A Clockwork Orange is widely considered one of the most important science fiction novels of the 20th century, rivaled only by 1984. A Clockwork Orange was written by Anthony Burgess and published in 1962, causing a great stir among many people for its depiction of violence and other unsavory acts. The novels main theme is the choice between good and evil, and what can happen when you remove that choice. Upon its publication, A Clockwork Orange broke new ground in the moral implications of a science fiction novel.
The novel is set in an ultraviolent future, teenagers roam the streets for the next man to attack and the next woman to rape, and yet we still sympathize with the main character, by all means an utterly despicable teen, The characters in this book are very powerful and well thought out, Alex, our main character, being one of the most deep antiheroes on record. Alex and his “droogs” speak in “nadsat” the invented language used by teenagers in this book; it is a mixture of English, Russian, and Cockney slang, producing a highly interesting but sometimes confusing reading experience. Alex, describing a rape scene is as follows, “Plunging, I could slooshy cries of agony and this writer bleeding veck got loose howling bezoomy with the filthiest of slovos that I already knew and others he was making up.” This is a good indication of how widely used the slang is.
The novel is ultimately about Alex’s brainwashing by the government and it’s implications. Near the middle of the book Alex is put through the “Ludovico Technique” in turn forcing him to only do good because he will feel physically sick if he does anything to hurt someone. This is the main moral question of the book, is it better to have a choice between good and evil or always have to do good and have no choice in the matter. The writer seems to be of the opinion that it is better to have choice than be a toy to be wound up by god or the devil, “When a man ceases to choose, he ceases to be a man" The book in the final act, wherein Alex is released into the world, a free man, further explores this moral dilemma. He is beaten and cannot defend himself and he is tortured and still cannot defend himself. Eventually he tries to kill himself to escape the torture, but is unsuccessful in his attempt. Because of this incident he is widely apologized to, and subsequently cured of his inability to do evil, by the government officials who put him through the Technique and given a cushy job as compensation.
It is impossible to refute the importance of this novel; no other novel has explored the issue of choice as skillfully and engagingly as this one. It could be especially useful in the classroom because of its subject matter; A high school student would be much more enthusiastic about reading a novel that has a teenage character who they can sympathize with. During my reading of this novel I felt like Alex felt many of the pressures I do, I don’t have the impulse to rape people but I do feel like the world is run by people who would rather the culture of my generation die out. This book is a fairly extremist way to put across its point but it has been shown time and time again that people respond best to sensationalist tactics.
A Clockwork Orange is one of the most morally ambitious science fiction novels to date. I believe that it should be read by all teenagers, if only for the connection they would feel toward Alex, and the moral questions that would be asked in the process. This book echoes the sentiment of Neitzsche of the importance of choice to humanity. Without choice we would cease to be human, a plaything to those programming our decisions.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Anthony Burgess
Anthony Burgess was born on February 25, 1917 and died November 22, 1993. Anthony was famous for his extremely prolific writing career. He wrote an amazing amount of novels and was also a regular contributor to many different periodicals, from magazines to newspapers. He was born in Harpurhey, a northeastern suburb of Manchester. He was mainly self-taught, despite having a full school career. He has lived from Britain to America and even as far as what is now Malaysia, then just called Malaya. A Clockwork Orange is his best known work but many people agree that Earthly Powers is his best novel. When he died he lived in Monaco with his wife Liliana Macellari.
Anthony Burgess’ birth name was John Burgess Wilson, Anthony Burgess is a pen name. For the majority of his childhood he was raised by his father, his mother died of the flu when Anthony was only one year old. Anthony once described his father as, “a mostly absent drunk who called himself a father.” Anthony was raised a Catholic and, despite a brief renunciation of his faith, remained a Catholic for his whole life. He graduated from the Victoria University of Manchester with a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature. He also had a brief stint in the British Military.
