Book Vs. Movie: A Clockwork Orange (book)

It’s time for another book vs. movie challenge. The next in the series will be A Clockwork Orange, a novel written by Anthony Burgess and a movie directed by Stanley Kubrick. This is a classic movie by a legendary director that was based on a novel by a pretty impressive novelist.

Unlike Being There and The Magic Christian, where I read the book first and then saw the movie this is a title that I saw on film first and then read the novel. It is interesting to note that this is one where I am giving a slight nod to the movie over the book. I am already thinking that sequence factors into the final decision. I am finding that I tend to prefer the books when I have read the book first and preferring the movie if I saw the movie first.

When I decided that I was going to do A Clockwork Orange, I decided that I should reread the entire novel. The reason for this is that there is a final chapter in the original English novel that was excluded from the early American printings. The movie is also made from the abridged American printing. Burgess wrote the book as a three part novel with each part featuring seven chapters. The final number of chapters being 21 was done for the reason that 21 is the age of adulthood and maturity.

Another reason for deciding to reread the entire book is that I found a website with a glossary for all the nadsat slang. While much of the speech is easily figured out in the film, it is more difficult to grasp when reading. ‘Nadsat’ means ‘teen’. It is from the Russian language. A large part of the slang used in the novel is culled from Russian. ‘Malenky’ means little. ‘Devochka’ is a woman. ‘Britva’ is a knife.

There is also a mix of invented slang and some play off the rhyming slang popular in parts of England. The glossary I downloaded is 16 pages long. I am not going to try to define all the terms in the book but occasionally I will throw in a few translations when necessary.

The book (like the movie) is narrated by the central character Alex. He is a malchick (boy) with an attitude. He and his droogs (friends) are always on the lookout for a horrorshow time. Horrorshow is a play on the Russian khorosho or good. This often includes rape, ultra violence and robbery. The ‘old in out in out’ is obviously slang for sexual intercourse. Alex also has the twist of absolutely loving classical music. That is something that becomes important later in the novel. The movie narrows this affection down to Ludwig Van Beethoven but in the novel there is a fondness for Handel, Mozart, Bach etc.

The novel and the movie are both intended as morality plays. The real tale begins when Alex is finally caught by the millicents (police) for a break in and assault on a woman in her home. He is set up by his droogs who have grown tired of his authority over them. This lands him in prison for two years. But the Ludovico’s Technique offers him a way out. This is an experimental means of making prisoners into model citizens who will never go bad again. It is a form of drugging and brainwashing that makes him get sick whenever any malicious thoughts begin to well. He must endure hours of films watching horrible acts against individuals. The drugs make him ill. In the end, he becomes ‘cured’ but completely defenseless. As one would expect the priest is the one who opposes the technique. It removes free will and the choice to be good. It transform the prisoner into something less than human.

One other side effect is that he becomes unable to appreciate music without becoming sick. He decries the unfairness of Ludwig van being used in such fashion. This becomes something that can be used against him by a former victim and political opponent to the current government. He winds up at the home of the writer F Alexander. Earlier in the novel he broke into this home with his droogs and raped Alexander’s wife. She later died from illness. Alexander does not recognize Alex at first. There are a few verbal slip ups that allow him to figure out who it is.

F Alexander and his political cronies decide to use Alex for their own purposes. Alex is locked in a room and forced to listen to loud classical music. An attempted suicide lands him in the hospital. The publicity from the attempted suicide forces the state to transform him back to his old self. The Minister of Interior Information even meets with him in an official apology for the wrong the state did to him. He is now cured.

There are obviously some unsettling issues in this situation. There is the whole issue of whether or not this type of brainwashing is okay if it is used for the good of society. Individual rights versus the rights of society come into play. A Clockwork Orange is disturbing in that it does not offer any easy answers to these questions. It leaves it up to the reader to decide.

But where the movie climaxes with Alex being cured the original version of the book includes the 21st chapter. In this chapter, Alex hooks up with a new set of droogs and begins to fall into a lot of the same habits. But he is bored now and does not find joy in it anymore. He is now 18 years old. He meets one of his former droogs Pete who is now married and settled down. Alex begins to realize that it is time to grow up and move beyond the ultra violence.

This chapter works better in a literary context than in a cinematic context. I don’t think it would have worked in the movie. The movie ends with the creepy words of Alex saying, “I was cured all right”. There is almost a haunting nature to it that works well for a movie. In literature this little coda offers one a bit of hope. There is faith that a person can evolve and outgrow their evil ways. I do like this ending for the book. I do like to believe that people are capable of transformation. It is a conclusion that leaves one with the notion that even the bad can reform themselves.

A Clockwork Orange is a book that is well worth reading for literary minded persons. The nadsat slang is brilliantly developed. Having the glossary provided me with a ‘bolshier’ (greater) understanding of the language. Burgess brilliantly executed this novel. It can be a bit difficult to have to refer to the glossary on occasion so I don’t think this will be a good one for those with short attention spans. It will also require a great deal of patience to work through the book. I still think that this is one where the movie gets a slight edge. Both works are classics in their respected artforms. One will come away with a greater appreciation by reading the book and viewing the movie.

check out the film review:

http://www.epinions.com/content_127807819396