Dialogue As A Mean Of Communication

By: Sharon White
Submitted: 2007-01-17 11:29:10
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In our everyday life, study and work we often face the difficulties and problems connected with communication. Sometimes we feel that we are misunderstood or that it is hard to express with words what we feel and think. There can be several aspects defined that can be discussed solving the problem of communication and interaction difficulties. Human interaction is impossible without a dialogue. This is one of the primarily component of our communication. In the given essay the use of this unit of communication will be discussed from different points of view and aspects based on two great novels of the past century.

Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four are widely considered to be two of the most influential and exceptional novels of the twentieth century, above all because of the authors’ revolutionary and unique use of language. Anthony Burgess intended the novel A Clockwork Orange, published in 1962, to be a study on free will and behaviourism, but its extraordinary use of language and the formidable character of Alex have gained cult status.

This is similar to the way Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949 became notorious for the way George Orwell uses language politically and to deceive and manipulate the people in Oceania, leading to a society in which the people unquestionably obey their government and mindlessly accept all propaganda as reality.

When discussing the statement that “Human interaction takes place primarily through language”, it is essential to take into account the most revolutionary features of A Clockwork Orange, which is the language used by the four “droogs”. Rather than speaking a formal English, they use a dialect known as Nadsat, which when translated is the Russian suffix for ‘teen’. At first glance, the vocabulary of anti-hero and narrator Alex sounds incomprehensible:

“You could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other Veshches”, but eventually the reader will become familiar with the meaning, as the context makes it clearer. “We gave this devotchka a tolchock on the litso and the krovvy came out of her mouth” translates as, we gave this girl a blow on the face and blood came out of her mouth. The slang of Alex and his gang is derived from Burgess’s own interest in linguistics and the history of language, but to fully understand why he used Nadsat, it is necessary to look at the main themes of the novel. This will aid us in the analysis of the idea that language is the main form of human interaction.

A Clockwork Orange is largely based on psychological oppression and governments exercising power over the youngsters in the book. Alex’s so-called ‘friends’ frame him and he goes to jail, where he learns of the ‘ludivico program’ that would get released from jail in two weeks. He was sentenced to be ‘cured’ and given shock treatment. He is told: “You have no power of choice any longer. You are committed to socially acceptable acts, a little machine capable of only doing good.” The restriction placed on Alex would limit him from free thought, which would therefore restrict his language use.

Nadsat is a dialect to be spoken in the future by the young people in London. By using Nadsat as a means to convey a plot, Anthony Burgess offers an insight into the ways of his character’s minds. This newly invented slang makes it easier for the reader to contemplate the ‘ultra-violence’ in the book, as it is a form of alienation. Burgess used extreme violence to shock and distance his audience. The dialogue, along with the disconcerting first person narrative, distances the reader and succeeds in ‘making it strange’. The Nadsat dialect also makes it impossible for the reader to forget that the story is taking place in another time and place, set in the future. A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel and follows the tradition of other dystopias such as Nineteen Eighty-Four in the way it deals with language. In both novels, there is an implicit close connection between language and consciousness. Nadsat and Newspeak convey the idea that by delimiting vocabulary, you delimit thought. This suggestion would agree with the statement that human interaction takes place primarily through language. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, we see that when a person’s language is oppressed, their level of human interaction and way of life is oppressed also. In A Clockwork Orange, Alex uses Nadsat as a way of escaping the determinism in society. This is his way of rebelling. Alex and his ‘droogs’ rebel against the conventions of society through this language.

Burgess does not use Russian words literally, but with deliberate misuse. He hints at the Russian vocabulary. Some of the expressions used are: “grahzny bratchny” (dirty bastard) and “lubbilubbing” love-making. The dialogue throughout the novel is used by Burgess to convey his Marxist view that behaviour is determined by a person’s role in society. The vocabulary of the book reflects his ideas of free will and escapism. In Part One, Chapter Five, Deltoid’s habit of answering with “Yes?” seems almost like an invitation to exercise free will. Deltoid is asking for affirmation, just as the “eh” from the opening lines of each part is an offer for Alex to make his own choices. However, when Alex uses it with friends, his tone of “Yes?” is more commanding, as he does not want his friends to exercise free will as much as he does. This is a simple example of the way language is used as the primary form of human interaction and a way for Burgess to imply connotations through speech, and therefore convey his message.

Nadsat demonstrates these ideas, for example, we learn in Part One, Chapter Five, from the sentence “Pete had given old Dim the soviet not to uncoil the oozy” that “soviet” means “order”. Ironically, the ‘droogs’ had just expressed their desire for the gang to be more democratic, yet orders are still given. Here, the word “soviet” also relates to Burgess’s views of soviet communism and the rigid hierarchies of power that the corrupt system had behind its fa?ade of equality. Language, in this instance has hidden connotations but still is the primary form of human interaction, as it aims to convey a message.

At the beginning of each section, the phrase: “So what’s it going to be then, eh?” is repeated. This is a representation of the monotony in the world around Alex (not in his life). It is the opening line of the novel and is repeated four times within the first chapter. Though in different contexts, each use stresses free will. It emphasises the importance of the ability to choose for oneself how ‘it’ will turn out ‘to be’.

Burgess manipulates language in A Clockwork Orange so that the reader is aware of the views he portrays throughout. This is seen in the Nadsat dialect. Alex uses Nadsat in a creative and poetic way, more so than his friends. Their mixer of choice, milk, speaks volumes about their infantile behaviour and provides Freudian connotations, as milk is associated with the Mother. In Part One, Chapter Four, Alex states his belief in Original Sin – the biblical idea that evil is natural in man and is not a product of the environment “badness is of the self… and that self is made by Bog or God”. This quote sums up Alex’s rejection of social conditioning and his rebellious attitude.

It is clear from this analysis of the dialogue in A Clockwork Orange that the way Burgess creates a unique dialect for Alex and the droogs provides a form of rebellion against the shallow conventions of society. They use Nadsat as a way of escaping and as their primary form of human interaction. In this novel, we can see that language and dialogue determine levels of human interaction. This is also the case in George Orwell’s novel. When contemplating the statement “Human interaction takes place primarily through language”, it is essential to discuss Newspeak.

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