Burgess’ early career was as a teacher. At the end of 1950 he took a job as a secondary school teacher of English literature on the staff of Banbury Grammar School. Burgess and his wife, Llewela Jones, called Lynne, were known to consume large amounts of alcoholic cider and oftentimes caused a ruckus. Later he received a job in what was then called Malaya, and moved to Southeast Asia. He quickly became fluent in the native language and had been known to translate literature into Malay. During his residence in Malaya he wrote what is now known as the Mayalan Trilogy.
After living in Malaya Burgess moved back to Britain for a short while where he became friends with William S. Burroughs and was a regular on the BBC. After this brief stint in Britain he moved around from Rome to America and many places in between before finally settling in Monaco. It was during this period of moving around that his wife, lynne, died of liver cirrhosis, within five weeks he had been remarried to Liliana Macellari, with whom he had been having an affair with several years before lynne’s death. His move to Monaco was due in part to an attempted kidnapping of Burgess’ stepson. Anthony moved back to London in the early 1990’s where he died of lung cancer, likely caused by his lifelong smoking habit.
Anthony burgess was an amazing writer and linguist and had seen many of the defining moments of the modern world. He lived from 1917 to 1993 and wrote in inordinate amount. He is known for plays, screenplays, novels, symphonies, and articles, all of which were of high caliber. A Clockwork Orange is one of the most important science fiction novels of all time, let alone the 20th century. He was a man of many talents, a writer, teacher, and composer and was a true world traveler, living from America to Britain to Malaysia to Monaco. Anthony Burgess truly is one of the most important writers of the 20th century.
Anthony Burgess’ birth name was John Burgess Wilson, Anthony Burgess is a pen name. For the majority of his childhood he was raised by his father, his mother died of the flu when Anthony was only one year old. Anthony once described his father as, “a mostly absent drunk who called himself a father.” Anthony was raised a Catholic and, despite a brief renunciation of his faith, remained a Catholic for his whole life. He graduated from the Victoria University of Manchester with a Bachelor of Arts in English language and literature. He also had a brief stint in the British Military.
Burgess’ early career was as a teacher. At the end of 1950 he took a job as a secondary school teacher of English literature on the staff of Banbury Grammar School. Burgess and his wife, Llewela Jones, called Lynne, were known to consume large amounts of alcoholic cider and oftentimes caused a ruckus. Later he received a job in what was then called Malaya, and moved to Southeast Asia. He quickly became fluent in the native language and had been known to translate literature into Malay. During his residence in Malaya he wrote what is now known as the Mayalan Trilogy.
After living in Malaya Burgess moved back to Britain for a short while where he became friends with William S. Burroughs and was a regular on the BBC. After this brief stint in Britain he moved around from Rome to America and many places in between before finally settling in Monaco. It was during this period of moving around that his wife, lynne, died of liver cirrhosis, within five weeks he had been remarried to Liliana Macellari, with whom he had been having an affair with several years before lynne’s death. His move to Monaco was due in part to an attempted kidnapping of Burgess’ stepson. Anthony moved back to London in the early 1990’s where he died of lung cancer, likely caused by his lifelong smoking habit.
Anthony burgess was an amazing writer and linguist and had seen many of the defining moments of the modern world. He lived from 1917 to 1993 and wrote in inordinate amount. He is known for plays, screenplays, novels, symphonies, and articles, all of which were of high caliber. A Clockwork Orange is one of the most important science fiction novels of all time, let alone the 20th century. He was a man of many talents, a writer, teacher, and composer and was a true world traveler, living from America to Britain to Malaysia to Monaco. Anthony Burgess truly is one of the most important writers of the 20th century.
Monday, April 30, 2007
a Clockwork orange third response
The last third of A Clockwork Orange is probably my favorite. In the last third of the book Alex is released into everyday life, for better or for worse. When he is released his first destination is his parents house. His arrival is a surprise to his parents who thought he was going to be in jail for quite a few more years. In his house there is an unusual man sitting at the table. It is explained to Alex that in order to help pay the bills they rented out his old room, his parents say that they cannot just kick the man out of the house. Alex then guilt trips his parents, saying that they don’t love him and such, and leaves to find his own way.
