Societal Infestations: Clockers

Richard Price's Clockers is a novel based the infestation of crime and race that run rampant throughout society. The novel offers a profound examination into this infestation through two characters: Strike, a lieutenant in a group of drug dealers, aptly titled "clockers" and Rocco, a homicide detective who is very experienced in his profession. These characters' stories are intertwined when Strike's brother, Victor, takes the blame for a murder of Rocco’s partner, Daryl and Rocco seemingly becomes obsessed with the idea that Victor is covering for Strike. The story is centered on what is right and wrong in society, and the predicaments that result from inner city crime. Price sets the scene for a murder mystery draped across a New Jersey backdrop. It is a classic whodunit as the reader is pulled into Price's examination on society’s problems.

One of the first themes that Price injects is that society believes it is every man for himself. While Strike has a group of drug dealers that he works with, he is forced to deal with the undeniable prospect that he is on his own. Price writes "nobody knew for sure which side anybody was on; no one really knew. Being in this business was like walking blindfolded through a minefield. Most people who last out here lived by the same rules as Strike did. You got to have a main somebody to cover you. You didn't have to trust him completely, but alone is tough"1. Price aptly weaves together a character that can shed light on the disjointed aspects of society. We have ignored the harmonious unity that we should be striving for and instead replaced it with a psychology of being on guard and wondering who is with you or against you.

Additionally, Price’s motives for writing Clockers can be likened to exposing the harsh stereotypes that criminals often face when they are trying to avert the infestation of crime that they have become wrought with. Strike is a drug dealer who wants to get out of the business and flee the infestation. Price adds that "Strike experienced a moment of pure clarity: he would never make it out of here, would never rise above his current position as Rodney's lieutenant, because all the intelligence and prudence and vision came to nothing if it wasn't tempered and supported by a certain blindness, an oblivious animal will that Rodney had, that he, Strike did not have. Rodney would survive all this not because of his guts or his brains but because he understood that there was no real life out here on the street, no real lives other than his own, and that what really mattered was coming first in all things, in all ways and at all costs" 1 (p242). In examining that quote, Price’s aim is to get the reader to consider the inner city disintegration and how many criminals feel that they will forever be criminals regardless of their determination to no longer be that denotation. Given how society treats criminals, it stands to reason that Price has a point when he aptly writes on Strike’s moment of clarity.

Finally, Price attacks the issue of race that still echoes like a ghost throughout society. He uses the character of Rocco in that regard when Rocco tells Victor "hey look, I'm on your side. I'm not trying to screw you here. Believe it or not, I'm doing what I'm not supposed to be doing. I'm helping you organize your defense, I'm allowing you to put your justifications on record in your recorded confession [...] c'mon Victor, I can't do it alone. Help me help you"1 (p292). It is a wide known fact that police continually harass suspects and more emphatically Black ones. Rocco is not on Victor's side, which is easily detectable in the language Price uses. Would Rocco be treating a criminal of a different ethnicity differently? It can be assumed based on consensus that a non-Black criminal would be treated better than Victor was, as in even today's society there is discrimination in the criminal justice system. But this is Price's point in the exchange, to allow the issue of race to rise to the surface and with any hope finally be dealt with head on.

Clockers, was written in the early 90's. A time when society was relentlessly searching to solve its ills and yearning for societal change. These ills have continued to ripple within society throughout the years. While Price's book was a timely and gritty novel which had hopes of unearthing such issues, the dial has not moved much with respect to the infestation of inner city crime and the overwhelming dilemmas that arise from it.

Reference List

1. Price, R. Clockers. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company; 1992.