Dissertation - Complete

ID: 4180831 English Dissertation Autumn 14-15 Q33403 UK
Challenging the Žižekian Model of Subjective and Systemic Violence
in Relation to Anthony Burgess’ a Clockwork Orange and Bret Easton
Ellis’ American Psycho.
Supervised by Dr Michael Parrish Lee
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Table of contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................4
2. American Psycho: violence, consumerism and the unreliable narrator..............................................9
3. A Clockwork Orange: freewill versus social determinism.....................................................................17
4. Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................................2
4
5. Works Cited................................................................................................................................................................26
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Introduction
Both Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho1
and Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange2
reached initial
publication amid a whirlwind of speculation and debate regarding the representation of explicit
and sustained graphic violence at the hands of their respective central protagonists. The savage and
debauched behaviour of Patrick Bateman – a young and beautiful Manhattanite, with a nonspecific
career in finance and a self-confessed penchant for “murder and executions mostly”3
, resulted in
such an immediate and ferocious outcry that Ellis’ original publisher Simon & Schuster rejected the
novel, forfeiting a $300,000 advance and shredding all copies a month prior to shipping. Though the
publishing rights were quickly acquired by the New York based Alfred A. Knopf, Ellis’ most
infamous work has remained highly divisive to this day, as although The Observer notes that "critics
rave about it" and "academics revel in its transgressive and postmodern qualities”4
, Tammy Bruce,
president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW), declared it a
misogynistic “how-to manual for the torture and dismemberment of women”5
. Burgess’ dystopian
novella suffered similarly under the hands of public disapproval as from 1976 to 1982; A Clockwork
Orange was pulled from high school classes and libraries in Aurora, Colorado; Westport,
Massachusetts and Anniston Alabama, following complaints regarding its use of “objectionable”
language and depiction of violence and depravity6
. Though in the fifty subsequent years since first
going on sale Burgess’ iconic central protagonist has transcended the text from which he originates
1
Ellis, Bret Easton. American Psycho. Picador: 2011
2
Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. Penguin Books Ltd: 1972
3
Ellis, American Psycho p.32
4
Clark, Michael P. “Violence, Ethics, and the Rhetoric of Decorum in American Psycho”. Bret Easton Ellis:
American Psycho, Glamorama, Lunar Park. Ed, Naomi Mandel, 19–35. (London: Continuum International
Publishing Group, 2011).
5
Chatman, Seymour. Coming to Terms: The Rhetoric of Narrative in Fiction and Film.
Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1990.
6
Josselson, Diana. “A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: Review”. The Kenyon Review, Vol. 25, No. 3.
Kenyon College : 1963 p. 559-560
4

to become a pop-culture manifestation of anti-establishment ideals, this celebration of absolute
human freedom was originally manifested in “kicks, smecks and lashings of the ultra-violent”7
.
It is easy for one to draw parallels between not only the furores surrounding the texts’
publications, but many aspects of the worlds Burgess and Ellis portray. Both texts are presented
through the eyes of an abhorrent sadist, yet both seek to entice the reader toward revelling in the
allure of indulgent and violent criminality. Both simultaneously serve as a damning indictment of a
disillusioned generation and yet also the equally repugnant institutions from which they have been
spawned. Bateman and Alex are furthermore, despite their abhorrent behaviour, both perversely
charismatic characters, handsome, and able to command respect of others having risen to positions
of power in the cutthroat worlds of Wall Street and the hallucinogen fuelled gang culture of an
alternate Britain. Both protagonists appear to exhibit conflicting dual personas, an amalgam of
socially acceptable, even charming characteristics, intertwined with their savage alter ego. That the
reader might feel encouraged to garner some degree of twisted and guilty pleasure in the company
of such a captivating character is suggested by American author Tom Wolfe, by describing Patrick
Bateman as a “master of the universe”8
and Charles Sumner9
, who portrays the young Alex as both a
“rebellious adolescent and dangerous revolutionary”. They are both immoral deviants that
nevertheless are able to surpass the boundaries of expectation to such an extent that they become
impressive in their monstrosity.
Both anti-heroes are portrayed in the context of equally horrifying societies fixated upon
banal uniformity, Bateman in particular having been “reduced to greed” by the “claustrophobia and
7
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, p.41
8
Wolfe, Tom. Stalking the Billion Footed Beast: A Literary Manifesto for the New Social Novel. Harper: 1989
p.45-56
9
Sumner, Charles ‘Humanist Drama in A Clockwork Orange’. The Yearbook of English Studies, Vol. 42,
Literature of the 1950s and 1960s. Modern Humanities Research Association, 2012 p.49-63
5

reductionism of social control”10
. Within his book Violence11
, philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj
Žižek posits that violence within a contemporary society can be classified as either subjective and
explicit or objective and systemic. Žižek differentiates between the subjective outrage produced by
an act of explicit and physical violence – “a suicide bombing, a terrorist attack, the assassination of a
political figure” - and the intangible systemic forms of violence such the economic and social
exploitation or control prevalent within a socio-economic order built upon the principles of
capitalist consumerism. Žižek goes on to propose that the mass public outcry following an act of
subjective violence blinds us and serves to mask the true objective violence of the world, “a violence
where we are perpetrators and not just innocent bystanders”12
. This perhaps suggests that
although it may be explicit and subjective violence that is more likely to appal, such graphic excess
can in fact be regarded as merely an insignificant, superficial distraction from the truly shocking
systemic violence of social control and consumerism. In regards to the systemic and objective it is
therefore the law abiding citizen who blindly accepts institutional control that is guilty of
perpetuating a horrific cycle of brutality. Žižek suggests that it is this apathy that is the real danger
in a contemporary society, stating that “sometimes, doing nothing is the most violent thing to do”13
.
