Blog Entry the 4th: Text-To-Text Connections

A Clockwork Orange does not include many allusions or references, other than seemingly insignificant and esoteric ones: some of which really are, others of which have deeper meaning. For example, the text-to-world connection made when Alex and his friends put on their "maskies": "I had Disraeli, Pete had Elvis Presley, Georgie had Henry VIII and... Dim had Peebee Shelley [sic]" (12). That these particular characters were chosen to be their incognito disguises is genuinely unimportant. Contrastingly, the author makes effective use of metafiction (breaking the fourth wall) on multiple occasions, the first of which is in reference to a book sitting on a desk: "'A CLOCKWORK ORANGE– and I said: 'That's a fair gloopy title. Who ever heard of a clockwork orange?'" (25). This text-to-itself connection is humorous–but a subsequent remark that reads, "[t]o turn a decent young man into a piece of clockwork should not, surely, be seen as any triumph for any government, save one that boasts of its repressiveness" (124) adds deeper meaning to the book's self-reference. Another text-to-text connection made frequently in the novel is Alex's admiration of classical music, viz. Ludwig Van Beethoven. That Alex, who is so outwardly atrocious, also has a soft spot for symphonies gives adds depth to the character and adds humanity to his personality. The author's general avoidance of references serves to alienate the story from any real, existing circumstances, and makes the dystopian setting seem even more particular and unique.