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Clockwork orange critical reading
Clockwork orange critical reading
The clockwork orange
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Calculated Captivation
"Goodness comes from within, 6655321. Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man."
In Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange, a sadistic adolescent of the not-so-distant future is ‘rehabilitated’ of his violent nature by a special conditioning treatment. This fifteen year-old hoodlum Alex McDowell is ‘cured’ of his savage activities but when released back into a still violent society, he is a misfit. Anthony Burgess’ skillful art of manipulation is able to change the reader’s opinion from hating Alex for his malicious ways, to feeling captivated by him, as he becomes a ‘victim of a modern age’. To understand how this deception is accomplished it is important to examine the major turning points in Alex’s life, and how Burgess presents them. To begin, Burgess displays Alex’s villainous disposition, which causes the reader to hate and resent him. Through the aid of the State’s treatment Alex is reformed, at which point Burgess allows the reader to determine and develop an opinion of whether this treatment is morally acceptable or not. In the end however it is obvious that Alex has become a true "Clockwork Orange’ and despite the previous opinion of the reader, Burgess reveals the outcome in a way that causes a sense of relief and is pleased to see Alex back to ‘normal’.
	It is fascinating to consider that Burgess may have written A Clockwork Orange as a prophetic view of warning to future societies. He was a peaceful person who didn’t want the stark consequences of the fictional Alex to become a grim reality. Through the first of three parts in the novel Burgess displays Alex as the embodiment of all that society would like to ignore or eliminate - but can’t. This first person narrative is told by Alex a youth of fifteen, who spends his nights with his "droogs", terrorizing the public with their bits of "ultra violence" and engaging in the old "in-out in-out". He beats the elderly, fights other gangs with his "britva", robs stores, breaks into houses, rapes young girls, drinks milk laced with drugs (moloko) and is eventually convicted of murder. Burgess portrays the immature Alex, as a mixture of good and evil possibilities with evil taking the upper hand. As the reader is taken deeper into Alex’s morbidly exciting world, he/she begins to feel complete hatred towards Alex. Not only does Burgess permit Alex to commit such heinous crimes, he describes them in a very disturbing manner.
In conclusion it is seen that Alex has effectively changed into a man and has become a morally sensitive individual. He, for himself has chosen good
Both, vision and mission statements provide purpose to organizations. Therefore, they should set the foundation for the strategic planning process. However, if and organizations strategic direction evolves, leaders should consider revising the organization’s mission and vision
2. Thompson and Strickland (2002), Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, 13th Edition, Chicago Irwin Publications.
to read. A Clockwork Orange is an interesting book, to say the least, about a young teenager, named Alex, who has lost his way, so to speak, and commits several serious crimes. These crimes that Alex and his “droogs” commit include: murdering, raping, beat downs, robbery, etc.
The film, “A Clockwork Orange,” is, to me, an almost exact replica of today’s society. Basically, one kid, who seems to have come from a financially sound home and community, goes through about three stages--1. He violates the laws society has set forth to maintain order. 2. He is caught and punished for his crimes against society. 3. He feels remorse for his violence and sexually deviance (although, at the end of the film, he’s back to his old, delinquent self).
First published in 1962 (McNamee), follows fifteen year old Alex. The novel starts with Alex recounting a typical night of "ultraviolence" that he and his "droogs" participate in. The night includes drinking, drugs, and violence of the worst kind including rape. Eventually this lifestyle catches up to him, and Alex is arrested (Burgess 67). He is offered the opportunity to participate in an experimental procedure that it is believed will cure him of his violent behavior and his sentence is reduced (82). When he is released, Alex realizes that the treatment has rendered him effectively unable to make his own decisions about whether to do the right or the wrong thing as well as sucking pleasure out of every day things he used to enjoy such as music and art (156). Alex finds himself at the mercy of a man he had crossed in the past (167) and attempts to commit suicide (169). In the original British edition of the book, the final chapter reveals that after waking up in the hospital, Alex's went on to finally grow up and settle down, however in the first published version to reach America this final 21st chapter was left out so that the novel ended with the failing of the conditioning and Alex returning to his old ways (Jarvis).