Žižek’s model enables one to reinterpret the admittedly extraordinarily graphic and explicit
violence of the two texts, transforming Alex’s and Bateman’s actions from that of violent criminals
into a smokescreen, disguising a world of objective and systemic violence so not only its residents
but also the reader, are able to continue without having to acknowledge it.
However to argue that the brutal and bloody tracks that the two central characters carve
themselves throughout the course of the two texts, is solely intended to avert the reader’s attention
10
Berger, John. Against the Great Defeat of the World. Preface. World Bank Literature. Ed. Amitava Kumar.
Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 2003. xiii-xvi.
11
Žižek, Slavoj. Violence. New York: Picador, 2008.
12
Packman, Carl. Towards a Violent Absolute: Some Reflections on Žižekian Theology and Violence. ISSN 1751-
8229: IJŽS Volume Three, Number One, 2001.
13
Zizek, Slavoj. The Parallax View. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006
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away from the societies which they inhabit, is to neglect Margaret Bruder’s theory that
aestheticized violence can itself serve as a device through which meaning and importance can be
conveyed14
. The notion of aestheticized violence refers to an increasingly prevalent phenomenon
that “stylishly excessive” acts of brutality, “significant and sustained” can be regarded as what
Alexander J. Cohen refers to as a “kind of performance art”, the work of one whose form “is not
creation but destruction”15
. This idea can be seen as far back as the nineteenth century, as writer
Thomas De Quincy remarked that while the act of murder can be regarded in relation to its moral
handle, it can also be regarded aesthetically, as a means of transmitting meaning by evoking the
experience of the sublime16
.
Alex inhabits a world defined by authoritarian domination, one which is perfectly
encapsulated by the gross municipal flat-blocks from all of which can be viddied “the dancing blue
light” of the television, endlessly churning out the state approved “world-cast”17
designed to pacify
and control the population. The breaking of societal restrictions through acts of illegality and
violence have become Alex’s only means of expressing himself as an individual, establishing himself
outside of the social norm to separate himself from the “middle-class lewdies”18
who surround him.
Similarly Patrick Bateman occupies a decade so enthralled by the concept of banal consumerism,
that his violent and abhorrent behaviour represents the desperate acts of a man suffocating within
the complacent hegemony of modern America and “the fundamental yet anonymous systemic
violence of capitalism”19
.
14
Bruder, Margaret Ervin. Aestheticizing Violence, or How To Do Things with Style. Film Studies: Indiana
University, 1998.
15
Cohen, Alexander J. Clockwork Orange and the Aestheticization of Violence. Film Studies: UC Berkeley, 1998.
16
de Quincey, Thomas. On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts. PDF download: ISBN 1-84749-133-2,
1827.
17
18
19
Packman, Towards a Violent Absolute: Some Reflections on Žižekian Theology and Violence, p.12
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Žižek is therefore, to some extent wrong to simply dismiss individual, subjective violence as
nothing but a distraction, favouring to instead stress the importance of the intangible and systemic.
Cohen posits that Alex and his gang "seek idle de-contextualized violence as entertainment, an
escape from the emptiness of their dystopian society”20
, however this argument can be extended
further to suggest that both Alex and Bateman’s act of criminality are in direct opposition to societal
restrictions and therefore to Žižek’s systemic violence; acts of defiance against the idea of
conforming to consumerist banality. While traditionally Alex and Bateman have been regarded as
little more than symptomatic of the cultures from which they originate, the logical extension and
inevitable result of societies that refuse to acknowledge the inherent systemic violence that
surrounds them, this dissertation instead shall argue that the excessive violence of the two central
anti-heroes serve as a defiant rejection of the objective violence that infects contemporary society.
That the two texts' extreme and explicit depiction of violence, rather than abhorred, should be
celebrated as the efforts of those who seek to draw attention to and challenge, albeit
unconventionally, the horrors systemic within their respective dystopias.
20
Cohen, Clockwork Orange and the Aestheticization of Violence, p.19
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American Psycho: Violence, consumerism and the unreliable narrator
“ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE”21
. These choice words scrawled in blood red paint on
the side of the Chemical Bank near the corner of Eleventh and First, provide a sufficiently Dantean
introduction to Bret Easton Ellis’ dystopian world of eighties finance and the rise of Yuppie culture.