Of course his first stop is the Korova milk bar. He drinks some milk plus and many a psychedelic apparition flit through his mind. When he leaves he is confronted by two police officers, none other than his old droog, Dim, and his old rival, Billy boy. The two recognize him and decide to accost him; they take him out to the country and beat him senseless. Alex then makes haste to a nearby house to seek refuge; this house is none other than the house he visited in the beginning of the book when he raped and beat the wife of the writer who lived inside. Because he was wearing a mask the writer doesn’t recognize him, but he does recognize him from the papers, for his treatment. He takes Alex in and explains to him the organization who he is a part of who is utterly opposed to governmental control, including the Ludovico technique that was used on Alex. the members of this group get Alex a hotel room to stay in, but the writer seems to suspect that it was Alex that raped and beat his wife, who later died from her injuries. When Alex wakes in the morning he hears Beethoven music, which he used to love but because of the Ludovico Technique makes him feel pain as though he was doing someone harm. He realizes that he is locked in the hotel room with no way to escape. He decided that the writer must have recognized him and was playing the music to torture him. He is in such utter pain that the only way to escape it that he sees is to kill himself by jumping out the window. He jumps but is not high enough to die from the fall.
When he wakes up he is in a hospital with many a guest around him. One of the guests is the minister of the interior, who decided to use to Ludovico technique on Alex. he apologizes to Alex profusely and explains to him that he is cured, and will no longer feel pain when hurting people or listening to classical music.
The twenty first chapter, which was left out of the original American publication and the movie version, is probably the most interesting of the book. He is out and about with his new droogs, causing general mayhem as per usual, except this time Alex feels slightly dejected, a little out of it. He decides to walk around on his own and think about things. He goes into a coffee and tea shop to get some tea and sees a very beautiful woman in a stall sitting with a man. He describes the woman as the sort you might want to have a relationship with and not just rape, like most of the women he has had. When the man who is sitting with the girl turns his head Alex realizes that it is Pete, his old droog. He goes and talks to pete and finds out the he is married to this woman and has a regular job. At this point Alex realizes that the less destructive feeling he has been having toward people is just a result of growing up, therefor keeping Alex from being a clockwork orange.
The interesting part about this section of the book is that the reader feels as if Alex has been punished enough and yet he is only punished more in this section of the book, thus making the reader feel sorry for him even more. Anthony Burgess, the writer of this fine book, describes a clockwork orange as something that looks alive and juicy from the outside, like an orange, but behaves like clockwork, to be wound up by god or the devil. in other words a person who doesn’t have choice and is forced to always perform good or evil. Without the last chapter Alex is a clockwork orange, always performing evil and never changing, but with the last chapter he becomes human, with the ability to change. Anthony Burgess has written a culturally relevant book that is one that says something about a very core aspect of humanity, and a warning that only bad things can happen if you take that choice away from people.
Of course his first stop is the Korova milk bar. He drinks some milk plus and many a psychedelic apparition flit through his mind. When he leaves he is confronted by two police officers, none other than his old droog, Dim, and his old rival, Billy boy. The two recognize him and decide to accost him; they take him out to the country and beat him senseless. Alex then makes haste to a nearby house to seek refuge; this house is none other than the house he visited in the beginning of the book when he raped and beat the wife of the writer who lived inside. Because he was wearing a mask the writer doesn’t recognize him, but he does recognize him from the papers, for his treatment. He takes Alex in and explains to him the organization who he is a part of who is utterly opposed to governmental control, including the Ludovico technique that was used on Alex. the members of this group get Alex a hotel room to stay in, but the writer seems to suspect that it was Alex that raped and beat his wife, who later died from her injuries. When Alex wakes in the morning he hears Beethoven music, which he used to love but because of the Ludovico Technique makes him feel pain as though he was doing someone harm. He realizes that he is locked in the hotel room with no way to escape. He decided that the writer must have recognized him and was playing the music to torture him. He is in such utter pain that the only way to escape it that he sees is to kill himself by jumping out the window. He jumps but is not high enough to die from the fall.
