At first, much like everyone else in the group, I was completely baffled by the lexicon of Anthony Burgess. I couldn't begin to understand why an author would intentionally want to make his audience struggle to comprehend his narrative, especially using a mixture of Russian and Cockney English that Burgess calls "nadsat." (Nadsat is, incidentally, used similarly to Newspeak in George Orwell's 1984.) Upon doing some further research on the author, I learned that Burgess has always thought of youth culture as conformist, passive, and arrogant. I think he does an admirable job of commenting satirically on elements of youth culture, including but not limited to music, fashion, and social norms.
Music is reflected in a number of ways; we see Alex and his "droogs" listening to a pop song called "You Blister My Paint" on page 4, but the reader learns later that Alex has what seems to be an intense respect for classical music, going so far as to call Dim a "filthy drooling mannerless bastard" when he disturbs Alex's listening to opera (28). Music in the 1960s was incredibly different from what you or I may listen to (the number-one hits of 1962, the year in which A Clockwork Orange was written, included The Beach Boys, The Four Seasons and Ray Charles). I, for one, am unsure if Burgess is commenting on the music of his time or attempting to guess cynically at what the music of the future may be. I will look forward to discussing Alex's love of opera, as its contribution to the plot and his character still confuse me.
The fashion in A Clockwork Orange baffles me more than just about anything else. We see Alex, Pete, Dim, and Georgie wearing jackets with raised shoulders, tights, and oddly shaped "jelly moulds," each with a different shape. (Dim's is a clown's head, while Alex's is a spider, Pete's is a hand, and Georgie's is a flower.) Women wear wigs and sexualizing makeup, along with name tags of their current sexual partners. This may parody the "Sexual Revolution" of the 1960s, when widely available birth control caused young women to, from their point of view, take back some of their power in sexual relationships, changing the dynamic between American men and women permanently. I found it interesting that Burgess highlights the sexual attributes of his young characters so abruptly, and I am looking forward to seeing what my other group members think about this very same thing.
In short, I have become far more accustomed to "nadsat" and think it adds an entirely different dimension to Burgess' writing - the reader has to pause and soak up his message, which can give one more time to think about the author's intentions. The most prevalent message I have gotten so far is that Burgess was a bit of a cynic when it came to youth culture, and I am anticipating more of this satire as A Clockwork Orange continues.
Sources:
http://www.severing.nu/music/1962.html
http://www.helium.com/items/94715-a-guide-to-nadsat-talk-in-anthony-burgess-a-clockwork-orange
http://www.alternet.org/story/153969/how_the_sexual_revolution_changed_america_forever
In this novel, Burgess seems to work with extremes: clothing, music, behavior, etc. The society is one where the characters become extreme versions of themselves, which is, I suppose, the purpose and goal of satire. The classical music seems to be something that "belongs" to Alex. He assimilates in so many ways: dress, violence, language. But he "owns" the love of classical music and opera, which may be why he reacts so strongly to Dim's rejection of it.
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