A Clockwork Orange

Central Quote

"If a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man" (56).

This was spoken by the chaplain of the prison where Alex was held in response to Alex's desire to get out of jail early by participating as a subject of Ludovico's Technique. He expresses the ethical concerns toward the technique which eliminates the choice of the subject on whether to be good or bad, they are driven like an animal away from pain toward whatever will stop the pain, in this case being good. This is central to the book as it examines free will in society, ultimately after experiencing both sides and after growing older Alex decided that he does not want to do the violent acts he once enjoyed so much. By being given a choice he makes a permanent decision not fueled by outside factors, this being a much more real choice that he will ultimately stick to.

Connections

Brave New World-
A Clockwork Orange shares similarities with Brave New World in the use of technology. In both novels, technology is used to control people. In Brave New World it is used to control the entire population and conditions people to be happy with what they will be forced to do from birth. In A Clockwork Orange Alex is conditioned not to do violence through Ludovico's Technique where, "The intention to act violently is accompanied by strong feelings of physical distress. To counter these the subject has to switch to a diametrically opposed attitude" (82). This is achieved through a combination of medication to make the subject feel sick and showings of violent and brutal films, so that the subject associates the sickness from the medication with the violence. In both books the government uses techniques achieved through technology to reach their goals.

1984-
The government of 1984 is very similar to that in A Clockwork Orange; both are totalitarian based governments with minimal free will. Both can easily be viewed as evil, both using fear to control their citizens, in 1984 fear of torture and the strain of being constantly watched, and in A Clockwork Orange, fear of the brutal youth police force patrolling the streets. Both governments are only interested in upholding their position of power. In A Clockwork Orange the government cured Alex of his conditioning so that he could endorse them instead of the resistance, which as the government put it, "would be glad, yes, glad for you to be dead, for they thought they could then blame it all on the Government" (113). The government first manipulated Alex into being non-violent, which seems to be good thing to do, but then when the need arose they reversed this process without a second thought to better secure their position of power.

Slang-
In A Clockwork Orange, the nadsats (teenagers) use a different dialect to communicate with each other than the rest of the population. "'These grahzny sodding veshches that come out of my gulliver and my plott,' I said, 'that's what it is.' 'Quaint,' said Dr. Brodsky, like smiling, 'the dialect of the tribe'" (75). The use of this language is to both alienate other members of society and, just as modern slang, it is used to differentiate groups and allow only people of the same group to communicate. Anthony Burgess uses this to alienate the reader as well and makes them feel as disconnected as others when trying to understand what Alex is saying.

Visual Representation

This is a picture of Ludwig van Beethoven in nadsat dress. It is representative of A Clockwork Orange because Alex is an avid lover of classical music, Beethoven's famous Symphony Number 9 in D minor being one of his favorites. Early in the book he associates the feeling he gets when he listens to symphonies and gets good feelings like those that he gets when he does something violent. However later in the book after Ludovico's Technique is used on him he cannot listen to emotional music without feeling sick. "It was that these doctor bratchnies had so fixed things that any music that was like for the emotions would make me sick just like viddying or wanting to do violence" (91). All throughout the book classical music plays a role in documenting Alex's journey, his view of music changes along with his view of the world.

Questions

Would you use Ludovico Technique on violent criminals?
Would this create a better world?
Is it possible to change someone's views? Why? Why not?
Is it an endless cycle that kids become their parents?
Is it only through experiencing things for yourself that you can make a true life choice?

Reflection

I liked this book, it is hard to get into it at first because of the language barrier but once you get past that you can enjoy the power social commentary of Anthony Burgess. The language of the book was a masterful stroke of wit by Burgess; it makes the reader feel as a citizen would when coming in contact with at nadsat. I am glad that the American version of the book now prints the last chapter; it makes the message of the book a deeper look into the human mind and not just looking at someone with animalistic instincts. The book itself is not all that long and is a powerful look into human society; I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good read.

Slaughterhouse Five

Central Quote

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to always tell the difference" (60).

