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The Wanting Seed 
Anthony Burgess

The only other Burgess novel I've read besides this one had been A Clockwork Orange (which is definitely up on my top ten lists of favorite novels). It's pretty hard to beat A Clockwork Orange considering it's up there on my favorite novel(la)s of all time, but The Wanting Seed did have similar running themes, namely corruption of the government and the issue of free will and individuality.

The novel introduces us to our two protagonists, Tristram Foxe and Beatrice-Joanna Foxe, who have just lost their first and only son. The government is enforcing population control, stating by law that each couple is only allowed one child, and that heterosexuality is frowned upon. Initially Tristram is unaware that his wife is having an affair with his brother, Derek Foxe, but after Tristram finds out he kicks Beatrice out and she goes to live with her sister, Mavis, and Mavis' husband Shonny. Tristram is sent to jail after accidentally getting mixed up in a protest, and during his time in the cell the outside world and laws are changing rapidly.

Burgess describes the government as going through three stages; Pelphase, Interphase, and Gusphase. Pelphase is characterized as believing that individuals are inherently good and that society runs smoothly based on people's intentions to do good. Interphase occurs when the government is dissatisfied when realizing that people do not always act in good ways and thus try to control and enforce laws on society, leading to the eventual Gusphase. However, this is not a linear cause of events, but rather a cycle that gets repeated over and over throughout history. Burgess cycle shows us how history repeats itself and how society is never inherently just or evil, that good and evil fluctuate over time and each individual in a society have the capacity to do both good and evil. Even with our protagonists, they each make decisions that hurts the other or goes against what the reader may believe to be the 'right' choice.

 Sexual orientation is also a running theme in The Wanting Seed. Because of the heavy enforcement of population control, homosexuality is encouraged and seen as superior to heterosexuality. The government views homosexuality as something to aspire to, something that is fluid, but it is apparent from Derek's attempt to come across as a homosexual man, yet having a sexual affair with his brother's wife, that fitting in with a homosexual orientation is possible, but biology still plays a role in one's sexual orientation.

Also towards the end of the novel, Tristram gets involved in the war, but a war that is portrayed as having no significant impact, and no clear cut enemy to fight against. Violence and death occur not as an attempt at change and overthrowing the current order of things, but rather as another means of population control that those with higher status have complete control of. Tristram is the only individual in the last nine months that survived the so-called 'war', and manages to escape, just at the same time that the cycle of Pelphase is beginning. The struggle between man's good intentions and freedom rising and falling with man's cynicism and inability to be good is something that history, and our future, will never escape from.

Little Squirrel Gives It: 6.5/10

Next to Review: Breaking Bad - Season 4, Episode 4.