One might imagine that such an immediate warning might be intended to deter those that might
find the text’s later contents overly explicit, however its assimilation into the city’s miasma of
graffiti, refuse and advertisements for Les Misérables, suggests that it could be as much a reference
to the setting of the Ellis’ novel as it is to any subsequent events. Consideration of period and
setting is certainly critical as a part of understanding the context in which a character as twisted
and perverse as Patrick Bateman can be created, as well as identifying the role of a character’s
violent and extreme behaviour within the society being depicted. In a 2005 Q&A regarding
American Psycho Ellis explains that at the time of writing “I was slipping into a consumerist kind of
void that was supposed to give me confidence and make me feel good about myself but just made
me feel worse and worse and worse about myself”22
. Ellis’ own embittered disillusionment with
consumerism is apparent in every aspect with which he chooses to depict his dystopian view of
eighties America, becoming the basis behind what motivates Bateman as a murderous consumer.
Étienne Balibar refers to the victory of global capitalism as the advent of “an expanding
economy of global violence”23
, calling back to the Žižekian notion of a socio-economic system that
has become so ubiquitous that it becomes intangible yet systemic within society. Balibar continues
by theorizing that the intrinsic design of the capitalist system is one of incessant expansion,
however once capitalism surpasses its own limits for further growth the lack of economic
opposition results in antagonism becoming naturalised in social reality, climaxing in moments of
21
Ellis, American Psycho, p.3
22
Brien, Donna Lee. The Real Filth in American Psycho: A Critical Reassessment. M/C Journal 9, 5. 2006.
23
Balibar, Étienne. Politics and the Other Scene. New York: Verso, 2002.
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irrational aggression. Bateman is the physical embodiment of the consumerist idyll. Like the
capitalist system he has reached the limit of expansion, possessing near limitless purchasing power
and yet his disillusionment at having nothing to strive for and no limits placed upon his behaviour
is the very cause of the “nameless dread”24
that can only be quietened by compulsive and violent
behaviour. This fact is evident as Patrick searches the shelves of a video rental store, upon realising
that “there are too many fucking videos to choose from”, he is gripped by a frenzied anxiety: “Then,
almost by rote, as if I’ve been programmed, I reach for Body Double—a movie I have rented thirty-
seven times”25
.
Bateman’s obvious insanity can therefore be regarded as a means through which Žižek’s
elusive notion of systemic societal violence is made manifest, his subjective cruelty drawing
attention to the all consuming horror of capitalism rather than, as Žižek suggests, distracting from
it. Just as Lupton describes the way in which metaphor serve the linguistic function of transforming
“inchoate and intangible concepts into a form which can be expressed and quantified”26
, so to do the
actions of Ellis’ protagonist provide the reader with a means of conceptualising the toxic and
damaging effects of an otherwise abstract socio-economic ideology. This is perhaps most evident in
the first of Bateman’s numerous violent assaults, in which a "bum, a black man", sleeping among
"bags of garbage" in the East Village, is the subject of the central character’s depraved brutality.
Bateman, dressed in "a silk-lined coat by Luciano Soprani", mutilates his victim while
simultaneously berating him with phrases such as "Why don't you get a job?” and “do you think it's
fair to take money from people who do have jobs? Who do work?”27
Bateman’s words present the
murder as the extension of a socio-economic system in which accumulation is everything and the
impoverished are preyed upon by the wealthy.
24
25
26
Lupton, D. Moral threats and Dangerous Desires. London, Taylor and Francis, 1994.
27
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A similar phenomenon can be observed in the novel’s infamous representation of gendered
and sexual violence, as Bateman’s various bloody and brutal acts of violence are often indicative of
the character’s deeply internalised hatred of women. Jennifer Phillips suggests that Bateman’s
violence towards women is motivated by “a desire to consume”, that as a monster of consumer
culture he regards all women as little more than “pieces of meat” existing to satisfy his base urges28
.
This detached, emotionless attitude to sex and romance is indicated when one of his numerous
female companions becomes distraught about the abortion she is about to have, prompting Patrick
to think “this girl's favourite movie is Pretty in Pink and she thinks Sting is cool. So what is
happening to her is, like, not totally undeserved and one shouldn't feel bad for her"29
. However,
Bateman’s treatment of women extends beyond simply reflecting the all consuming nature of
modern capitalism, intended instead to represent the ultimate manifestation of the systemic
violence attached to continued patriarchy within contemporary American society. Upon revealing
to his group of male companions, that he has a large pipe with which he likes to beat women, the
group respond by laughingly admonishing Patrick for boasting about the size of his penis30
. Just as
by killing the old bum, Bateman’s subjective violence is presented as a graphic exaggeration of the
negative effects of capitalism as a socio-economic order, so to his treatment of women serves to
further challenge systemic violence, by imbuing the intangible with a literal and shocking sense of
consequence, explicitly presenting the reader with the physically grotesque effects of an objectively
violent society.
