A Clockwork Orange Violence Essay

647 Words3 Pages

CROSSWORDS Exercise Control through fear of violence and through the promise of violence is the unspoken but ever-present government mandate in the world of A Clockwork Orange. This injunction keeps the middle-aged middle-class literally above the violence in their high rise flat-blocks and the nadsats below full of milk with knives in it as the old saying goes, ready for some ultra-violence. By harnessing the power of violence the state keeps the public eye directed inward instead of on the state that permits it. The governing power in the society of Brave New World also relies on distraction to serve its purposes but a distraction from a completely different source and through a completely different ideology: everyone belongs to everyone …show more content…

With this ideology that is used to prevent violence in its original text in A Clockwork Orange how Alex manipulates others to meet his needs is completely eradicated. The people of this society no long feel any strong emotions or attachments to each other. One could argue that Alex doesn’t really have strong emotions or attachments to anyone, his droogs, parents, and victims are all serving his needs and meeting his expectations through their behaviour. However once you eliminate the hatred and fear other people have for Alex and other nadsats you lose the main reasons nadsats have for their violence: the sense of control, dominance, and performance. You simply cannot manipulate others in the way Alex does if they feel nothing special for him in regards to others. Want to satisfy sexual urges? Sure go ahead I’d like to too. Want to fight? Sure, let’s fight; we’ll both win in the end. A Clockwork Orange depends on a certain level of complacency in order for the nadsats to induce fear in others, but when this level of complacency is dramatically increased to the degree of neutrality this tactic loses its effectiveness. No one is distracted anymore, the performance is