Philosopher once told me, "It is also about empowerment. Your decision empowers YOU. If you don't decide, someone decides for you. You don't have the power -THEY have the power over you. You are forced (into a position). You have to learn to make that choice.. It is your freedom."
His words come back with a fiery determination to me this morning, as I put down Burgess' Clockwork Orange and got a call from my work place asking me about my commitments for the next academic year. I said I might want to quit. I thought I was finally making a choice. But they said, we could negotiate. We don't want you to quit.
I'm back to square one, I dislike making choices.
But after reading Burgess' book I'm forced to retract my statement. Burgess says, without choice man ceases to be man. It's worth reading the book or watching Kubricks sensationally notorious film for people like us who live in democratic, yet State controlled societes. Choice is important. To the state, like Auden says in "The Unknown Citizen", we are merely a number. With our power of choice taken away, we become mere clockwork orange, like Alex in the book. Some lines from the book that intrigued me:
'Choice,' rumbled a rich deep goloss. I viddied it belonged to the prison charlie. 'He has no real choice, has he? Self interest, fear of physical pain, drove him to that grotesque act of self debasement. His insincerity was clearly to be seen. He ceases to be a wrong doer. He ceases to be a creature capable of moral choice.'
'These are subtleties,' like smiled Dr. Brodsky. 'We are not concerned with motive, with the higher ethics. We are concerned only with cutting down crime-'
'Me, me, me. How about me? Where do I come into all this? Am I like just some animal or dog? Am I just to be like a clock work orange?'
'What's it going to be then, eh?'
4 comments:
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The Future Mantra
Interesting. I'd read this book a long time ago but I think it deserves a re-read at this point in our lives. I always think literature graduates end up reading some books too early in their lives, and we don't get the most out of them, as we would if we'd read them once we turned a little older.
But the more pertinent question is - who is this?
by the way, that was me. :-) wasn't logged in.
Choices are indeed what makes us feel in control. But doesn't a proliferation of choices sometimes lead to uncertainty, to chaos? There has to a mechanism to limit the choices we can make. It can either be our own morality, social acceptance or the law of the land.
As for the dystopian theme of works such as 1984 or Clockwork Orange... while a totally dictatorial government leaves no room for choices, a feeble democracy too on the other hand leads to anarchy. Each of them being equally dangerous.
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