This quote represents both Billy’s and the Tralfamadorian view on time and destiny. This is actually the physical view of the Tralfamadorians because they can see in the fourth dimension, so they realize that they cannot change events, and that everything is has and always will happen; that time is cyclical. Billy accepts this with tranquility after he becomes unstuck in time and comes to terms with death, war, and free will. He realizes that he cannot control when he will be next and how long he will be there, so he follows the Tralfamadorian philosophy and while he experiences it all he focuses on the good times. This is one of the core human struggles, being unable to change something we wish to. The Tralfamadorians said that on their visits to many other planets, Earth was the only one with any talk of free will. This is one of humanities most important values, believing that we can do anything. This is the major block Billy runs into when he returns to Earth and tries to live a Tralfamadorian life.

Connections

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy-
Slaughterhouse Five is very similar to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in that both the characters are out of their element. They both do not know what it going on and are confused at first, but then come to terms with their situation. In Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy the main character Arthur Dent it taken on a wild space adventure after the Earth is destroyed to make room for a hyperspace highway. He originally is terrified to everything and does not know what is even happening, but then he adopts a serene acceptance, as does Billy in Slaughterhouse Five. When Billy encounters situations in which he does not know where he is or what is happening he adopts the passive stance of the Tralfamadorians, as exemplified by their view on death, where they simply say, “‘So it goes’” (27).

Out of Body Experiences-
Many people have had out of body experiences, these differ from person to person but may include time distortion, or view of themselves in the third person. I myself have had a few strange sensations where it feels like I am remembering what is happening in the present as if I were in the future looking back at the day. I did not have any control of when this happened or when to stop it, and neither did Billy. “Billy is spastic in time, has no control over where he is going next, and the trips aren’t necessarily fun” (23). Yet through his random trips through time he gained a serenity to simply accept whatever might happen next, this is very similar to what monks do through meditation to achieve balance and serenity within.

Schindler’s List-
The overarching event in Slaughterhouse Five is the fire-bombing of Dresden, Vonnegut makes a connection to the reader to relate to them the shock and impact of the bombing. In Schindler’s List, a movie based on a real life German who helped Jews during the Holocaust, they show the shocking events of the Holocaust to relate to the viewer the great deeds Schindler did and the horrors others experienced. In Dresden, “One thing was clear: Absolutely everybody in the city was supposed to be dead, regardless of what they were, and anybody that moved in it represented a flaw in the design.” (180). In Dachau, Hitler sought to do the same to the Jews and other targeted populations as the Allies did to Dresden. Slaughterhouse Five and Schindler’s List both relate horrors of WWII from both viewpoints and caused by both sides.

Visual Representation

This picture represents two major themes of Slaughterhouse Five, the firebombing of Dresden and the phrase “so it goes”. Both themes deal with death, as does most of the book. The Tralfamadorian saying “so it goes” goes with the Tralfamadorian philosophy that when someone is dead they are only dead in that moment, and because they can see in time, that person is quite fine many other moments. So there is no point to fixate on one moment when they are dead but instead focus on the happy moments when they are alive. This pacifism toward death is an alien concept for mankind, where we ritualize death and mourn the lost. Different cultures deal with death differently, Hispanic cultures are much more open about death than Western cultures, Hispanic cultures have The Day of the Dead, celebrating the life’s of those who have passes and rejoicing in them instead of mourning.

Questions

What is Vonnegut’s message?
How can you relate to Billy’s experiences?
What is free will?
Is free will a purely human endeavour?
What do you think about how we (people/cultures/humans) deal with death?

Reflection

I would recommend this book and but I would especially recommend that readers read the book all in one day. Because of the non-linear nature of the book, it is like a Tralfamadorian book, in that it does not make sense until you have read all the parts of the book. I though that use of time as a plot device was very interesting and engaging, but could be very confusing if not read all at once. It is strange to be looking for a quote and have no clue where in the book it is because the plot jumps around from time to time. I also liked that Vonnegut included himself in his book as a character interacting in brief intervals with Billy. The first chapter was particularly interesting, where Vonnegut does a very Shakespearean thing in that he says how the book will begin and end, but knows the reader will still be compelled to follow it through to the end. More than anything I liked the style this book was written in than what it was written about, the disconnectedness and disorientation that happens in war is evident in this book and drives the structure of it. This book is a fast, engaging, yet still deep read, and I thoroughly recommend this book.

Brave New World

Central Quote

"And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny" (16).