Whilst the impact of Bateman’s ferocity may certainly be felt by the reader, the same degree
of significance is not awarded to his crimes within Ellis’ novel. "I'm utterly insane… I like to dissect
girls," Patrick tells Paul Owen, only for Owen to continue with his discussion of "tanning salons or
28
Phillips, Jennifer. Unreliable Narration in Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho: Interaction between Narrative
Form and Thematic Content. Current Narratives 1: 60–68. 2009
29
30
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brands of cigars or certain health clubs"31
. In his New York Times review of the novel Stephen
Holden decries his desire for someone within the book to pass some form of moral judgment, to
declare “this is terrible”, but no such ruling is to be found32
. Bateman’s narration is rarely elevated
above a flatly detached tone of boredom and dissatisfaction and this emotional void is reflected in
the world which he inhabits; “innocence, sympathy, guilt, waste, failure, grief were things, emotions
that no one really felt anymore… Surface, surface, surface was all that anyone found meaning in”33
.
Timothy Bewes explains that a ‘reified society’ is one from which all meaning has vanished and in
which all meaningful action has become impossible; this is certainly the case with Ellis’ dystopia as
the lack of any kind of restrictions placed on the consumerist lifestyle, with limitless wealth, time
and carnal gratification, renders it meaningless34
. On multiple occasions Bateman seems to will his
murderous activities to be challenged, attending a Halloween party "as a mass murderer, complete
with a sign painted on my back that read MASS MURDERER" with a boiled human finger bone
"pinned next to my boutonniere”35
, yet the world remains oblivious. Berger describes this modern
phenomenon as “claustrophobia, at its most extreme, not caused by overcrowding, but by lack of
any continuity existing between one action and the next that is close enough to be touching it”36
.
Because of the text’s lack of any apparent form of moral admonishment, Bateman’s deplorable
behaviour can therefore in this context be regarded as a desperate search for opposition, for
consequence to his actions. In this regard therefore Patrick’s dismemberment of various colleagues
and acquaintances functions as an indictment of the vacuity arising from the meaningless
consumption of capitalism, as the reader simultaneously condemns a killer, as well as the society
that permits such an individual to exist.
31
32
Holden, Stephen. American Psycho REVIEW; Murderer! Fiend! (But Well Dressed).New York Times, 2000
33
Ellis, American Psycho, p.274-275
34
Bewes, Timothy. Reification or, the Anxiety of Late Capitalism. New York: Verso, 2002
35
36
Berger, Against the Great Defeat of the World, Preface. xiii-xvi.
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On a number of occasions however, the extent to which those with whom Bateman chooses
to surround himself appear determined to leave the central protagonist’s violent behaviour
unacknowledged and unchallenged, begins to explicitly and deliberately test the very credibility of
the novel’s narration. One such moment occurs as, attempting to dispose of the body of the recently
murdered Paul Owen, Patrick drags the corpse in a sleeping back, past an unsuspecting doorman,
before happening to run into “Arthur Crystal and Kitty Martin, who've just had dinner at Café
Luxembourg"37
. Bateman takes his time, exchanging small talk with the couple, before lifting the
bloody remains into a taxi. Similarly, when describing many of the numerous dinners, functions and
other social gatherings which Bateman feels obligated to attend, he goes into fantastic detail telling
the reader about dishes that no human could even ingest. One order in particular; “eagle Carpaccio,
mesquite-grilled mahi-mahi, endive with chèvre and chocolate-covered almonds, this weird kind of
gazpacho with raw chicken in it, dry beer"38
, though easy to overlook amid the fatly delivered listing
of consumerist pornography such as clothing and accessories, is clearly indicative of the fact that
Bateman’s representation of events is at times at odds with the novel’s near documentary style
depiction of Manhattan life.
Booth defines unreliable narration as a detectable distance between that which is reported
by the narrator and what is suggested by the ‘implied author’39
. This explanation has been criticised
by Nünning however, who posits that narrative unreliability arises not from a disparity between
events depicted and the abstract concept of an implied author’s norms and values, but from a
“discrepancy between intentions and value system of the narrator and the foreknowledge and
norms of the reader”40
. Nünning’s cognitive model enables the possible creation of infinite
37
38
39
Booth, Wayne C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. 2nd Ed. London: Longman. 1961
40
Nünning, Ansgar.. “Unreliable, Compared to What? Towards a Cognitive Theory of Unreliable Narration:
Prolegomena and Hypotheses”. Grenzüberschreitungen: Narratologie im Kontext/Transcending Boundaries:
Narratology in Context, ed. Andreas Solbach, 53–73. Tübingen: 1999.
