A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange is a frightening tale about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. While readers sensitive to violence will certainly want to avoid the book due to its graphic nature, I find the most unsettling aspect of the book to be the apathetic attitude of the protagonist, Alex, towards violence.
The most powerful issue in the book is the “Ludovico” technique imposed by the government to brainwash Alex into being a model citizen. Through the use of nausea inducing drugs his is trained by aversion therapy to be physically sickened by even the thought of criminality. This training effectively denies Alex the ability to choose freely between right and wrong. Through this illustrative concept Author Anthony Burgess poses the question as to what is better for society; freedom or enforced compliance.
The book was met with rave reviews from publishers and critics alike. It would go on to win Burgess several literary awards, and land itself on Time Magazine’s 100 best books of the century list. It also came with more than its share of controversy.
The original Version, published in 1962 in England, consisted of 3 parts, each 7 chapters long, totaling 21 chapters. That same year, the version published in the United States came with only 20 chapters and omitted the final chapter in which Alex realizes the error of his violent ways and vows to live a better life. American publishers thought that readers would never go for the redemptive story arc and opted for a much darker ending.
Over the years A Clockwork Orange has faced countless successful and unsuccessful attempts to ban the book. In 1973 a bookseller in Orem, Utah was arrested for selling the book. While the charges against the store owner were later dropped, she was forced to close her store and move to another town.
Much of the controversy surrounding the book centralizes on the apex of the plotline, in which Alex and his gang members break into a country cottage. In a metafictional touch, the husband inside the cottage is a writer working on a manuscript called A Clockwork Orange. Alex and his gang beath the man and then force him to watch the violent rape of his wife. This scene, and perhaps the entire book were inspired by an attack on Burgess’ wife in 1941 by 4 American servicemen in England.
Even with all the fanfare, controversy, and darkness surrounding the book, perhaps the most interesting thing about the novel, is that it never should have been written. In 1959, three years before a Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess was diagnosed with an inoperable cancerous brain tumor and giver less than one year to live.
In 1959 Anthony Burgess was a history teacher. While he knew that he had a talent for writing, he had yet to compile even a small manuscript, let alone a novel. Realizing that he had just one year to live, and nothing to leave to his wife, he got to work. While he was doubtful his work would ever be published, he found that it was his best option, so he began to write. In that year he didn’t write one novel, he wrote five.
When summer turned to fall, and Burgess was supposed to by dying, he didn’t. He began to feel better. His cancer regressed. Then it disappeared entirely. In his long, full life as a writer Burgess would produce over 70 works, most notably, the aforementioned A Clockwork Orange. Were it not for a fatal cancer diagnosis, he likely would have stayed a humble history teacher.
What would you do if you had one year to live? What would you do if you were in Anthony Burgess’ place and found you had incurable cancer? What would you change? What would you make sure you accomplished? What hidden talents do you have that you have not given enough time to? What unfinished projects have you cast aside? What relationships have you not devoted enough time to? Stories like Anthony Burgess are helpful examples that help us explore the brevity of life and cause us to reexamine our lives.
While I encourage you to explore the thoughts and questions above, I also see one, much more pragmatic lesson to be learned from Burgess. He was fortunate in that he recovered from his diagnosis. He was also fortunate in that his novels were successful. Had he passed on his wife would indeed have had plenty of royalties to live on from his published works. In both cases he got lucky. Most terminal diagnoses end in death. Most manuscripts are never published. Were he unlucky, he would have passed on and left his wife penniless.
So by all means, explore the fundamental questions of life and your purpose posed prior. But when you take a break from that, why don’t you go get some life insurance as well.