When he wakes up he is in a hospital with many a guest around him. One of the guests is the minister of the interior, who decided to use to Ludovico technique on Alex. he apologizes to Alex profusely and explains to him that he is cured, and will no longer feel pain when hurting people or listening to classical music.
The twenty first chapter, which was left out of the original American publication and the movie version, is probably the most interesting of the book. He is out and about with his new droogs, causing general mayhem as per usual, except this time Alex feels slightly dejected, a little out of it. He decides to walk around on his own and think about things. He goes into a coffee and tea shop to get some tea and sees a very beautiful woman in a stall sitting with a man. He describes the woman as the sort you might want to have a relationship with and not just rape, like most of the women he has had. When the man who is sitting with the girl turns his head Alex realizes that it is Pete, his old droog. He goes and talks to pete and finds out the he is married to this woman and has a regular job. At this point Alex realizes that the less destructive feeling he has been having toward people is just a result of growing up, therefor keeping Alex from being a clockwork orange.
The interesting part about this section of the book is that the reader feels as if Alex has been punished enough and yet he is only punished more in this section of the book, thus making the reader feel sorry for him even more. Anthony Burgess, the writer of this fine book, describes a clockwork orange as something that looks alive and juicy from the outside, like an orange, but behaves like clockwork, to be wound up by god or the devil. in other words a person who doesn’t have choice and is forced to always perform good or evil. Without the last chapter Alex is a clockwork orange, always performing evil and never changing, but with the last chapter he becomes human, with the ability to change. Anthony Burgess has written a culturally relevant book that is one that says something about a very core aspect of humanity, and a warning that only bad things can happen if you take that choice away from people.
Monday, April 23, 2007
A Clockwork Orange second response
Luckily for me this book is already divided up into three distinct sections, each one in a different setting. The first is about an unchanged, free Alex, the second about Alex's imprisonment and "treatment", and I have yet to read the third.
In the first part of this section Alex is in a regular jail. Alex has been in this jail for two years and in that time shown himself to be a good inmate, sucking up to the right people and manning the music for the prison church. He seems to be slight friends with the preacher of the prison and greatly enjoys still being able to listen to good music.
The cell Alex stays in is over crowded; there are four people and only three beds. One night the person who is forced to sleep on the floor tries to sleep with Alex, and you get the impression that he also puts his hands on Alex. Needless to say Alex kicks the man out of his bed and somehow all the people in the cell decide to teach the man a lesson. They all beat the other man up and go back to sleep. When the inmates wake up they realize that the man is dead. In true prison fashion everyone blames to crime on Alex. Alex then gets sent to an experimental treatment center where after only a month of treatment he will be released into the free world. Unsurprisingly he is very excited. The "treatment" Alex receives consists of forcing him to watch many films of extremely violent and horrible acts while he is under the influence of a certain drug. This treatment causes him to feel physical pain whenever he thinks about or does a violent act, thus causing him to refrain from violence.
The title of the book, A Clockwork Orange is meant to describe something that looks alive on the outside, such as a sweet and juicy orange, but has no choice between good and evil, like clockwork. This is an interesting moral dilemma, is it better to have no choice and always do well, or have a choice and choose evil? In this part of the book it is clear that Alex is not "cured" of violence because he wants to hurt people and things, but his body is opposed to it. It seems that wanting to do evil doesn't matter as long as you body won't let you do evil.
Another interesting occurrence is the language of this section of the book. Alex still speaks in his russian-british slang but it seems out of place in this sanitary treatment center. Like if you heard someone on a big boat talking like a pirate it wouldn't be too out of place but if you heard a Wal-Mart employee talking like a pirate you might be a little amused.
Overall I have greatly enjoyed this book, there are many ambiguous moral issues that this book faces, and it faces them well.
In the first part of this section Alex is in a regular jail. Alex has been in this jail for two years and in that time shown himself to be a good inmate, sucking up to the right people and manning the music for the prison church. He seems to be slight friends with the preacher of the prison and greatly enjoys still being able to listen to good music.