13

interpretations of the novel, whereas Booth’s rhetorical framework “envisions a singular textual
whole”41
with one “ideal” interpretation42
. "This is my reality. Everything outside of this is like some
movie I once saw”43
. Despite the difference in their focus, both Booth and Nünning’s definitions can
be regarded as applicable to Patrick’s increasingly unrealistic representation of events within Ellis’
novel. This is particularly evident within the text’s most absurd episode; in which Bateman is
pursued by squad cars, surrounded by armed police, crashes his car into a Korean deli and shoots
dead a number of bystanders before fleeing an incoming helicopter. This chapter, which marks the
novel’s approximate halfway point, stands out as just one of many narrative idiosyncrasies, which
coupled with disappearing corpses and ATM machines with a penchant for dead cats, is intended to
suggest that Bateman’s insanity has slipped over into potential delusion and that events within the
novel should perhaps not be accepted as definite fact.
The question of the potential unreliability of Bateman’s narration is crucial when
investigating the novel’s representation of subjective, physical violence; as the logical extension of
such an interpretation forces the reader to doubt whether Patrick is in fact guilty of committing a
single crime throughout the text. Within the novel’s second chapter, as Patrick completes his
morning ablutions, he comments upon “The Patty Winters Show”, the guests being featured upon
which are “women with multiple personalities”44
. This depiction of Bateman’s morning routine
immediately follows a chapter entitled ‘April Fools’ in which the bizarre interplay between Patrick
and his companions appears to imply the possibility that he and Price might in fact be the same
individual. Curiously, having dominated the opening chapter, Price then disappears into the Fifth
Tunnel and by doing so marks the commencement of the reader’s snapshot into Bateman’s
murderous lifestyle. The narrative is later explicitly brought full circle as, “for the sake of form, Tim
41
Olson, Greta. Reconsidering Unreliability: Fallible and Untrustworthy Narrators. Narrative 11, 1. 2003 p.93–
109.
42
Shen, Dan & Dejin Xu. Intratextuality, Extratextuality, Intertextuality: Unreliability in Autobiography versus
Fiction. Poetics Today 28:1. 2007
43
44
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Price resurfaces, or at least I’m pretty sure he does”45
. Much like the women on the television,
Bateman exhibits dual personas, the ordinary man; “a bit of a dork”46
as described by Turner, with
no family or apparent emotional attachments of any kind, whose very lack of defining features
causes him to be continually mistaken for countless other young men living the Manhattan area and
that of, as presented by the text, the greatest serial killer in American history, able to mercilessly
exact his fantasies and his frustration upon any such victim he desires.
Reinforcing the notion that the novel’s depiction of violence serves as an indictment of
meaningless consumerism, Roger Cohen states that “Bateman's unspeakable imaginings are the
disease of an imperviously complacent world; the maid cleaning the blood off his walls and
throwing away gore-soaked newspapers without comment”47
. However, reinterpreting Bateman’s
violent and criminal behaviour as mere delusional fantasy, presents Patrick as the victim of the
homogenising effect of modern American society, whose only respite from the constant assault
upon his own sense of individuality, is to escape into his own invented world of carnal fulfilment.
Upon being mistaken for Markus Halberstam, Bateman does not appear phased, stating that such an
error seems a “logical faux pas since Marcus works at P&P also. In fact does the same thing I do. And
also has a penchant for Valentine suits and clear prescription glasses”48
. In a consumerist society in
which the systemic violence of capitalism destroys individual identity and transforms people into
identical, serialised products, Bateman’s fantasies provide an outlet for self expression and desire
beyond the superficial. Understood through the filter of unreliable narration, Ellis’ novel is
transformed into a subversive, satirical commentary which presents the systemic violence of
capitalism as not only harmful to those outside of it, but as also having a corrosive effect upon the
very individuality and identity of those living within its borders. By regarding the novel’s depiction
of violence not as an appalling decent into insanity, but as brief moments of respite, allowing both
45
46
47
Cohen, Roger. Bret Easton Ellis Answers Critics of American Psycho. The New York Times 6 March 1991.
48
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Patrick and the reader a quick gasp of air before returning to the suffocating and banal uniformity
of eighties urban life, it becomes evident that the text’s use of subjective brutality, rather than
disguising the objective violence inherent within capitalist society, instead stands in direct
opposition to it, representing a desire to break free of the constraints of consumerist homogony.
In this regard Ellis’ most infamous of novels reflects a disparity between the representation
of violence and the Žižekian conceptualisation of subjective acts of physical violence serving as little
more than a symptomatic distraction from the various forces of objective, systemic violence that
infest contemporary western society. Žižek theorises that “systemic violence is thus something like
the notorious 'dark matter' of physics”49
, arguing that though it is invisible to the naked eye, it
remains hugely significant as a phenomenon endemic to all current political systems. Accepting his
theoretical framework for the contrasting forms of subjective and systemic violence, it becomes
evident that Bateman’s behaviour, though undoubtedly distasteful, in many way stands in direct
opposition to the insipid forces of objective violence prevalent within Ellis’ dystopian depiction of
eighties American society. Ellis presents Bateman’s journey deep into the realms of the criminal and
the grotesque in a manner which actively challenges the hidden, endemic violence of capitalist
consumer culture; drawing it into the light, giving it form and leaving it exposed in such a way
which forces the reader to acknowledge its existence and the way in which their own apathy and
continued compliancy allows for its continuation.
