brew of life essays

brew of life essays Anthony Burgess, Selective Individualist It is often said that life is full of choices and the choices you make is what makes you yourself. Society, however, has since the dawn of time tried to control the thoughts of individuals by forcing ideas upon them that destroys the person on a mental and emotional level while crushing their physical well-being. With the thoughts of a perfect world, people often forget that when you force a society to conform to standards you also kill the society's existence in the process, making it more machine that human. It takes a strong and educated person to realize these mistakes made by society and try to show others why it's wrong to try force conformity. Anthony Burgess' belief that "a man who cannot choose ceases to be a man" is exemplified in most of his works, but most notably in A Clockwork Orange in which a so-called good society tries to change the psyche of a troubled Born John Anthony Burgess Wilson, Anthony Burgess is a man of great stature and respect. "A big man of sturby, ramshackle appearance, with a blunt disarming manner and awesome energy (Clemons 56)." He loved life and expressed it in his works of literature. Born in Manchester, England during the influenza epidemic, during which his mother and sister passed away soon after his birth, Burgess' was ignored by his father who he received little to no attention from. This, however, allowed him to create the thoughts and ideas which he preaches. He was a man of little religious belief because he questioned why man was put on earth. Burgess believed that people should live life in the present not for the future, which labeled him an anarchist by the church of England. He didn't mind the accusations though, he was content with the life he led. (Clemons 56) Anthony Burgess was a frail child, secluded from the world. At the age of four he used his time to try and discover a ta...