The cell Alex stays in is over crowded; there are four people and only three beds. One night the person who is forced to sleep on the floor tries to sleep with Alex, and you get the impression that he also puts his hands on Alex. Needless to say Alex kicks the man out of his bed and somehow all the people in the cell decide to teach the man a lesson. They all beat the other man up and go back to sleep. When the inmates wake up they realize that the man is dead. In true prison fashion everyone blames to crime on Alex. Alex then gets sent to an experimental treatment center where after only a month of treatment he will be released into the free world. Unsurprisingly he is very excited. The "treatment" Alex receives consists of forcing him to watch many films of extremely violent and horrible acts while he is under the influence of a certain drug. This treatment causes him to feel physical pain whenever he thinks about or does a violent act, thus causing him to refrain from violence.
The title of the book, A Clockwork Orange is meant to describe something that looks alive on the outside, such as a sweet and juicy orange, but has no choice between good and evil, like clockwork. This is an interesting moral dilemma, is it better to have no choice and always do well, or have a choice and choose evil? In this part of the book it is clear that Alex is not "cured" of violence because he wants to hurt people and things, but his body is opposed to it. It seems that wanting to do evil doesn't matter as long as you body won't let you do evil.
Another interesting occurrence is the language of this section of the book. Alex still speaks in his russian-british slang but it seems out of place in this sanitary treatment center. Like if you heard someone on a big boat talking like a pirate it wouldn't be too out of place but if you heard a Wal-Mart employee talking like a pirate you might be a little amused.
Overall I have greatly enjoyed this book, there are many ambiguous moral issues that this book faces, and it faces them well.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Parkour
In the 1980’s in Lisses, France, a suburb of Paris, there was a young man named David Belle. David wanted to emulate his father, Raymond Belle, a military firefighter. His father was known for his strength and agility, Raymond could navigate urban landscapes as if he had evolved to do so. Raymond Belle was fascinated by the “Method Naturelle” a personal fitness method invented by Georges Hebert. The Method Naturelle grew from the idea of functional fitness, training to aid you in survival. David greatly respected his father and in wanting to gain his approval he started training himself to move quickly and efficiently throughout his landscape. He would imagine emergency situations, such as running from someone dangerous or saving someone in peril. He would act out these situations and try to find the quickest route from one point to another. In order quickly move he would run up walls, vault over low obstacles, and drop from height. On these foundations Parkour was built. The word Parkour comes from the French word Parcours meaning obstacle course. Parkour is usually practiced in an urban setting but people often train in a forest environment.
People often liken Parkour to other urban sports such as skateboarding or BMXing. The major difference between them is philosophy, Parkour has a central philosophy of improving oneself mentally and physically, and of course efficient movement. Many people who practice Parkour have applied a similar mindset to other facets of life, you must break down the steps of a move to execute it perfectly, a method one can use for many people face in life. A male Parkour practitioner is called a Traceur, female a Traceuse. As one can imagine Parkour takes a great amount of Physical strength, and because it uses your entire body you must have balanced strength. There is also a great importance for conditioning, a ten foot drop puts an enormous strain on joints and muscles. Parkour is an individual’s sport, even though many train in groups the progression is with only yourself. There has been some talk of Parkour competitions but because of the individual nature of the discipline most of the community agrees that competition is against the spirit of Parkour.
In the early days David and his friends practiced this discipline around their town never expecting it might one day gain global attention. At the peak of their training they were practicing for 4-6 hours every day. Around ten years into his training David was suggested to video some of his discipline and show it to people. After this he filmed a short video of himself and the word of Parkour soon spread. Soon after there was a report on him in the French news, the news team followed him around his town while he explained Parkour and demonstrated it. It didn’t take long for more publicity to come, there were some very funny Nike commercials he and his friends did. After that the momentum only got larger, the director, Luc Besson, was very interested in him and allowed David to play the lead role in the French motion picture, B-13, which was released on November 10, 2004. The movie was fairly reminiscent of Jackie Chan movies, with a neutron bomb aimed right at Paris.