A Clockwork Orange: Freewill versus social determinism
49
Zizek, The Parallax View, p.11
16

Within the introduction to Burgess’ most celebrated and controversial of novels, the author himself
asserts that his desire to represent and expound upon his own understanding of the socio-political
concepts of freewill and individuality is tied directly to his conceptualisation of the novel as “a
humane form”50
. He continues by theorising that the novel, by its very nature, is best suited to
depict the complexities of human thought, motivation and identity, positing that he believes it
impossible “to produce fiction in a community which does not accept the importance of
individuality”51
. Robert K. Morris describes the rebellious and criminal behaviour of Burgess’ young
central protagonist exhibited through much of the novel as emblematic of the ongoing conflict
between “the forces of freewill and social determinism”52
; corresponding with similar further
statements made by Burgess that he intended the novel to serve as an examination of “the
fundamental importance of free moral choice”53
. In order to properly discuss Alex’s violent and
sadistic behaviour therefore, an understanding of the social and political constraints designed to
limit the freedom of the individual within Ellis dystopian society is required, as the prescriptive and
authoritarian effects of institutional control function as the manifestation of the Žižekian notion of
systemic violence, which Alex’s illegal activities seek to challenge.
Peter Van Inwagen coined the term ‘political determinism’ as a means of labelling the
notion of individual action being merely the consequence of institutional constructs and social
factors54
. This concept is apparent within the society of the alternative Britain which Burgess
depicts, as Alex’s claim that “the government and the judges and the schools cannot allow the bad
because they cannot allow the self”55
is indicative of the institutional foundations upon which a
50
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, xxi
51
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, xxii
52
Morris K. Robert, ‘The bitter fruits of freedom’. H. Bloom (Ed.) Modem critical views: Anthony Burgess. New
York: Chelsea House, 1987 pp.37-50
53
Conversations with Anthony Burgess, ed. by Earl G. Ingersoll and Mary C. Ingersoll. Jackson: University Press
of Mississippi 2008, p. 138
54
Gallois, Andre, and Inwagen, Peter. ‘Van Inwagen on Free Will and Determinism.’ Philosophical Studies 32.1
Print. 1977, 99-111.
55
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society is formed having become bodies of oppressive social control. This fact is most easily
discernable in Burgess’ description of the municipal flat blocks in which Alex and his family live, the
image of the “terrific and very enormous mountains”, from “the windows of all of the flats you could
viddy like blue dancing light” as the residents all mindlessly absorb the same state-approved
“world-cast”56
, being suggestive of the way in which Alex’s society has been constructed specifically
to inhibit individual expression. This idea of institutional oppression through compliance to
uniform complacency carries over to Alex’s description of his own school as “that great seat of
gloopy useless learning”57
; echoing Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintess’ claim that modern
capitalist schooling seeks only “to produce a compliant and obedient labour force”58
. The theme of
capitalist institutions becoming the basis of a society which propagates a complacent acceptance of
oppression directly mirrors Ellis’ American Psycho in the way in which systemic, intangible violence
is realised. Similarly it also demonstrates a parallel between Žižek’s model for objective, societal-
violence and Foucault’s notion that ‘imprisonment’ as a symptom of modern capitalism, can be
found in institution such as schools, hospitals and military barracks59
.
Alex stands as the living embodiment of political opposition, the antithesis of the “mostly
the middle-aged middle-class lewdies”60
whom he so despises. He is the incarnation of individual
freedom and expression, his actions and behaviour, though extreme represent a conscious desire to
defy institutional oppression, as he and his gang engage in a constant conflict “fighting these big
machines”61
. Alex challenges the institutional, systemic violence of social control in a variety of
ways, ranging from his choice of attire, his use of language and the importance he places upon
aesthetic and music taste. The description of Alex and his companions preferred garments; “a pair
56
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange p.45
57
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange p.39
58
Bowles, Samuel and Gintess, Herbert, cited in Dennis Dworkin, Cultural Marxism in Post-war Britain.
Durham, NC: Duke University Press 1997, p. 161.
59
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison. New York: Random House, 1975.
60
61
18

of black very tight tights with the old jelly mould, as we called it, fitting on the crutch underneath”,
reflect a desire to transgress the social constraints of appropriate clothing and distance themselves
from the drab conformity of the compliant populous. This relationship between aesthetic taste and
defiance against institutional authority is conveyed by the comparison Alex draws between the
discarded underwear of a possible rape victim with the nude forms of the working class, depicted in
a giant mural adorning one of the monolithic buildings, with both the ‘devotchka’ and the labouring
masses having been stripped of their clothes, their individuality and their freedom. This also serves
to emphasise the connection Burgess draws between political radicalism and individualism,
presenting the individual’s ability to express and distinguish themselves from others as a means of
defying an objectively violent system. In addition to this, Alex’s use of language also signals another
way in which an expression of individuality functions as a challenge to the systemic violence of
social control, as the inclusion of Slavic roots, which Alex’s doctor states is evidence of “subliminal
penetration”62
, changes Nadsat from adolescent slang, into a political tool. Nadsat serves to “bind
collective identities of resistance” creating a “symbolic weapon” used to defy authoritarian
control63
.