This quote illustrates the central theme of the society depicted in Brave New World. Their society is built upon being happy, so babies are conditioned from before decanting to like what it has been determined they will be doing for the rest of their lives. If they are going to work in the tropics they are conditioned to like heat, if they will be working on rockets they will be conditioned to like being topsy-turvy.

Connections

The Matrix -
Like in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, in The Matrix, humans are not born, they are farmed. Huxley's vision illustrates what would happen in humans initiated this process, whereas The Matrix illustrated what would happen if the machines took over and ran the show. In Brave New World Huxley "The Machine turns, turns and must keep on turning-forever. It is death if it stands still." (Huxley 42). The machine in Brave New World is the stability of Society and the world, whereas the more literal machine in The Matrix is the machines farming humans for their energy. Brave New World also shares similarities with The Matrix in that originally the machines made The Matrix a perfect place but the human mind rejected this and they lost a whole crop of humans. This seems similar to the reaction the Savage had to civilization, in that eventually he killed himself.

1984 -
Brave New World is a different spin of George Orwell's 1984, instead of a world bred from fear and hate, Brave New World talks of a world based on happiness. However both societies have taken away the freedoms of their citizens, in Brave New World this is masked by eternal happiness, whereas 1984 has a decidedly bleaker outlook and ruling philosophy. Suggesting people to love what they will be forced to do instead of flogging them into obedience, as is done in 1984. This difference in philosophy is reflected by the slogans of each respective society. The harsh totalitarian rule of 1984 is exemplefied by their slogans, "War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength" (Orwell 26). Where as the focus on social stability and global happiness of the world of Brave New World is reflected by their motto, "Community, Identity, Stability" (Huxley 3).

Artificial Life -

Last year in Biology we learned about how a group of scientists had managed to create artificial life. This would be a first crucial step in the direction of making a world such as Brave New World possible. The process of bottling and conditioning babies would be made much easier with a greater understanding of how life works and how to create and manipulate life. It might even be possible to perform Bokanovsky's Process, or something similar to it in the future, " 'Essentialy,' the D.H.C. concluded, 'bokanovskification consists of a series of arrests of development. We check the normal growth and, paradoxically enough, the egg responds by budding" (Huxley 6). The applications of this process would be very widespread if it were to become real, for instance, the meat industry would be revolutionized. They would no longer have to manually breed animals, they could get thousands of cows from one egg and sperm.

Visual Representation

This image shows a factory assembly line, this relates to Brave New World because their society is based off the factory assembly lines pioneered by Henry Ford, they even view him as a sort of religious figure, exclaiming Oh, Ford! Instead of Oh, God! Babies are conditioned and nursed in bottles on assembly lines that slowly work their way from fertilization and Bokanovskification (essentially making hundreds of identical twins from a single egg) to decanting (birth). Babies are "Each bottle could be placed on one of fifteen racks, each rack... was a conveyor... two thousand one hundred and thirty-six metres in all. One circuit on the cellar at ground level, one on the first gallery, half on the second, and on the two hundred and sixty-seventh morning, daylight in the Decanting Room. Independent existence-so called." (Huxley 12). In Brave New World the assembly line has become the giver of life and a way of life. Children from a young age are conditioned to want and buy new things, thereby turning the wheels of economy.

Questions

Is it better to be happy or to be free?

Is the happiness experience by the people in Brave New World fake?

What is real happiness?

Is there such a thing as real happiness?

Are the world controllers evil?

Reflection

I really enjoyed Brave New World, especially enjoyed the beginning of the book where Huxley described the shining civilization built off the efficiency and precision of the factory assembly line. While reading the book I had very vivid images of what the world looked like, and of what different scenes looked like in the book. I particularly enjoyed Huxley's basis of science in the book, it made the whole deal believable and seem, at least partially, plausible. However I think the book got a bit stale as they moved to the Savage Reservation and came back from it. Yes it did get into the deeper philosophical issues and dealings with Huxley's imagined society but I was not as enthralled as I had been in the beginning.

That said, I would thoroughly recommend others read this book, it shows basically another take off 1984's world and I would especially recommend it to anyone who is scientifically oriented or takes and interest in science. That was what really got me hooked in this book was the scientific relevance of the concept. I recommend that anyone who reads this book read it in conjunction with 1984, there are so many similarities and differences that can provide a broad view of issues the authors saw in society and really get you thinking about your own society.