What really garnered Parkour an audience outside of France was the British documentary,”Jump London”, which featured one of David’s childhood friends, Sebastien Foucan. The documentary, which aired September 9, 2003, focused on foucan and his compatriot Jerome Ben Aoues doing parkour in and on many famous London landmarks. After all this exposure the word of Parkour quickly spread, mainly through Internet forums and videos. Many people joined the discipline in Europe and it still has the largest Parkour community. The discipline is slowly starting to trickle into American consciousness, being featured in movies such as the James Bond movie, Casino Royale, as an amazing chase scene through a construction site.
Parkour is only gaining momentum, with articles in magazines such as TIME and The New Yorker dedicated to spreading the word. Parkour has a very central philosophy of growth and individual achievement. Tracuers are not encouraged to compare their skills, mainly because of the non-competitive nature. A Traceur trains for personal gain, not for the approval of others.
People often liken Parkour to other urban sports such as skateboarding or BMXing. The major difference between them is philosophy, Parkour has a central philosophy of improving oneself mentally and physically, and of course efficient movement. Many people who practice Parkour have applied a similar mindset to other facets of life, you must break down the steps of a move to execute it perfectly, a method one can use for many people face in life. A male Parkour practitioner is called a Traceur, female a Traceuse. As one can imagine Parkour takes a great amount of Physical strength, and because it uses your entire body you must have balanced strength. There is also a great importance for conditioning, a ten foot drop puts an enormous strain on joints and muscles. Parkour is an individual’s sport, even though many train in groups the progression is with only yourself. There has been some talk of Parkour competitions but because of the individual nature of the discipline most of the community agrees that competition is against the spirit of Parkour.
In the early days David and his friends practiced this discipline around their town never expecting it might one day gain global attention. At the peak of their training they were practicing for 4-6 hours every day. Around ten years into his training David was suggested to video some of his discipline and show it to people. After this he filmed a short video of himself and the word of Parkour soon spread. Soon after there was a report on him in the French news, the news team followed him around his town while he explained Parkour and demonstrated it. It didn’t take long for more publicity to come, there were some very funny Nike commercials he and his friends did. After that the momentum only got larger, the director, Luc Besson, was very interested in him and allowed David to play the lead role in the French motion picture, B-13, which was released on November 10, 2004. The movie was fairly reminiscent of Jackie Chan movies, with a neutron bomb aimed right at Paris.
What really garnered Parkour an audience outside of France was the British documentary,”Jump London”, which featured one of David’s childhood friends, Sebastien Foucan. The documentary, which aired September 9, 2003, focused on foucan and his compatriot Jerome Ben Aoues doing parkour in and on many famous London landmarks. After all this exposure the word of Parkour quickly spread, mainly through Internet forums and videos. Many people joined the discipline in Europe and it still has the largest Parkour community. The discipline is slowly starting to trickle into American consciousness, being featured in movies such as the James Bond movie, Casino Royale, as an amazing chase scene through a construction site.
Parkour is only gaining momentum, with articles in magazines such as TIME and The New Yorker dedicated to spreading the word. Parkour has a very central philosophy of growth and individual achievement. Tracuers are not encouraged to compare their skills, mainly because of the non-competitive nature. A Traceur trains for personal gain, not for the approval of others.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
A Clockwork Orange
This is the first of three journal entries on the book A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess.
This book takes place either in an alternate present or the future. The technology of this book seems slightly greater than what we have now but it also seems to be written under the context that Russian and British cultures merging to a point. This book takes place in London where the adolescents rule the nighttime streets, stealing and fighting with hardly any interference by the law. Alex, our protagonist, along with his three “Droogs” makes up one of the small street gangs that rape and steal for fun.
The language used in the book is extremely interesting; it is a fictional British slang that merges Russian slang and English to create the vocabulary of the street urchins. The book refers to men as "malchicks", girls as "devotchkas" and "ptitsas", Teeth as "zoobies", milk as "moloko" the face as a "litso" and so on. This language completely saturates the novel, as it is written in the first person from Alex’s point of view. In the beginning it is a little hard to understand what they are saying but the book puts the words in context well so at this point I, for the most part, know what they are saying.
