“A Clockwork Orange” by Anthony Burgess – Taming the Ultra-Violence

The idea of separating society into criminals and law-abiding citizens has taken hold in virtually every country, and it certainly makes a lot of sense: either you break the law and cause harm, or you don't and stay out of trouble.

Of course, in practice things often turn out to be different, with lawbreakers escaping consequences while law-abiding citizens suffer unjust harm.

While incarceration is an effective form of punishment used throughout the world, its ultimate goal is rehabilitation and reintegration into society, provided of course the crimes aren't too severe... but then comes the question: how far can we push our limits for the sake of redemption and freedom?

Many years ago Anthony Burgess pondered on such questions, writing his timeless classic also made into a movie of the same name, A Clockwork Orange. Written back in 1963, it introduces us to a dystopian sort of future, one where criminals like Alex, the main character, take over the city at night and make it their playground.

As Alex and his gang escalate their acts of violence further and further, they find it difficult to escape the ire of the government, who then sets out to reform and redeem Alex from his base urges... but are the results really worth all the side effects and methods used? Is there really some kind of redemption to be found for him, or can there only be punishment for the grief he inflicted?

To begin, whether or not you've seen the fantastic movie based on this book shouldn't impact your decision to read it. There are a few differences between the two mediums, not to mention that the book, as always, offers a lot more insight than the movie into the minds of the characters as well as the world they inhabit. Otherwise said, even if you've seen the movie, there's still a whole world to experience in these pages.

Somewhat controversial in its days, A Clockwork Orange has aged remarkably well and is still as powerful as it was all these years ago. Burgess sets a slower and thoughtful pace for the story, often going out of his way to describe certain details about that futuristic world he created, often clarifying meanings and intentions, or at least shedding some kind of light on what the characters are really thinking.

Specifically, the vocabulary used by Alex, filled with cruel jargon (some of which sounds a bit too much like Russian... but I digress) helps drive the point home that this foreign future has plenty of unknown terrors for us.

Not a single word is wasted, with virtually every sentence having some kind of deeper meaning or implications to it. While there are indeed a few scenes with a bit of action where things move along faster, they aren't numerous and instead give way to philosophical reflections, and that's where the novel truly shines.

The author certainly seemed to have a lot of questions about the nature of good and evil, whether being one or the other stems choice or predetermination, if it's possible to find redemption for the most corrupt of us, what it means to have personal freedom, how treating criminality should be approached, the place of gratuitous violence in this world... and that's just getting started.

Whether you agree or disagree with the many conclusions the author comes to, rest assured that they'll definitely push you to reflect on these subjects on your own time, to form your own original ideas on these matters. These meditations will definitely impact different people for different reasons, but it will resonate with all of them in one way or another.

In the end, A Clockwork Orange is the kind of philosophical and thoughtful piece of writing that you can keep coming back to over and over throughout the years, always getting something new from it, feeling like you're opening it for the first time every time.

If you've got a bit of patience, are keen on using your brainpower and enjoy stories centred on criminality in dystopian futures, then you pretty much owe it to yourself to add this book to your collection.

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Anthony Burgess (February 25, 1917 - November 22, 1993) Personal site Anthony Burgess was an English author and composer who became one of the most revered figures in 20th century literature, with his best-known novel being the internationally-acclaimed A Clockwork Orange, also made into a timeless silver screen classic by Stanley Kubrick.