Which would you prefer: a repressive police state where anyone who steps out of line gets beaten to a pulp or hauled off to prison, or a state that maintains order by funneling law-breakers and dissidents into the army where they can be killed off lickety-split? If neither of those options sounds good to you, you may not sympathize with the people of The Wanting Seed. As in Anthony Burgess's most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange, The Wanting Seed explores the depths of violence and mistreatment that citizens are willing to endure in the name of social "stability."
Questions About Rules and Order
- What are the major differences between the "greyboys" and the "Poppol" (i.e., the "Population Police") in The Wanting Seed?
- Why aren't police forces compatible with the Augustinian view of human nature and society (as The Wanting Seed describes it)?
- How would you describe the State in The Wanting Seed? Is it democratic? Totalitarian? Fascist? Oligarchic?
Chew on This
Although the repressive police state in the first half of The Wanting Seed uses explicit violence against British citizens, the situation in the second half of the novel is even worse. Not only does the British Army "exterminate" British citizens, it fools them into thinking that they are dying honorably, and by choice.
The Wanting Seed's satirical critique targets police brutality and military idealism equally. Ultimately, the novel condemns all use of violence as a means of maintaining law and order.