The Wanting Seed: A Literary Analysis

In Anthony Burgess’ The Wanting Seed, the story starts off, in what is known to the main character, Tristram, as the Pelphase. Tristram is a history teacher and knows mostly all there is to know about history. According to Tristram, governments go through three phases: the Pelphase, the Interphase, and the Gusphase. Tristram believes that like almost everything else, government is cyclical.
The Pelphase is a time in the government and society where the people are working to better themselves, their surroundings and their country. The people don’t just work for themselves; they work together. Overpopulation has always been a problem in the futuristic London that Burgess portrays. God has become a myth even though some still practice their religion. God has turned into some sort of Santa Clause because everyone is working to better the problems that they and the government are having. The government suggests that homosexuality could help the population troubles, but they don’t enforce it or make it law. People have the choice to have children or be homosexual. The government hands out
People were going crazy in the streets, killing and looting. The government had no control over anything anymore. Hungry groups of people started attacking and cooking up Greyboys. They were creating exclusive cannibalistic dining clubs and taking part in intense orgies. The government lost so much of the control it once had, all of the prisons were emptied and the prisoners set free. With so much chaos going on, people were forced to fend for themselves and it became survival of the fittest. During all of the madness, priests and bishops were aloud to preach the word of their God again and that is what people held on to in this time of madness. The Gusphase, just like the Interphase, didn’t last long. The government eventually regained control of the population and things were back to the way they started,