Alex is very definitely the leader of the four-man group that he hangs out with. I get the age that Alex is somewhere around 15-18 because he goes to school during the day and still lives with his parents. During the night time Alex and his three friends, Pete, Georgie, and Dim, cause trouble by stealing and generally harassing the public. One of their regular hang out spots is the Korova Milk+ bar, a bar that serves milk spiked with fictional mind altering substances such as synthemesc. After drinking their milk they go on generally making trouble, stealing money from people, fighting other gangs, stealing cars, and all manner of trouble making.
I find this book extremely interesting, the protagonist is a very intriguing character, a smart teenager who has a good appreciation for the arts but is totally evil. the writing style and fictional dialect do well to help the atmosphere of the book, the setting almost seems post apocalyptic but there was no apocalypse, more off a dystopia than anything. This book is very cleverly written, it is almost reminiscent of jack the ripper's letters, a very smart person narrating his raping and pillaging. The writing style during the action pieces of the book is also interesting, he never lets up on the language of the book causing the scene to seem almost dreamy, as if Alex were watching his fight in slow motion and commenting on it. Overall I enjoy the book a good bit
This book takes place either in an alternate present or the future. The technology of this book seems slightly greater than what we have now but it also seems to be written under the context that Russian and British cultures merging to a point. This book takes place in London where the adolescents rule the nighttime streets, stealing and fighting with hardly any interference by the law. Alex, our protagonist, along with his three “Droogs” makes up one of the small street gangs that rape and steal for fun.
The language used in the book is extremely interesting; it is a fictional British slang that merges Russian slang and English to create the vocabulary of the street urchins. The book refers to men as "malchicks", girls as "devotchkas" and "ptitsas", Teeth as "zoobies", milk as "moloko" the face as a "litso" and so on. This language completely saturates the novel, as it is written in the first person from Alex’s point of view. In the beginning it is a little hard to understand what they are saying but the book puts the words in context well so at this point I, for the most part, know what they are saying.
Alex is very definitely the leader of the four-man group that he hangs out with. I get the age that Alex is somewhere around 15-18 because he goes to school during the day and still lives with his parents. During the night time Alex and his three friends, Pete, Georgie, and Dim, cause trouble by stealing and generally harassing the public. One of their regular hang out spots is the Korova Milk+ bar, a bar that serves milk spiked with fictional mind altering substances such as synthemesc. After drinking their milk they go on generally making trouble, stealing money from people, fighting other gangs, stealing cars, and all manner of trouble making.
I find this book extremely interesting, the protagonist is a very intriguing character, a smart teenager who has a good appreciation for the arts but is totally evil. the writing style and fictional dialect do well to help the atmosphere of the book, the setting almost seems post apocalyptic but there was no apocalypse, more off a dystopia than anything. This book is very cleverly written, it is almost reminiscent of jack the ripper's letters, a very smart person narrating his raping and pillaging. The writing style during the action pieces of the book is also interesting, he never lets up on the language of the book causing the scene to seem almost dreamy, as if Alex were watching his fight in slow motion and commenting on it. Overall I enjoy the book a good bit
Monday, March 5, 2007
for short story three I read the story American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer.
1. I thought this story was very good, it was about a young adolescent during the time of the Kennedy assassination and how she is confused about how she feels about the event. I can really relate to this because I was about the same age during 9/11 and was also confused about the event. the main character has a crush on a new boy in the class and on the day of the Kennedy assassination she is finally going to get to go to his house. her mother is mad at her because she isn't as distraught about the president dying as her mother thinks she should be. I can relate to this because when 9/11 happened I had no idea the ramifications of that event. when it happened I did not grasp the importance of it and could only think about how cool it was that we just watched the news in every class all day.
