Belonging - a Clockwork Orange Essays - 679 Words

The concept of belonging is essential. To belong is to form a connection which will allow a sense of identity, without this we lose our humanity; however, conformity is in a sense a facade of belonging, as it restrains our freedom and forces us to only mimic. My studied texts show how society demands us to conform, yet conformity prevents a sense of true identity being ever created. This notion is elaborated in the novel, A Clockwork Orange. Alex is a criminal who doesn’t belong anywhere within society. In the novel, the government attempts to suppress his criminality by physically preventing him from thinking of violence—thus making him conform to their standards. This is a prime example of how society attempts to make us conform to what†¦show more content†¦The movie shows the disastrous effect conformity and fear have among members who gain their place inside the group at the price of conformity. Shirley Hastings, for example, lives a â€Å"life half-lived† cowering before what Barry Fife will say or think. She has let the Federation so dominate her that she has no respect for Doug and can only see her son Scott in terms of winning competitions. The movie represents belonging using a variety of techniques to distinguish between the world of artifice and the more realistic world. The image of the artificial world, shown as the ballroom world, is glitzy and colourful. Luhrmann has presented this world as having power, whereas the character of Fran, shown in plain clothes and reading glasses, is initially shown as powerless, because she does not conform to the ballroom world. The movie traces the shift from a world of false belonging dominated by conformity, fear and the cynical manipulations of the ultra-sleaze Barry Fife, towards the iconic last scene where the line between spectators and professional dancers blurs and is dissolved as Scott dressed in Spanish costume and Fran in Spanish-style red dress put passion back into dance, rescuing it from the deadening effect of the old brigade. Taking the similes of the two texts we can arrive at the conclusion that conformity allows us to become part of a functioning society but can in turn stifle individuality, expression and self-identity. I’ll leave you with twoShow MoreRelatedBelonging Essay.1303 Words   |  6 Pagesexperience of belonging.† Discuss this view with detailed reference ( 2010 HSC Question) Considered a fundamental aspect of being human, belonging is an ambiguous concept which can offer individuals a sense of identity, security and connectedness. Experiences of belonging are closely related to a person’s interaction with others, as positive experiences can enrich their sense of belonging, and negative experiences can limit their sense of belonging. An individual’s limited experience of belonging throughRead MoreThe Theme Of Immorality In A Clockwork Orange1299 Words   |  6 PagesImagine every night being the blackest of nights, where even the police do not stop the criminals lurking in the corners. This is the world in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, where a dystopian society in which juvenile delinquents roam free to terrorize the night is chronicled. Your Humble Narrator, Alex DeLarge, is a member of this appalling culture of teenagers. Over the course of the novel, he performs unspeakable acts of ultraviolence with his droogs, which land him behind bars in StajaRead MoreA Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 1411 Words   |  6 Pages A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are both novels that deal with the theme of dystopia. Both novels depict societies in which mind control is used to create social stability. There are also individuals who rebel against this loss of freedom and identity. However, these individuals lose their fight for freedom because of unsuccessful escape methods, acts of violence and effective conditioning. Character in both novels use unsuccessful escape methods toRead MoreMoral Development In Anthony Burgesss A Clockwork Orange1734 Words   |  7 PagesWhen first published in 1961, the American edition of Anthony Burgess’s novel, A Clockwork Orange was published without it’s twenty-first chapter, outraging it’s author. But what, one might ask, could be so important in a single chapter to cause such an outrage? The answer is blatantly obvious. Omitting the final chapter of any book would likely cause much dismay to the author. But in the case of A Clockwork Orange, the final twenty-first chapter completely shapes the entire meaning of the novelRead MoreA Clockwork Orange as an Allusion to Platos Mimetic Imagination4156 Words   |  17 PagesPlato finds that society can be easily consumed by the mimetic imagination, in which people are tricked into believing that the imaginary is reality. Plato’s condemnation of the mimetic imagination alludes to Stanley K ubrick’s postmodern film, A Clockwork Orange (1971), which features a youth gang driven by images of sex, violence, and drug, set in a dystopian future Britain. Furthermore, Kubrick’s film resembles Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, as the prisoners of the imaginary are introduced to new realitiesRead MoreEssay on Skinheads3158 Words   |  13 Pagesto be much more complicated in the case of skinhead gangs, and the space that these groups occupy in relation to the outside world does not have such clear boundaries. Looking at three different representations of Skinhead culture: the novel A Clockwork Orange (1962) by Anthony Burgess, the non-fiction work The Paint House (1972) by the Collinwood gang, and the film Scum (1979) directed by Alan Clarke, the evolution of this space over time becomes clear. This change happens both in the way the gangsRead More freeclo Comapring Free Will in A Clockwork Orange and Freedom and the Control of Man2484 Words   |  10 Page sFree Will in A Clockwork Orange and Skinners Freedom and the Control of Man      Ã‚   Socrates once said, Know thyself, and over two thousand years later were still perplexed with the complexities of human behavior. The concept of free will has been debated and challenged by science, religion, and philosophy throughout history. By free will, I mean our ability to choose and behave as we wish, without our choices being determined by outside sources. Such a notion has been discussed and disputedRead MoreA Clockwork Orange : Antisocial Personality Disorder Essay2040 Words   |  9 PagesDisorder ( ASPD) is a mental illness with various causal factors such as genetic predispositions, environment, parental neglect, gender, brain abnormalities, etc. The factors presented affect the character Alex DeLarge from Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (1963). Despite Alex not being diagnosed, it is evident that he suffers from ASPD, it is clearly expressed through his behaviors and mentality. Eventually, Alex is incarcerated preceding a murder he committed, in order to be released earlyRead More Gilbert Ryles The Concept of Mind Essay2412 Words   |  10 Pagesconfusion regarding Minds and Bodies arises because they are conceived as belonging to the same logical type. Hence: The workings of minds had to be described by the mere negatives of the specific descriptions given to bodies; they [minds] are not in space, they are not motions, they are not modifications of matter, they are not accessible to public observation. Minds are not bits of clockwork, they are just bits of non-clockwork.5 What follows, then, according to Ryle, is that Minds and BodiesRead MorePersonal Statement : Hmv Store2552 Words   |  11 Pagesenough to wear an NFL jersey out in public. On top of this motivation we can see that this consumer would be highly motivated by several tiers of Maslow Hierarchy of Needs. Perhaps the most obvious is for â€Å"Love and Belonging,† which states that he perhaps has a need for â€Å"a sense of belonging† (Williams, pg.69). This type of consumer behaviour falls under Allistar Williams’ consumer decision-making matrix. It states that a consumer would make a decision based off their â€Å"brand or style† (Williams, pg.41)