A Clockwork Orange

It may be difficult to argue that beauty is found often in A Clockwork Orange, mainly due to the brutal subject matter and events. Most people wouldn't find much art or beauty in slums or violence, excepting of course the romanticized portraits of such dark aspects of life. The addition of a reality, alternate realities, or even the lack of any reality, becomes critically important when viewing an artist's creation. It may or may not be purposeful, which does lend itself to chaos. Art refuses consistency and deviates from any mold it is placed in. It defies dictionaries and is far from universal. Art is chaos. Art is how we perceive chaos, and attempt to define the undefinable. Why is it that a piece can evoke such emotion even when so little of it is understood? The viewer doesn't need to know anything about the medium, the techniques, the process of creation, or the artist in order to judge the piece and react to it. I suppose the slang language used in the underworld of A Clockwork Orange is the most obvious example of art and creation in the novel, or at least that's how it appears to me. There is something artful about deception and manipulation; the medium just changes from inanimate objects to other people.

In a modern world, can one find sanctuary? If so, where?

I believe one can always find sanctuary somewhere; a sanctuary has a different definition unique to each person. I don't think a modern world has the power to take away something so variable. Whereas I may take sanctuary in drawing or music, another person may find it through writing or religion or even by being in a certain place that has meaning to him. It is impossible to regulate such a thing. Sanctuary is comfort, is metaphysical. It may even be escape or imagination. A building cannot claim the title of sanctuary with a plaque. Such a title must be earned. A modern world may provide more distractions and make it difficult to find peace certainly, but I don't believe it can take it away.

Crime and Punishment

Crime and Punishment is a psychological novel and rarely, if at all, discusses or includes traditional art. The characters in the novel are not in financial situations to permit such frivolous spending or occupation. The novel is more concerned with logic than creativity, and yet to argue well a certain degree of creativity and fast thinking is required. I suppose the most artful rhetoric occurs between Raskolnikov and Porfiry, as each pits his wits against the other. Chaos is definitely present in this novel and these competitions do nothing to reconcile the madness; on the contrary, they exacerbate it. Furthermore, Svidrigailov's arguments are undoubtedly creative, perhaps too much so. He ponders, " 'Instead of all that, what if [eternity is] one little room, like a bath house in the country, black and grimy and spiders in every corner, and that's all eternity is? I sometimes fancy it like that' " (288). His thoughts could perhaps be described as chaotic; philosophy lends itself to abstract thinking. He also regards Raskolnikov with interest and with some amusement. After Raskolnikov denies him permission to see Dounia, Svidrigailov "laughs openly. 'But this is what the French call bonne guerre, and the most innocent form of deception' " (280). The paradoxical statement, "bonne guerre", meaning good war, is indicative of his skewed view of the world. He takes pleasure in chaos and creating a stir.

What role does chaos play in the creation of art?
Chaos is a form of creation; it renews and changes the old. Recycling aspects of the old and throwing them together haphazardly to create the new is no easy task; indeed, it may possibly be more difficult than merely beginning from a blank canvas. How can something be made unique when it is constructed from past presentations? Furthermore, even if it is unique, is it worthy of being considered art? Chaos combines elements in an effort to make collision beautiful. Long have I struggled to find a niche in my art that allows me to differentiate myself. Sure, I can draw, but I generally find myself imitating. Potential ideas swirling in my head rarely become concrete and even when one manages to, it often appears in a different form than I intended. Some of my most beautiful pieces were mistakes, accidents that occurred unconsciously, unprovoked, chaotically. Chaos tends to exist in extremes, as do its depictions. I have found that my collage pieces, the pieces expressing not only an image but an idea, are spectacular either in their beauty or their disaster. It seems that failures outnumber the successes; similarly, the ecstasy of success outweighs the pain of failure. My failures can be redeemed and may even lead to success, and I have not found a piece once deemed a success that turned to failure.

Conversely, art may occasionally create discord. As seen in The Playboy of the Western World, Christy's story spins wildly out of control and sends the village into an uproar. Storytelling can be a form of art if done well.