A Clockwork Orange Essay: A Modernistic Work :: Clockwork Orange Essays

A Clockwork Orange as a Modernistic Work      Ã‚  Ã‚   A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, published in 1962, technically falls after the period deemed as 'Modernism', yet it embodies all of the features that were characteristic of that literary era.   Burgess's novel is a futuristic look at a Totalitarian government.    A Clockwork Orange abandons normal 'language' (which Modernists believed couldn't always convey meaning anyway) and is written in 'Nadsat' (which means teenager).   It is a slang that is spoken by the teenagers at the time.   Burgess   uses approximately two-hundred and fifty 'nadsat' words (most of which have Russian roots) to convey his story.   This gives the reader a sense of intimacy with Alex and his 'droogs' (friends) due to the fact that the adults in the novel can't understand what they are govoreeting (saying).  Ã‚   There is also a disruption of the linear flow of narrative aside from this private language; Alex ('Our Humble Narrator') tells the story in a remembering type sequence, but often interjects with thoughts or questions posed directly at the reader.    Aside from the strange language that is found on the pages of this novel, one of the most obvious modernistic features is Burgess's ability to shock. There are many different scenes that are quite disturbing and violent. Alex's propensity to rape young girls (ten years old), and his absolute joy in the sight of blood and pain. ' ...while I ripped away at this and that and the other...and real good horrorshow [good] groodies [breasts] they were that then exhibited their pink glazzies [eyes], O my brothers, while I untrussed [undresses] and got ready for the plunge.   Plunging I could slooshy [hear] the cries of agony' ( Burgess 23).  Ã‚   This ties in with the fact that, as readers, we tend to follow the actions of Alex and his droogs and it is easy to get caught up in all this violent action and loose sight of the real meaning of Burgess's novel.  Ã‚   Burgess writes this novel from and to the "ID".   Alex and his droogs embody all animal or primal instincts and the tale that has been set before the reader has little respect for realism. We are presented with a world in which the teenagers rule the nights, keeping all real people in their houses.   A world where there are milk bars (moloko kordova) in which fifteen year olds can be served with milk that was laden with drugs.