Contrast and compare the relation of violence to society
in American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange.
American Psycho and A Clockwork Orange, in different ways, highlight and present
violence within society. Burgess and Ellis use a single character to conflict with the
supposed ideals of the society which surrounds them. The motives for violence that
the characters exhibit directly relate to the societies in which the novels were
composed. American Psycho is written and set at the same time- a late 1980s, early
1990s American consumerist society where moral values were disregarded for
opportunities to make money. A Clockwork Orange, on the other hand, was
composed in the 1960s where the innovation of youth culture posed a seeming
threat to society. The novel is responding to journalistic concerns; problems with
teenagers and deregulation; of which are relevant according to the period in which
the novel is set. Burgess’s novel – although its concerns are of the time of writing, is
set in some indefinite future. This points to a difference in how the two novels
address their issues. American Psycho in a way mirrors without explicit comment its
surrounding society; but it is difficult to be sure about what comment on society is
being implied by the depicted actions of the novel. A Clockwork Orange is much
more clearly a novel of ideas – it is important to Burgess that the implied ideas of the
novel are recognised and then applied back to the real society in which the novel is
written and read. However extreme the actions within American Psycho, its general
approach is as if it’s a ‘naturalistic’ novel – it merely reflects how things are.
Burgess- using the freedom of a novel of ideas- is closer to the counter-factual
setting in a genre like science fiction.
The central characters, Bateman and Alex, are similar in that they have chosen the
same moral path; they both take part in violent anti-social behaviour. However, as
Alex is marginal to his society; Bateman on the other hand is successful and central
in society’s own terms, ‘society can’t afford to lose me, I’m an asset.’ His life is
conformist- apart from his secret revolts; Alex is oppositional- even to his choice of
language. Although Bateman’s reliability as a narrator is questionable, he is
representative of a consumerist society’s ideals. In everything from his job and circle
of friends to his wealth and social desirability- Bateman appears to be the epitome of
his society. The fact that a character that inflicts violence on innocent people in such
a brutal and gruesome manner but at the same time is seen as a socially desirable
individual makes a significant indication as to Ellis’s views on the state of society. Ellis
is using here apparently a simple and blatant irony.
Alex however, is seen as an anti-social minority; this is the 1960s nightmare of youth
culture. A younger generation had begun to rebel against the conservative norms of
the time, as well as disassociate themselves from mainstream liberalism; in
particular they turned away from the high levels of materialism, ‘But as they say,
money isn’t everything,’ A line from the very first page of the novel that reflects the
attitudes of society during the era. This created a counter-culture that eventually
turned into a social revolution throughout much of the western world. Alex is
representative of what people feared that this revolution could become. The late
1950s and early 60s saw a kind of ‘moral panic’ about youth. There was a
Copyright © Rob Quattromini 2008
generalised feeling that somehow teenagers were beginning to escape social control.
This ‘invention’ of a new generation of teenagers in the 1960s contrasts to the
attitudes of Bateman in regards to money and materialism, and therefore highlights
the difference in motives behind the violent acts of the characters.
In both novels, the narrative style that Ellis and Burgess have given to their narrators
creates a barrier between the character and the reader. For example, the fact that
Alex narrates the story using his youthful slang, or nadsat, in some senses excludes
the reader, ‘behind my Gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed.’ This reflects
the awareness of slang that followed hard upon the ‘invention’ of teenagers, but
carried to an extreme. Alex, as with his language, is an extreme version of a current
concern. But Alex is more than a mere demonstration of ‘slang’. Burgess has an
interest for inventiveness in language – even if it takes place outside of ‘formal’
language. Of course, it is Burgess himself who invents the energy and verve of Alex’s
language. This rough vigour of language is in contrast to the way Bateman flattens
and deadens the most dramatic and often graphic events in the novel, ‘I start
stabbing him in the face and head.’ The way Bateman uses excessive detail to
describe his daily routines highlights a flat immediacy of the present, as though it has
been lived many times before. Its monotony has the essence and dreariness of a
man who has nothing left to gain, which is not what we, as readers, are used to
seeing in a novel. The way he lists objects on the same level or same value, highlights
an absence of response and desire. The absence of desire in his tone could indicate a
sense of boredom and the extremity of the violence is his own attempt to seek a
response of emotion in himself. In this sense, we are distanced from Bateman
through narrative style. On the contrary, there are times when Alex embraces us, the
reader, as his ‘friends’, and labels himself as ‘your humble narrator’, regardless of
the social barrier that is created through his diversity in language. There is, of course,
a derisive irony in Alex’s tone – but, nevertheless, there is a connection of sorts
between character and reader.
In American Psycho, as we journey through Bateman’s life and mind, it is possible to
see a monumental crash in his social behaviour and a moral blankness is clarified
through his insincerity. His completely emotionless and insensitive responses to the
violence that he engages in, emphasises an incapability to make a moral decision to
do what is right- the violence- and so the novel- could literally be endless. It is a
pointless search- for feeling or point- which is not even believed by the character. By
contrast, A Clockwork Orange is structured like a thesis. This sequence of events
highlights a problem and answer theory of tackling issues in society, although the
answer is perhaps more problematic; the treatment is as morally questionable as the
cure. This is a novel arguing a philosophical thesis: the possibility of crime is a
definition and necessary cost of true free will. Also, the technical advances of state
control and medicine in 1960s era raised the question that if we could change
people’s behaviour by technological means- should we? Free Will versus a life in
which sin is impossible is a question as old as Catholic theology, and is reflected in
the book. Two very different time periods, but perhaps the authors were both
aiming to portray similar presentations of an individual conflicting with society.
