Language as a Tool

There exists a highly diverse arsenal of tools that authors can and often do use to establish the tone and setting of their works. As has been recently discussed in class, this can be exhibited through the construction of the plot itself, allusions to other works or events, the use of metaphor and figurative language, along with a vast array of other techniques. One specific tool example sticks out to me from my years of reading: the use of language itself to deepen the setting and ideas behind a work of literature.




Now, I want to be specific about this: while the diction and syntax of the writer clearly play important roles in  any work, the use of language is a different matter entirely. Perhaps one of the most influential examples of this is the "Newspeak" invented by George Orwell and used in his novel 1984. This watered-down, shrinking language served as the perfect symbol for the oppression and control by the state. From the very beginnings of that particular novel, language revealed the utilitarian intentions of the government to eliminate resistance and free thought. However, language as a tool is not limited to this sort of future or alternate reality: in the highly renowned Lord of the Rings trilogy, J.R.R. Tolkien uses invented languages (most memorably Elvish) to deepen the world he created and to express the diversity of its peoples.

And now I suppose it would be best to reveal the inspiration for this post itself: my current independent reading novel, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Of what I've read in this novel to date, all of the narration and the vast majority of dialogue is written in a highly altered form of the English language known as "Nadsat". A combination of English, Russian, rhyming and gypsy slang, this language was highly intimidating as a reader - through it grew relatively easy to understand surprisingly quickly.

For example, "The night belonged to me and my droogs and all the rest of the nadsats, and the starry burgeois lurked indoors drinking in the gloopy worldcasts, but the day was for the starry ones, and there always seemed to be more rozzes or millicents about during the day too,"
translates to, "The night belonged to me, my friends, and all of the other young folk, while the old middle-class stayed inside watching the boring news, but the day was for the older folk, and there always seemed to be more police around then too.

While I'm not yet finished with the book, and therefore can't completely explain the function of Nadsat in this novel, I can at least explore some of the reasons behind it. For one, it gives the protagonist Alex a unique voice that isn't lost to the changes in language that come with time. It helps express his disdain and resistance to organized society, and more fully develops the teenage subculture A Clockwork Orange represents.