Government Control and Free Will in A Clockwork Orange...

A Clockwork Orange, a novel written by Anthony Burgess in the 1960’s takes place in dystopian future in London, England. The novel is about a fifteen year old nadsat (teenager) named Alex who along with his droogs (friends) commit violent acts of crime and opts to be bad over good. In time, Alex finds himself to be in an experiment by the government, making him unable to choose between good and evil, thus losing his ability of free will, and being a mere clockwork orange. A â€Å"clockwork orange† is a metaphor for Alex being controlled by the government, which makes him artificial because he is unable to make the decision of good verses evil for himself and is a subject to what others believe is right. In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess†¦show more content†¦Finally, at the end of the novel in Part Three, Alex is â€Å"cured† and has reverted back to his previous state of having a choice between being good or evil, thus acquiring that sense of free w ill once more. In part one of the novel, we witness the ability of free will that Alex possesses and his ability to choose between good and evil through contrast presented by darkness of night and lightness of day. At the beginning of the novel, Alex and his droogs (friends), Pete, Georgie, and Dim are at the Kovova Milkbar, roaming the streets and committing violent acts during night. Alex and his droogs encounter an old man who is drunk and is singing a sentimental song. Alex instantly chooses the path of evil with the free will that he encompasses, and along with his droogs they beat the old man while laughing at his misery. The old man complains about the â€Å"stinking world† and says, â€Å"It’s a stinking world because it lets the young get on to the old like you done, and there’s no law nor order no more.† (Part 2, Chapter 2, Page 12) At night, Alex uses violence and chooses to beat, rape, and murder innocent people because it shows that he has freedom of choice and has authority and power in society. Alex’s interpretation of darkness and night is, â€Å"The night belonged to me and my droogs and all the rest of the nadsats (teenagers), and the starry bourgeois lurked indoors†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Part 1, Chapter 4, Page 33). In contrast,Show MoreRelatedAnthony Burgess and A Clockwork Orange987 Words   |  4 Pagesnothing 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 those changes, but also helped influences some social changes in literature and music. Anthony Burgess was a jack-of-all-trades throughoutRead MoreA Clockwork Orange1450 Words   |  6 PagesAnthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel set in an oppres sive, 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 What Title? 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In his novel A Clockwork Orange (1962),Read MoreCritical Analysis Of A Clockwork Orange791 Words   |  4 Pages A Clockwork Orange is a modern science fiction classic that should not be missed. Anthony Burgess describes a very dark and disturbing near future that is scary mostly because it seems so possible. Young thugs and gangs run amok leaving a wake of violence. The only thing more terrifying is the State and their way of dealing with criminals. A Clockwork Orange is told from the first person viewpoint of a young teenage thug named Alex. This viewpoint along with the futuristic street languageRead MoreEssay on The Need for Brutality in A Clockwork Orange 4668 Words   |  19 Pages   Ã‚  Ã‚   Burgess A Clockwork Orange, a critically acclaimed masterstroke on the horrors of conditioning, is unfairly attacked for apparently gratuitous violence while it merely uses brutality, as well as linguistics and a contentious dà ©nouement, as a vehicle for deeper themes. Although attacks on A Clockwork Orange are often unwarranted, it is fatuous to defend the novel as nonviolent; in lurid content, its opening chapters are trumped only by wanton killfests like Natural Born Killers. BurgessRead More A Clockwork Orange Essay551 Words   |  3 Pages 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