The way in which Alex’s appearance, speech style and taste actively function as devices
through which the character is able to challenge the authoritarian control of a systemically violent
capitalist dystopia, is directly related to the novel’s representation of subjective and physical
violence, as all of these elements of Alex’s character are interwoven with the way in which he
inflicts harm upon others. Joseph Litvak suggests that due to ‘the politics of AIDS’ and the
representation of homosexuality in the media, that there is a tangible relationship between
aesthetic and cultural sophistication and the politically radical64
. Alex’s aesthetic sensibility is
62
63
Hollinger, Veronica, “A Language of the Future’: Discursive Constructions of the Subject in A Clockwork
Orange and Random Acts of Senseless Violence’, in Speaking Science Fiction: Dialogues and Interpretations, ed.
by Andy Sawyer and David Seed. Liverpool University Press, 2001 p.82–95
64
Litvak, Joseph, Strange Gourmets. Introduction. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997 p.4
19

directly linked with his love of subjective brutality as demonstrated by the fact that a homeless
man’s “filthy platties”, Billyboy’s “filthy, oily snout” and Dim interrupting a piece of classical music
with “one of his vulgarities" all serve as sufficient provocation to cause Alex to lash out violently65
.
Furthermore, just as the Ludovico technique leaves Alex incapable of harming others, it also robs
him of his ability to appreciate classical music, thereby implying a symbiotic relationship between
the character’s ability to express his individuality and his capacity for subjective acts of violence.
Alex’s penchant for aggressive and criminal behaviour can therefore be regarded as another way in
which his character explicitly challenges societal forces of systemic violence, extending beyond
simple, literal transgression of the law but also to one’s ability to defy complacent uniformity as a
celebration of individualism.
The parallels between Alex’s use of violence and his challenging of homogenising and
systemically violent effects of modern capitalist control are typified by the Prison Chaplain, who
explicitly acknowledges that the removal of the central protagonist’s capacity for brutality will
transform him into something less that human; “better for a man to have chosen evil than to have
good imposed upon him?"66
It is interesting that though he clearly opposes the use of the Ludovico
treatment, the Chaplain himself is unable to challenge its implementation until Alex himself is
violently attacked, resulting in a change in public opinion. This further emphasises Burgess’
inference that subjective violence, political radicalism and freedom of expression are entwined
within the context of his dystopian society. Moreover, The Chaplain’s initial refusal to publicly voice
his opposition to the treatment represents the literal manifestation of Foucault’s theory of
internalised surveillance. Foucault uses the model of the Panopticon, a prison in which the
occupants live under the threat of being constantly observed, to demonstrate the way in which
institutional surveillance and control, if abused, can become internalised affecting the individual’s
65
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, p.16, p.32 & p.18
66
20

ability to behave and make decisions freely67
. The Chaplain’s internalised fear of being discovered
and facing state persecution, prevents him from expressing his concerns. The Ludovico treatment is
the logical extension of Foucault’s model as Alex’s fear of pain forces him to modify his behaviour to
conform to the mass compliance to institutional control. Given that the Ludovico treatment inhibits
Alex’s capacity for cruel and sadistic behaviour, it becomes clear that in the context of the novel,
subjective violence acts as a means of challenging the Žižekian notion of systemic violence,
specifically the abuse of institutional authority as a means of social control. This interpretation is
once again reinforced by Foucault’s own assertion that crime and rebellion can be akin to a
declaration of war against the over extension of the ‘mechanisms of disciplinary power’68
.
Just as in the case of the debauched behaviour of Patrick Bateman, it would be remiss to
examine the representation of subjective, psychical violence within Burgess’ novel without
discussing Alex’ own predilection for abhorrent acts of sexualised violence as a means of satiating
his own brutish, carnal desires. A great many parallels can be drawn between Ellis and Burgess’
representation of gendered and sexual violence as, just like Bateman, Alex perceives much of that
which is external to him in relation to violence, sex and physical gratification. Even subsequent to
his incarceration, Alex relates his burgeoning interest in the stories of the Old Testament, to what
he describes as tales of “these starry yahoodies tolchocking each other and then peeting their
Hebrew vino and getting on to the bed with their wives’ like handmaidens”69
. Furthermore, the way
in which Alex’ reacts upon first meeting his probation officer, “sort of eating her up in two
swallows”70
, is indicative of the way in which Alex’s behaviour is at least in part motivated by sexual
desire. However, just as Patrick’s violent abuse and objectification of women can be regarded as a
means of making tangible the treatment of women in modern capitalist patriarchy, so to can Alex’s
subjective sexual violence be regarded as a microcosm through which the inchoate mistreatment
67
Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, p.191
68
Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, p.196
69
70
21

and objectification of women in contemporary society is made manifest. Upon entering a
convenience store, Alex describes “a big cut-out showing a sharp with all her zoobies going flash at
the customers and her groodies near hanging out to advertise some new brand of cancers”, he then
later remarks upon a state approved newspaper, upon which is emblazoned the photo of “a lovely
smecking young ptitsa with her groodies hanging out to advertise, my brothers, the Glories of the
Jugoslav Beaches”71
. The deplorable way in which Alex regards and treats women throughout the
course of the novel, acts as concentrated refection of the objective violence of institutional
exploitation and objectification which permeates Burgess’ dystopian Britain. Bowles and Gintess
also relate the use of sexually exploitative imagery in advertising as a means of encouraging a
society to conform to the controlling effects of modern globalisation, further indicating the
prevalence of systemic, institutional violence within the world the author has created72
. In this
regard the sexualised, subjective violence of Burgess’ novel can also be regarded as a means of
challenging negative effects of objective violence, by imbuing them with a form which forces the
reader to acknowledge their existence.