Copyright © Rob Quattromini 2008
Bateman and Alex both begin their sinister careers with attacks on the ‘have-nots’or the outside figures of society. For example, Bateman’s response to a black
homeless man in the chapter, ‘Tuesday’, is certainly not one of sympathy. Bateman’s
constant probing of ‘why don’t you get a job?’ highlights his ideas of what a citizen of
society should be and do. ‘Do you take American express?’ also shows his
consumerist attitudes towards the individual importance of wealth and status.
Although Bateman’s secret operations are marginal to society, like ‘Al’ appears to be,
his persona of a successful businessman conflicts with Al’s desperation and
misfortune that was representative of so many working class African-Americans
during the age of Ronald Reagan. As Elizabeth Young says, ‘Ellis has created a most
unusual creature, a serial sex-killer who is also, at the same time, prepared to kill
anyone.’ However, in this case, Bateman’s attacks on Al and the dog are motivated
by his ignorance of a culture that differs from his. Bateman is uncomfortably placed;
his actions are clearly unacceptable and ‘anti-social’, but they also seem an
extension of how his society operates. Alex however, is in clear and straightforward
conflict with anything that his society might recognise as an ideal. Alex’s violent
response to a ‘schoolmaster type veck’ is an extreme reflection on some of the
attitudes of a generation of rebellious teenagers. The two characters have very
different intentions on the violence they choose to exhibit but both represent a
fragment of society that is presented as a majority.
Ellis’s creation of a character that uses a dark and sarcastic tone in his description of
the horrific events that unfold gives the reader a discomforting uneasiness, ‘he
finally starts screaming once I slit his nose in two.’ It is this reaction from the reader
that highlights the conflict that this character has with society and everyday life. Also
his use of lists and extreme detail- as seen in the chapter ‘morning’- makes the
reader wary of the reliability of the narrator’s perception. Through his monotonous
ramblings that resemble that of a rather jumbled diary extract, we are subjected to
the inner most desires of a character whose moral decline is clarified by vile
comments that progressively become more vulgar throughout the novel. Alex’s
humour is similar to that of Bateman’s as it has a dark and sadistic tone running
through it, ‘that was disgusting so we gave him the boot.’ However, as Bateman feels
no emotion through these attacks, it is evident in the expression of tone and
language that Alex gets pleasure from the activities that he engages. In some ways,
that pleasure, though sadistic, is at least recognisably ‘human’. This is Burgess’s point
– the reader must come to recognise a common humanity with Alex as it will be
stripped from him later in the novel. The emptying of feeling in Bateman is the
scariest thing about him, and perhaps represents Ellis’s strongest attack on a
tendency in his society.
It is important in texts such as these to consider whether the views of the
protagonist reflect those of the author. In this case, Ellis de-glamorises everything
that Bateman represents and therefore the character does not reflect the attitudes
of the author. The relation between author and character is a difficult one. In A
Clockwork Orange, Burgess is imagining himself into the mind of this ‘exotic’
outsider, but he is not attempting a ‘naturalistic’ presentation of even the most
Copyright © Rob Quattromini 2008
demonised teenager in the 1960. Burgess gives himself a gap between his creation
and the society from which the novel arises.
The issue of the aestheticised violence within the novel emphasises the moral gap
between the reader and the text. A concern of the 1950s and 1960s after the Second
World War was how brutality could be compatible with appreciation of High Arthighlighted by the Beethoven- enjoying Kamp Kommandant during the Holocaust. By
feeding into Alex some his own concerns and interests, Burgess is avoiding a
‘sociological’ portrait of a 1960s disaffected teenager but adopting a more
generalised case that raises a philosophical question rather than a specific historical
one.
On the other hand, it is rather more difficult to judge Ellis’s attitude towards what is
being described in American Psycho as there is no clear indication from the author
on how to take the character of Bateman. American Psycho is an expression of
society - Bateman is an extrapolation of this materialistic society that is beyond
satire and reaches extremity. His social incline in society triggers his loss of moral
compass- as his social life thrives; his emotional responses decline. Similarly, Alex’s
humanity is stripped from him as he loses his free will. Although Alex is an antihero
and his violent acts conflict with society, he is recognisably human as he has the
power of choice. It is not until his free will is stripped from him and he is unable to
do wrong that he has lost his humanity. Bateman however, engages in his violent
mayhem once he has lost all emotion.
Burgess has outlined a clear thesis through the moral questions that are raised
outside the text. On the contrary, Ellis teases interpretation and the numerous
possibilities of analysis are literary and all within the text. The lack of closure in
American Psycho raises issues with Ellis’s judgment of Bateman and what the
novelist wants to do with the character. The fact that the novel is left completely
open to interpretation from the reader; it leaves enigmas on how the novelist feels
about the character. The main gap between these novels is how the novelist wants
the reader to interpret the text. In A Clockwork Orange, Burgess has created a
structured narrative that surrounds a thesis on human nature. The violence that
takes place in Burgess’s society is not mindless but is part of a sequence of events
that attempts to answer the free will versus ‘perfect life’ debate. However, American
Psycho is not clearly structured and some events appear random, such as Bateman’s
excessive descriptions of his morning routine. Ellis has concerned himself with
writing a controversial novel that expresses a disturbed character within a disturbing
society. The extremity of the novel prevents any easy reading as moral satire, but
instead opens more questions about the motives of the author to write such a text.
Copyright © Rob Quattromini 2008