Free Will In A Clockwork Orange

In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess provides many examples relating to the topic of free will. Throughout the novel Burgess makes several attempts to show the importance of free will and many other themes through Alex, the main character. Alex goes through trials and tribulations in his journey through life. From being with his “droogs” in a milkbar to prison to being a guinea pig as they were trying to “cure” him. “Ultimately A Clockwork Orange shows that free will and choice can be harmful and dangerous but is ultimately an inherent part of human beings that cannot be repressed or manipulated for the benefits of the state” (Kolker, 2003). The setting in this controversial novel is a futuristic society in which violence is acceptable, the youth induce fear into people, and where the government is not acting as it should. “Indeed, despite its reputation, the core of the book is actually a rather earnest religious debate on the fate of the soul in post-war modernity”(luckhurst). In the society where violence dominates everything Alex pays his dues with free will. Free will is the choice that humans have to either be good or evil. Although Burgess expresses the idea that man can not be completely

Although Alex manipulates people, like the chaplin, in believing he is “cured” because he only really cares about himself. William Cho asked, “should the state be able to control the thoughts and actions of people for the sake of elimination crime? If we are not able to think for ourselves and only do good because we are unable to do otherwise, are we actually good, or are we simply a clockwork orange?”. These questions are answered when Alex if forced to go through the treatment. By forcing him into the treatment they are stripping him of his free will therefore he is no longer a human but simply a mechanical