A Clockwork Orange Essay - 551 Words

A Clockwork Orange Authors who write of other times and places help us to better understand our own lives. Discuss A Clockwork Orange in terms of that statement. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;A â€Å"clockwork orange† can be described as something that has a convincing outer appearance yet in the inside is merely controlled by outer influences, such as a clock set in motion by its owner. In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess takes us into the future where violent criminals are forced to be â€Å"good,† and introduces us to Alex, a young teen who engages in a life of rape, ultra-violence, and Beethoven with his â€Å"droogs,† or friends, and talks in the slang language of â€Å"nadsat.† He goes through various phases in his life, evolving into a more†¦show more content†¦All humans are born with the desire to do evil, and thus we can justify Alex’s violent actions. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Eventually, Alex’s friends betray him and set him up to be imprisoned, where he is conditioned to hate evil and to become sick at the mention or thought of evil, as well as the music he so used to enjoy. Alex walks out as a new person: one who is totally â€Å"good,† yet has no choice to be bad. He is a walking robot conditioned by the government – a clockwork orange. After much turmoil and anxiety, Alex is â€Å"fixed,† and once more has free will. In the final chapter, we see how Alex finally matures and frees himself from outside control. He decides to find a wife to take care of his son. In doing so, he realizes how his youth was that of a clockwork orange and we see how this realization breaks him from the control it had over him. This can be seen in our lives in that we eventually become morally responsible and take steps toward fulfilling our obligations in life. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Burgess points out an interesting question in this novel. Would it be better to be forced to do good or to choose evil with freedom of choice? Would it be right to live our lives â€Å"perfectly,† on the condition that we had no control over it? Burgess states his answer in the words spoken by the prison chaplain, who says, â€Å"When a man ceases to choose, he ceases to be aShow MoreRelatedA Clockwork Orange1450 Words   |  6 PagesAnthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel set in an oppressive, futuristic state. Published in 1962, A Clockwork Orange is an extremely intense, graphic, and, at times, horrifying novel. A reader begins to question their own values as they become numb and desensitized to the violence at hand. Both behaviorism and free will is occurring throughout A Clockwork Orange. A Clockwork Orange brings up a question, how much control of our own free will do we actually have? Do we reallyRead More A Clockwork Ora nge Essay: Blindness in A Clockwork Orange970 Words   |  4 PagesBlindness in A Clockwork Orange In the novel, A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess has tried to show the importance of individual freedom over doing the right thing. He has taken an extreme example of violence and perverse acts to accent his strong belief. It is my opinion that Burgess has been blinded to some essential truths in his quest to ensure personal freedom. Personal freedom can be described as acting upon your own accord and not becoming restricted by the social paradigm in which youRead MoreEssay on A Clockwork Orange916 Words   |  4 Pages I think that A Clockwork Orange is a book worth reading because it is relatable, makes you think, and is interesting. The author, Anthony Burgess, was born February 25, 1917. At the young age of two his mother passed away. He was brought up by his aunt and later his stepmother. Even with such an unstable childhood Burgess continued on to enroll in college and major in English. He had a passion for music, which he expressed in the main character of A Clockwork Orange. Burgess wrote several accomplishedRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay553 Words   |  3 PagesA Clockwork Orange We are first introduced to Alex (Malcolm McDowell) in the company of his posse, strangely sipping drugged milk in a freakish bar with anatomically indiscrete manikins serving as tittie-taps and tables. The ensuing scenes flash from Alex and his three droogs brutally beating an old man to a violent rape scene to a semi-chaotic gang-brawl. The story is of Alex and his love of the old ultra-violence, his act of murder, his betrayal and imprisonment, and his cure (twice). Read MoreA Clockwork Orange Analysis1497 Words   |  6 PagesOn the surface a Clockwork Orange written in 1962 by Anthony Burgess appears to be a protest novel criticising a totalitarian government’s prohibition of free will and censoring free speech. The Government in A Clockwork Orange appears extremely socialistic and it extends complete control over all its citizens, Burgess appears to abhors the lack of freedom in government-controlled societies and as a result despite Alex’s violent crimes Burgess paints the removal of free will through the LudovicoRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay612 Words   |  3 Pages A Clockwork Orange nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;To leave out the final chapter of A Clockwork Orange is to change the entire meaning of the novel; as Burgess says in the introduction, his story is transformed into a fable. Without the last chapter the reader is left with a dark and pessimistic theme, that absolute good and evil exist in this world and it is possible for a man to be pure evil. Alex is conditioned and unconditioned, and in the end all indications point to a malicious life of crimeRead MoreAnthony Burgess and A Clockwork Orange987 Words   |  4 PagesImagine existing in a world run by sadistic and insane street gangs who reek havoc on innocent civilians, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. Anthony Burgess created this world through his novel, A Clockwork Orange. Anthony Burgess was born in 1917 and died in 1963. A lot of social changes occurred during this period of time, such as: the roaring twenties, prohibition, the Great Depression, World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and many more. Burgess not only lived through thoseRead MorePleasantville And A Clockwork Orange Essay1335 Words   |  6 Pages Pleasantville and A Clockwork orange are both films that have certain things that are abnormal. Pertaining to Pleasantville it begins in black and white and end to be in color because of being exposed of certain things. In a Clockwork Orange that is exposed with violence robbery is highly unusual because it is not something morally right to do. While analyzing both of these movies they both have certain distortions that can be covered that make their own individually, out of ordinary, a tad shockingRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay2139 Words   |  9 PagesA Clockwork Orange Eat this sweetish segment or spit it out. You are free.amp -Anthony Burgess Anthony Burgess has been heralded as one of the greatest literary geniuses of the twentieth century. Although Burgess has over thirty works of published literature, his most famous is A Clockwork Orange. Burgess’s novel is a futuristic look at a Totalitarian government. The main character, Alex, is an amp;quot;ultra-violentamp;quot; thief who has no problem using force against innocent citizensRead More Clockwork Orange Essay example2225 Words   |  9 PagesClockwork Orange In all of my reading, I have come to the conclusion that Anthony Burgess is one of the greatest literary genius’s of the twentieth century. His masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange, is unrivaled in obvious depth, insight, and innovation. The novel is a work of such quality, such perfection, that it seems to be genuinely written by a literary demigod. The novels main theme deals with free choice and spiritual freedom. More specifically, [The ethical promise that A man