Who is the new director of barc?

Do you think that A Clockwork Orange could be prequel to Brave New World?

• The Clockwork Orange both possesses thematic and chronological elements both present in, and alluded to in, Brave New World. Ranging from the unrestricted power of the authorities(Police in A Clockwork Orange and….well Brave New World's examples are everywhere) That and….it just seems right, ya know? For instance, the director of the DHC in Brave New World alludes to the encroaching government control of its citizens, the discovery of, and implementation of hypnopaedia, the political and social unrest, and the following "Nine Year War". From a chronological standpoint, it seems easy to assume that the events of A Clockwork Orange could either take place shortly before/after the events of The Nine Year war. This can be seen through the citizen's reliance on "government jobs", the drugged hallucinogenic milk (a prototype of "soma", perhaps?), the resistance groups (heavily alluded to in Brave New World's take on the Nine Year War, and present in A Clockwork Orange in the form of criminals and gangs), the first attempts at literally stripping people of their free will(A still-in-testing The Ludovico Technique in A Clockwork Orange and a refined fetus-drugging, baby-torturing "free will" stripping in Brave New World). Also, the director of the DHC in Brave New World explicitly states that those who were art-goers and culture lovers were the first to go, which is only mirrored in A Clockwork Orange's portrayal of the anarchist pro-Freedom writers/artists. Yes the similarities could be taken as two books merely sharing thematic elements----but I just don't see it that way. From a chronological standpoint, it seems completely reasonable to assume that A Clockwork Orange could be the unofficial prequel to Brave New World(again, assuming A Clockwork Orange takes place shortly before/after The Nine Year War) What are your thoughts? Could A Clockwork Orange stand as a prequel to the events of Brave New World? Would it chronologically mesh with Brave New World's pre-society timeline?

• Answer:

  No, I do not. I believe it would be an erroneous "assumption" since, chronologically Brave New World was written in 1931 and was the author's view of what the future might look like if the events of that era (approx. 1900 - 1930) were to succeed and evolve. A Clockwork Orange was written in 1962 and was more of an argument against Pavlovian techniques being applied (teenage) criminals. It was in response to the Mods/Rockers melees which were taking place throughout England at the time and the outcry about the juvinile delinquency that appeared to be rampant. It was also am ethical question: If you "condition" someone to respond a certain way, does that not remove the "free will" that is supposed to be inherent in everyone? Are you a "good" person because you do/don't do something, not because it is your choice but because you do not have a choice due to the conditioning. By the end of the novel, Alex, now 18, starts to realize he is becoming an adult and no longer feels like having the old in-out with a choodessny devotchka or indulging in some ultra-violence with some lewdie. He realizes he will have to explain all this to his own son and also, that his son will disdain to listen to him, just as he has his own pe and em.