The Unresolvable Tension of ‘A Clockwork Orange’

A horrorshow in every aspect–“A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess

Excessive slang in a book normally turns me away. I dare you to try reading “The Adventures of Huckaberry Finn.” However, the satirical and dark story of the institutionalization of Alex in “A Clockwork Orange” makes the made-up “Nadsat” language interesting to decipher.

Alex is 15 years old when the book begins. A leader of a gang of “droogs,” they live their lives breaking into houses, getting into fights and being badasses. Of course, Alex gets caught by the police. In order for him to avoid his sentence, he undergoes an experiment that will, hopefully, allow him to return to society “cured.”

If you can get past the slang, then “A Clockwork Orange” will present you with one of the most innovative and original works of fiction in the 20th century. Burgess’ ability to completely get into the head of a delinquent youth is astounding and has not lost any of its original freshness. Even in the age when we are bombarded with news of wars and Snookie cat fights, the descriptions of “ultraviolence” in the novel is still very unsettling and disturbing.

Jerk down under

Greetings from down under!!!

My name is Allison and I am currently located in Wollongong, Australia, which is about an hour south of Sydney!

Wollongong is a smaller city than Sydney. Instead of living off campus in an apartment with other Americans, I am living in a dorm with other Australians. Living with Australians is so much fun and also extremely helpful when getting used to the area as well as the crazy lingo that they have here. Coming here, I was very happy knowing that I was going somewhere that they spoke English, but little did I know that I would be completely clueless when being spoken to because of all the slang and different words that they use.

First of all, everything that the say is shortened – “maccas” is McDonald’s, “brekkie” is breakfast, “mozzies” are mosquitoes, and “cigi” is cigarette, just to name a few. When we go out to dinner it gets pretty bad. I have to ask for capsicum if I want peppers, musli when I want granola, tomato sauce when I want ketchup, and goon when I want wine.

If I’m somewhere sketchy they call it “dodgy,” my friends here are my “mates,” we go to “pubs” and not bars and they say “how are you going” instead of how are you doing.
When I’m getting ready to go to the beach I now put on my thongs and swimmers rather than my flip flops and bathing suit and I now have “heaps” of fun instead of “a lot” of fun. I never would’ve thought that I would be dropping out of my writing class because I was afraid of the language barrier!

Besides that, the experience has been amazing so far and I can’t wait for what Australia has to offer. Stay tuned for next week after my adventure into Sydney for the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras!! Until then, cheers mates!

~Allison Marco