Let's put it to bed...last thoughts on A Clockwork Orange.

Though done with the novel, I have yet to start another, so here is my last post on A Clockwork Orange.
Overall it was an interesting novel, and by interesting I mean disturbing and just absolutely horrifying. I did enjoy the novel however. I went into it with high hopes and came out satisfied, though the beginning was tough to endure. The completion of the novel leaves me wondering more about Anthony Burgess; not only about who he is, but how he could come up with such a story. Could his life be such a story like his novels? It turns out Anthony Burgess wrote and wrote and wrote everything he wanted in a very short period of time. He was falsely diagnosed with a brain tumor, which I suppose is a good thing for it kick-started his career as an author. He was a seriously well-rounded individual, serving in the war, was a educator, screenwriter, composer... the list goes on and on. And of course how could we leave out nympho, drunk, and tax dodger. Anthony Burgess was an intellect above all, and has made countless notable quotations that I find very interesting. In a blog titled "Clock Works" there is a more in depth analysis of his life, and Burgesses' unabashed opinions on a wide range of topics. I was reading and came across this quote, "How can one fade out in peace, carrying vast ignorance into a state of total ignorance?"  Rather than scanning over this quote, it had me stopped dead in my tracks. As as avid quote-lover I was intrigued! He made this quote in relation to his attempt to learn Japanese and Hebrew in his late years, but failed because he was unable to read the characters. As seen in Clockwork, Burgess had a deep love for linguistics, therefore explored many different tongues, and was disheartened when he was unable to conquer yet another language. I feel that this quote offers a lot of explanation into his crazy, out of line novels. His novels offer a glimpse into what the world could always become, there is very few things stopping the government from becoming a totalitarian rule, and ultra-violence becoming a part of everyday life. As Americans we believe strongly that this is it, this is what the world is like, everyone should be like us. But the saddest part is that in some places on this earth, the government is in total control, perhaps not as severe as that in Clockwork, but a less-exaggerated version. If not for novels like Burgesses' we would be completely ignorant to other societies, which is no way to leave this place. Though, condemned for a while and endlessly talked about, I suppose books like A Clockwork are necessary for the understanding of our lives, and how good we actually have it. It is easy to parallel this novel with many events in history; the citizens are constantly living in fear of the violent higher power and when it will turn on them. Burgess chose to live his life in a highly informed manner. He chose to explore the world, the languages, the history and apply them to his life and his work. It's as if his novels are saying "hey, get a grip, your time here is short... learn something." And I certainly had my eyes opened in reading this novel, so whatever Burgess did, worked.

What does the title mean?

I am now a few more chapters into the book and the story is beginning to make more sense, but the question still remains, why A Clockwork Orange? This very strange title seems to have nothing to do with the story or characters. What could it possibly mean? The first place I decided to begin my search of the unknown meaning was the Introduction on the first few pages of the novel. Yes, I will admit I rarely read the intros (a bad habit i know) I am just eager to begin reading that I bypass it all together. Usually, the introduction only consists of where, when, and who helped the author create this novel, but with Anthony Burgess this is not the case. Though mostly focused on the 21st chapter of the novel, the apocryphal introduction, A Clockwork Orange Resucked gives into the wonderings of the readers and explains what the author means by the title. He begins by saying "I don't think I have to remind readers what the title means"... oh, now I feel foolish. "Clockwork Oranges don't exist, except in the speech of old Londoners," he says. He gives the example of the saying, "He's as queer as a clockwork orange," which means that he is queer to the limit of queerness. By queer Burgess does not mean homosexuality, though, he is merely referring to a "queer" as odd or unconventional, as in behavior; eccentric. A clockwork orange is basically something of questionable nature, which is what the entire novel resonates upon. The Europeans translate the title to mean, "Mechanical Orange" (Arancia a Orologeria or Orange Mechanique), which is why they can not comprehend its true meaning of eccentricity/queerness; they interpret it to have something to do with a hand grenade (what Burgess calls a cheaper kind of explosive pineapple), altering their entire view of the novel. At the end of the introduction Burgess leaves us with this, "I mean it to stand for the application of a mechanistic morality to a living organism oozing with juice and sweetness." Another quote from a Rolling Stone Article has Burgess explaining it this way, "The title of the book comes from an old London expression, which I first heard from a very old Cockney in 1945: 'He's as queer as a clockwork orange.' I liked the phrase because of its yoking of tradition and surrealism, and I determined some day to use it."