The two works suggest that freedom of choice needs to be taken away for the greater good of society. In A Clockwork Orange, social safety and security are the driving forces behind removing freedom from the people, especially Alex, the main character. The start of the movie depicts the struggle of a violent youth that exercises free will in an oppressive but safe and stable society. Alex and his gang, termed droogs, symbolize free will as they attempt to liberate themselves from all government limitations. They indulge in vices shunned by the society such as rape and murder, and bring out the dark side of free will by expressing themselves against a society that encourages safety. Alex’s violent nature makes him a threat and in an attempt to impose order, the government forces Alex to be “transformed out of all recognition” (A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick). T...
Marie Antoinette was the 15th child of Maria Theresa and Francis I. Marie Antoinette. She focused her education mainly on religious and she was the last queen of France. She helped exasperate the turbulence which led to the French Revolution and to the conquest of the throne in August 1792. She became a figure head to grant an audience to the monarchy. She was distinguished with the honors of saying “Let them eat cake” even though there was no proof that she literally said it.
As a teenager, Marie spent her time enjoying Versailles' and Paris' night life with a notorious clique and fondness of making fashion statements through extravagant couture and bold coiffures (“The Grand Dauphin”). ...
A Clockwork Orange was claimed by many to be Burgess's greatest accomplishment. The main character, Alex, is a young teen with a drive for violence, rape and general rebellion without remorse, yet he still has a charming intelligent quality. The law finally catches him and he is convicted of murder and sentenced to 14 years in prison. After two years he becomes aware of a route to early release and after killing a cellmate he is elected (almost voluntarily) to be the first to travel it. However, the process is not at all what he expected it to be. He soon finds himself being subjected to immoral films and induced illness to condition him to become ill at even the thought of a "bad" act. When conditioning is complete, A...
And a Clockwork universe is comparing the universe as a mechanical clock, it’s a perfect contraption, but every aspect of it is science controlling it. So, I asked questions after each paragraph about Alex. With Alex being a deviant criminal in the beginning due to his environment which wasn’t his fault for being the way he was to being put through “treatment” that cured him to be a perfect citizen, he still wasn’t fully “cured”. Once Alex was put into the real world he became the perfect victim, and he was put through horrific acts just like he used to do to his victims and tried to commit suicide. With jumping out a window Alex’s new conditioning isn’t a thing anymore, he doesn’t get ill when subjected to violence and is able to listen to his favorite song by Beethoven without getting sick also. Once Alex figures out that he doesn’t get violently ill when subjected to these things government officials apologize to him and compensate him for their fault. The camera pans out and Alex just smirks at the camera, so will he learn from this experience and learn new ways to cope with violence or was it all a waste and goes back to his
...e harsh weather destroyed several crops causing people to live without food for several days. Further wrong choice of product, low incomes due to low or nil yields all of which affected the farmers and the poor. At this time the noble people and the rich were never affected since they could pay high prices which the common man could not do. People moved to cities in search of work which in turn affected the already low production. Therefore food shortage was also one of the main reasons for the revolution to start in France.
Anthony Burgess integrates many social issues today between the Government and People into Clockwork Orange. Many of the issues that Alex faces along with the government are relatable in today’s society. Within the story Anthony Burgess teaches us how people act and how the government works in a more brutal way, The Clockwork Orange expresses this through free-will, maturity and karma, and treatment of people.
Fashion is something that keeps on changing and because of its change, fashion effects our lives nearly in every aspect like language, furniture, homes, cars, clothes, food and many other things. For our second symposium we focus on relationships between fashion and social responsibilities. It is strange but true that social responsibilities intersect with fashion. As there are many phases to fashion from ideation, design, production, distribution, sale, consumption, and ultimately disposal, and in many situations decisions can reflect socially responsible views and sensibilities. Designs...
Fashion is a controversial issue in society nowadays. We live in a consumerism advanced era in which whether following fashion trends or not has become a debatable point. Many people believe that it is important to follow fashion trends. For example, Lord Chesterfield once said, “If you are not in fashion, you are nobody.” The question is why fashion should be an essential matter of concern to all of us. As far as I am concerned, each person should be able to decide if one wants to follow a trend or not.