Burgess intended his novel to conclude with Alex choosing to renounce his criminal
lifestyle, having matured and identified that the celebration of individualism does not have to be
forever interwoven with his younger self’s fondness for physical subjective violence. This final
chapter however, was omitted from the novel’s initial publication within America, following
pressure from the publisher, who feared that readers might react negatively to the concept of Alex
achieving a form of redemption. Although the final chapter was included in later publications, the
irony of the author being forced to comply with institutional authority regarding the publication of
a text which focuses upon the defiance of social conformity, nevertheless serves to stress the
importance of individualist expression. Alex’s seemingly flippant statement, “what I do I do because
71
Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, p.33 & 42
72
Bowles and Gintess, cited in Dworkin, Cultural Marxism in Post-war Britain. p.161.
22

I like to do”73
, encapsulates the way Alex’s capacity to harm to others is directly tied with his
character’s ability to express his own individual identity. Žižek contends that contemporary
society’s fascination with reporting and decrying acts of subjective and physical violence enables
the systemic violence of political hypocrisy and the effect of the state and the globalised capitalist
system upon the freedom of the individual, to remain unnoticed and unchallenged74
. Burgess’ novel
refutes that assertion by demonstrating the way in which subjective violence can actively challenge
the systemic, as a means of celebrating one’s individuality, drawing attention to and acting in
defiance of the objective violence of institutional authority.
Conclusion
In his manifesto on surrealist art, André Breton posited that "L’acte surréaliste le plus simple
consiste, revolvers aux poings, à descendre dans la rue et à tirer au hasard, tant qu’on peut, dans la
73
74
Zizek, The Parallax View, p.12
23

foule" [The simplest surrealist act consists of running down into the street, pistols in hand, and
firing blindly, as fast as you can pull the trigger, into the crowd]. This sentiment was echoed by
Karlheinz Stockhausen, who claimed that the terrorist attacks of September 11, though horrific,
constituted the "greatest piece of art there has ever been"75
. Both Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange and
Ellis’ American Psycho stand as exemplary illustrations of the way in which even the most
disturbing, immoral and seemingly random act of subjective violence can function as a means
through which both the individual and the author are able to articulate meaning and significance.
The capacity for violent and criminal behaviour to act as an avenue for the expression of
individualist identity is of particular relevance within the context of dystopian societies that are
intended to mirror what Žižek calls the impersonal and anonymous function of the global market
mechanism.
Globalization transforms capitalism from an ideology into an environment, resulting in the
creation of an era of intangible institutional violence which is no longer attributable to specific
individuals and consequentially is referred to as purely objective, systemic and anonymous. Žižek
calls the intangible violence of capitalism “the underlying real antagonism in society, much more
uncanny than direct pre-capitalist socio-ideological violence”76
. Žižek theorises that typically the
way in which subjective, physical violence functions as a means of distracting attention away from
the issues of societal, objective violence, allowing for those that live within the sphere of western
capitalism to continue without having to acknowledge societies true injustices and their own
culpability for them. In the case of the two novels however, it is clear that the opposite is in fact the
case, as the subjective violence of Patrick and Alex act as direct and at times explicit challenges to
the objective violence of a society which seeks to replace individual freedom and identity with
forced compliance to a system of capitalist conformity. Though the two novels reflect a great
number of similarities in the way which their respective anti-heroes’ sadistic brutality serves not
75
Black, Joel. The Aesthetics of Murder. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 1991
76
Žižek, Violence, Introduction, xiii
24

only to draw attention to the negative effects of capitalism but also acts as a outlet for individual
expression, American Psycho appears rather more bleak in its representation, as Patrick
experiences the world as radically closed; “This is not an exit”, capable of only escaping the
seemingly endless citation of superficial commodities by descending further into a delusional world
of violence.
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Berkeley, 1998.
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Times. 6 March 1991: C13+.
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University Press of Mississippi, 2008 p. 138
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