I also liked the story because the focus was not on how important it was that Kennedy died but how important this boy was to her. many people might thing that the importance is misplaced but I think that is in just the right place. what good does another story about where someone was and what they were doing during an assassination? I think that the story was mainly about young infatuation and it just so happened that the president was killed at the same time that this was going on and the writer portrays this well.
2. the subject of the story is a girl who has a crush on the new boy. the theme love being more important that death. the girl is reprimanded by her mother for wanting to go and study with her crush on the day that Kennedy is assassinated. I think that the love only took precedent, no pun intended, because of her age. at 14 it is very hard for a person to realize the importance of events that do not directly affect them. I am living proof, when 9/11 happened I didn't hardly think anything of it. I think this story was good because it had heart, the main character was a character I could really relate to and I think that is a good bit of what makes someone like a story.
3. "Though I wanted to feel the right thing about President Kennedy's death, I could not fight the feeling of elation that stirred in my chest." this shows how the author could not look past what directly influenced her life, a common trait among children and young adults. I don't think that the author necessarily feels that her study session with Eugene was more important than the president's death, but she is merely telling about how she felt at the time. at one point the gym teacher said,"The president is dead, you idiots. I should have known that wouldn't mean anything to a bunch of losers like you kids. Go home" this shows the differing opnions between the grown-ups and the kids.
4. one of my favorite movies is fight club. the subject of the movie is structured anarchy and insanity. the theme of the movie is the bad things that can happen when a smart insane person can organize a group of people to do whatever he wants them to do. the interesting thing about the theme of this movie is that the storyteller does not pass judgment on this group of people, at least not within the movie. the choice of whether this structured anarchy is a good thing or a bad thing is up to the viewer. this open-ended storytelling is a good way to tell a morally ambiguous story, leaving the moral choice up to the audience.
1. I thought this story was very good, it was about a young adolescent during the time of the Kennedy assassination and how she is confused about how she feels about the event. I can really relate to this because I was about the same age during 9/11 and was also confused about the event. the main character has a crush on a new boy in the class and on the day of the Kennedy assassination she is finally going to get to go to his house. her mother is mad at her because she isn't as distraught about the president dying as her mother thinks she should be. I can relate to this because when 9/11 happened I had no idea the ramifications of that event. when it happened I did not grasp the importance of it and could only think about how cool it was that we just watched the news in every class all day.
I also liked the story because the focus was not on how important it was that Kennedy died but how important this boy was to her. many people might thing that the importance is misplaced but I think that is in just the right place. what good does another story about where someone was and what they were doing during an assassination? I think that the story was mainly about young infatuation and it just so happened that the president was killed at the same time that this was going on and the writer portrays this well.
2. the subject of the story is a girl who has a crush on the new boy. the theme love being more important that death. the girl is reprimanded by her mother for wanting to go and study with her crush on the day that Kennedy is assassinated. I think that the love only took precedent, no pun intended, because of her age. at 14 it is very hard for a person to realize the importance of events that do not directly affect them. I am living proof, when 9/11 happened I didn't hardly think anything of it. I think this story was good because it had heart, the main character was a character I could really relate to and I think that is a good bit of what makes someone like a story.
3. "Though I wanted to feel the right thing about President Kennedy's death, I could not fight the feeling of elation that stirred in my chest." this shows how the author could not look past what directly influenced her life, a common trait among children and young adults. I don't think that the author necessarily feels that her study session with Eugene was more important than the president's death, but she is merely telling about how she felt at the time. at one point the gym teacher said,"The president is dead, you idiots. I should have known that wouldn't mean anything to a bunch of losers like you kids. Go home" this shows the differing opnions between the grown-ups and the kids.
4. one of my favorite movies is fight club. the subject of the movie is structured anarchy and insanity. the theme of the movie is the bad things that can happen when a smart insane person can organize a group of people to do whatever he wants them to do. the interesting thing about the theme of this movie is that the storyteller does not pass judgment on this group of people, at least not within the movie. the choice of whether this structured anarchy is a good thing or a bad thing is up to the viewer. this open-ended storytelling is a good way to tell a morally ambiguous story, leaving the moral choice up to the audience.
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