take so much enjoyment from the acts. Also the casual tone depicted from the text suggests the careless nature that Alex has towards the vulgar acts. These combined together add to the theme of corruption in society in ‘A Clockwork Orange’.

In part one of the novel, we witness the ability of free will that Alex possesses and his ability to choose between good and evil through contrast presented by darkness of night and lightness of day. At the beginning of the novel, Alex and his droogs (friends), Pete, Georgie, and Dim are at the Kovova Milkbar, roaming the streets and committing violent acts during night. Alex and his droogs encounter an old man who is drunk and is singing a sentimental song. Alex instantly chooses the path of evil with the free will that he encompasses, and along with his droogs they beat the old man while laughing at his misery. The old man complains about the “stinking world” and says, “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.” (Part 2, Chapter 2, Page 12) At night, Alex uses violence and chooses to beat, rape, and murder innocent people because it shows that he has freedom of choice and has authority and power in society. Alex’s interpretation of darkness and night is, “The night belonged to me and my droogs and all the rest of the nadsats (teenagers), and the starry bourgeois lurked indoors…” (Part 1, Chapter 4, Page 33). In contrast,

Alex’s psychological thirst to rebel is glorified and represented by the non-diegetic musical underscore of Ludwig van Beethoven’s ninth symphony, a piece which reiterates ironically throughout the entirety of the film as a recurring motif of violence. The symphony is heard primarily in the scenes in which Alex is deep in sadistic thought, which is ironic in that Beethoven meant to convey human goodness through its four movements, further demonstrating the protagonist’s desire for negative interactions with others, leading to limited experiences of belonging. What Beethoven meant to convey is vastly different to what Alex hears, and this also displays that his sense of security to himself allows him to commit evil towards the community and therefore develops a barrier to belonging to the community.

But more than that, slight grudges were held all throughout the troupe that threw wrenches into the migrating machine of the Traveling Symphony “the third cello...had been waging a war against Dieter…[while] Dieter did….harbor considerable resentment toward the second horn…[who considered the seventh guitar] dead weight…[the seventh guitar despised] the first flute”and the first flute disliked the second violin who disliked August who dislike the third violin and so on and so forth (Mandel, 46-47). The symphony does, however, protect and value one another despite their petty grudges because they are, at their core, close families that live together and protect one another as their own: a true community. This ties into the overarching theme of the novel concerning the quest for family or community amidst isolation and loneliness. Thus the real reason for the quest to reach St. Deborah by the Water is revealed: to unify Kirsten’s own

(1) “While music is changed to language, with the attendant change in meaning and while the obsession is still with bringing light and thus reason, the narrator is opening up the meaning with reference to “we” and to the emotional conditions of suffering and delight.” 1

In this scene, the author describes how people turn from scared to peaceful because of Coss’s melodious voice. Even the terrorists, who are heavily burdened from the stress of the impossible mission, find the singing comforting. The mood transfers from intense to relaxing as music sheds some bright colors into the people’s lives.

They taste rotten when entering my lips, their tails stick to my mouth like ticks.

An individual’s sense of identity is exceptionally complex and is quite significantly influenced by many factors. These distinct factors may be desired and appreciated or unwanted and harmful. Each of these factors has consequences that may either nurture or attenuate one’s sense of self. These notions are predominantly evident in the intensely compelling film, ‘Oranges and Sunshine’, directed by Jim Loach and the poem ‘In the Park’ by Gwen Harwood.

Character in both novels use unsuccessful escape methods to cope with their loss of identity. Alex, the protagonist in A Clockwork Orange, turns to classical music such as Beethoven when his gang members question his hierarchy within the group. Alex describes his bedroom where he goes after an argument with his gang members : "the little speakers of my stereo were all arranged round the room, on ceiling, walls, floor, so, lying on my bed slooshying the music, I was like netted and meshed in the orchestra." (Burgess. 37). We see Alex return to his bedroom many times after confrontations where his identity is disputed. Eventually, Alex is conditioned to feel sick whenever he hears classical music so Alex loses this escape method as he can no longer listen to classical music. Also, Alex relies heavily on the use of drugs when he is unable to deal with his loss of identity, " officially sanctioned "milk bars" that serve a variety of drug tonics to send one off on incoherent fantasies" (Gottlieb). These "milk bars" are locations where young

Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, a critically acclaimed masterstroke on the horrors of conditioning, is unfairly attacked for apparently gratuitous violence while it merely uses brutality, as well as linguistics and a contentious dénouement, as a vehicle for deeper themes.

Anthony Burgess's writing style in his most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange, is different to say the least. This novel is praised for its ingenuity, although many are disturbed by Burgess's predictions for the future. However, for many, it is close to impossible to comprehend without outside help. This is because Burgess created a language specifically for this novel, called Nadsat. This Russian-based language forms conversations between the narrator, Alex, and his teenage, delinquent friends. There are many assumptions as to why Burgess chose to complicate A Clockwork Orange by filling it with the confusing Nadsat language. Some opinions are that the language shows A Clockwork Orange readers

In the novel A Clockwork Orange, the author Anthony Burgess tells a story about a young man name Alex and his friends, every night they go around and start committing violent acts. In the novel Alex expresses his freedom of choice between good and evil. The freedom of choice is a decision that every person must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and to take control of his own future. This Freedom of Choice, no matter what the outcome is, displays person power as an individual, and any efforts to control or influence this choice between good and evil will take way the person free will and enslave him. In this novel the author uses this symbolism through imagery. He shows that through the character of

The shift in Alex’s musical preference, following his cure from Ludovico’s Technique, further explores the way in which violence denies individual identity as a result of group

The society of A Clockwork Orange is constructed upon struggles for power. Crime is a part of the everyday. Violent street gangs seek power through anarchism, direct authority is represented by a network of corrupt police, and on the highest social level a struggle for political and administrative power is fought. Alex reflects: "Power, power, everybody like wants power." As a microcosm of the social mentality, he seems to fit the notion of being a product of his environment.

Similarly, the character of Alex McDowell and his actions are presented with methods comparable to that of Bonnie and Clyde. Stanley Kubrick stresses the violence in A Clockwork Orange as a way to show the full extent of his harmful maniacal ways. Narration alone can only tell us so much about his personality and isn't able to comprehensively encompass the significance of the violence attributed to Alex. It isn't until we see the crimes being committed in vivid detail that we are able to recognize the true nature of Alex’s moral extent. This illustrates him as the character he is meant to be as per the novella written by Anthony Burgess. We learn through wide angle shots of the moments leading up to the raping of a helpless woman, that Alex is entirely comfortable with the sadistic action and even finds it amusing. Upward facing camera angles that specifically place his face as the focal point are used during this scene and many others like it to enunciate his sinister appearance. They are used to show that as a person, Alex enjoys these all to pernicious behaviors. The excessive realness of the scenes only supports our understanding of his lack of humanity. Alex’s aggressiveness is magnified by the way he senselessly beats the old man under the bridge and the husband of the raped woman. Incorporating an undisturbed shot of him doing so allows it make a greater impact on the audience's perception of the character. Just as in Bonnie and Clyde, violence is shown with no