So it seems that Burgess chose this title because like the novel, it is strange. The novel centers around a fifteen-year-old boy and his friends who go around the streets robbing, raping, and causing mayhem in the futuristic city governed by a totalitarian government. Accompanied by its unique nasdat language and crazy adventures, this "novella" (as Burgess frequently calls it) seems the most appropriate piece of literature to don this title.

A Clockwork Orange.

I decided to take on A Clockwork Orange as my next novel. I am barely knee deep in chapter two and I have no idea what is going on. This confusion is mainly brought on by the slang in which the author made up. Words like "moodge" and "veck" are peppered among the pages, and words like "smecked" and "viddied" only add to the confusion. This language is called "NADSAT" and it is Anthony Burgess' creation with a basis of English and Russian. Anthony Burgess had a deep love for linguistics, therefore in many of his novels he lets this love shine through, creating words that take up more than half of the writing. It is hard to understand but you still definitely get a feel for the characters, and the language puts the reader's imagination to work.

Some expressions:
-grahzny bratchny = dirty bastard
-lubbilubbing = making love
-gullywuts = guts
-Pooshka= pistol
-Cancer = cigarette
Alex and his 'droogs' are addicted to drugs named drencom, synthemesc, vellocet



I really have high hopes for this novel, the demonic story of an after-dark criminal takeover intrigues me.

Ugh, men.

Dominican Republic, 1964.
It seems as if women all over the world, in any time period, no matter how different they are, have one thing in common...they hate men. It's the tell-tale "can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em" story. I am more than half way through this novel and these women are MORE than fed up with their men... all of them, even El Jefe himself, and they are certainly not keeping their opinions under wraps. Though the three sisters have different men in their lives to hate on, the one man they do have in common is their father. The father is responsible for their cynical view of men and relationships, it seems it all comes back to him. Good work Pops, you harbored a second family and got caught. There's nothing like having your eldest daughter drive your prized Jeep into your mistresses' porch, nevertheless scaring the crap out of your love-children. From that point on the girls have defied the men around them left and right. Minerva, the spunky one, even took it to the level of slapping the blessed cheek of Trujillo when he made a pass at her on the dance floor....surprisingly a bad idea. I guess even the national leader hasn't realized that women do not like to be fondled, stalked, groped, heckled, or "chosen". Strike one for the Mirabal Sisters.

Note: Most men you meet in an illegal revolutionary underground meeting are NOT boyfriend material. Poor Minerva & Dede, they will never learn. Lio, Minerva's first love interest, was one of the elite minds behind the Revolution. His numerous letters to Minerva discussing his plans were discovered, thrusting Minerva into the arms of the government to fend for herself. Dede who is completely blinded by her love for Palomino, allows him to hide his revolutionary weapons under the floorboards in her dorm room closet. He comes around so often with other revolutionaries that her neighbors even think she is running some kind of whorehouse. Though their relationship is new I can see that it will going somewhere in the next few chapters, however poor Dede is left with the new reputation of a loose woman...what women do for men.
and as for Patricia's loveless marriage, it is precisely that...loveless.

The Mirabal Sisters.

I'm a few more chapters in and the novel has definetly picked up. One of my favorite aspects of this novel is the profound realism of the characters. The four main characters, the Mirabal Sisters (which consists of Patria, Minerva, Maria Teresa, and Dedé), are so abstract I feel as if I were there, in the story and that I know them. I guess the lengthy tedious descriptions in the first chapter amounted to something. The four sisters take turns narrating the story chapter by chapter, some stories better than others. My favorite character is Minerva, if I were in the Dominican at the time of the Revolution I would have the same thoughts and "rebel" just as she does. Even as a young girl she has no problem speaking out against Trujillo, a rare and admirable quality. In an interview with Julia Alvarez the author, she talks about her inspiration behind the four sisters. What she had to say was very interesting and definately gives them more depth. She says that "Sometimes you have the story and you don't have the voice. A novel is truth according to character, so if there's no voice, there's no story." Julia Alvarez certainly gives voice to her characters on many different levels.

First look at In the time of the Butterflies.

Well, this "time of the butterflies" they speak of must have been pretty boring. I started my first novel yesterday and it was, to say the least, uneventful. I am still unaware as to what the point of the story is, but I am hoping it will get better. I only got through the first chapter, and besides the laundry list of character's introductions I didn't get much out of it. I do know that they are in the Dominican Republic under the rule of Trujillo. Maybe the only reason I can't seem to follow along is because of all the Spanish phrases dispersed among the text (I regret not taking a Spanish course). I will certainly keep an open mind and keep reading because this topic intrigues me, I just hope the story will redeem itself in the next few chapters.