Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
This novel is short–only being about 180 pages–but looks may deceive you, or in other words don’t judge a book buy its cover or its thickness. A Clockwork Orange is actually 360 pages because you have to read between the lines. You may think that the story’s theme is that the future will be filled with horrible decadent violence (that is what
I first thought), but if you read between the lines you will understand that this book is written for one main purpose, a purpose other than entertainment. A Clockwork Orange was written in 1962, story about the future which was meant to be around 1995 to 2000 (a car used in the story called a 95' Durango). A boy about seventeen, Alex the narrator and main character living in London, rampages about with his “droogs”
(friends) raping, stealing, beating and even killing people. Alex one day is caught for murder and jailed but two years later he is luckily freed twelve years before his sentence ends to take advantage of a new treatment for violent people like him that he volunteered for. He goes through the therapy and succeeds and returns back to civilization. He now becomes sick when he is about to commit a violent or sexual, but also when the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven plays (a minor defect from the treatment). Alex is driven to attempt suicide from this defect because he is locked within a chamber playing this song and does not accomplish his task. He is hospitalized and returns to his “ultra-violent” self while the inhumane treatment does not work because it does not even give people a choice about being violent.
While Alex helps to present the theme, two different outcomes are formed. First, Alex goes through a great change from being “ultra- violent” to becoming Lamb-chop and then back to being “ultra-violent”.
Second, the theme defines the major conflict of the story. Although the conflict does not have to do with Alex directly, he helps to illustrate it.
The conflict is not solved in the book and will probably never be solved, but it does bring up for debate what Anthony Burgess thinks about right or wrong, regarding the controversial situation of a cycle of violence.
“Violence makes Violence,” is what was once said to Alex by P. R.
Deltoid, his teacher from school before he went to prison. This book brings up . What do we do to someone who has committed a violent crime? Do we punish them with more violence, for instance death, or do
There have been many books published solely on philosophy, and many more than that solely written about human nature, but very infrequently will a book be published that weaves these fields together as well as A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess. In this Book Burgess speculated on the fact “the significance of maturing by choice is to gain moral values and freedoms.” He achieved this task by pushing his angsty teenaged character, Alex, through situations that challenge the moral values of himself and his friends. In the novel, A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, Alex himself, must choose good over evil in order to gain moral values which will allow him to mature into a “man” in the latter of his two transformations.
There are many books that have been banned or challenged, but the one that is being presented in this paper is Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange. The topic of this paper is to inform you of many things and when you have finished it will have you leaving asking yourself one question. First, a summary of A Clockwork Orange will be shared with you, so that you can have an insight as to how the rest of the paper relates to the book. Second, you will find out where, why and when the book was banned and/or challenged and you will discover what the book contains that would “offend” people. Finally, you will discover the literary merit of this book, which means you will discover if is a work of quality.
proud of himself and if he is killed he won't have to stand this hell
"Holding firmly to the trunk, I took a step toward him, and then my knees bent and I jounced the limb." This is a quotation from the novel A Separate Peace, written by John Knowles. My focus in the following will be on Man's Inhumanity to Man. There is a strong relation of this to the novel for which I read.
As soon as you read the opening lines of Act3, Scene 1 you can tell
this scene and the end of Act 1 Scene 4. The last scene ended on a
Are we human if we don’t have a choice to choose between acting good or acting evil? A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick is a brutal film that entails many sociological meanings. Alex DeLarge and his “droogs” (gang) live in a derange society of “ultra-violence” and rape. Alex and his gang cause havoc around the town that leads to the “droogs” turning on Alex during a mischievous act on an innocent women and Alex getting arrested. While in prison he is chosen for “treatment” that is suppose to purify Alex and turn him into the “perfect citizen”. We’ve gone over many sociological concepts in class, but the three that I believe apply the most to this film are socialization, deviance, and resocialization.
that you can't judge a book by its cover and that reveal a true person
"Don’t judge a book by its cover", a banal phrase that has taken root in society in order to instill into individuals the notion that the value of a person or item cannot be determined by its external appearance. What if this illustrious phrase was extended to pertain to authors and their work? Should a book be distinct from the author who wrote it? This is a controversy that has arisen throughout recent times ultimately resulting in a moral dilemma for readers. In his article “Asher and Alexie books among most objected”, author Hillel Italie discuses recent allegations made against Jay Asher’s “Thirteen Reasons Why” and Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolute True Diary of a Part Time Indian". James LaRue, head of the American Library Association’s
Honesty is one of the most important factors in Othello. And although there is very little honesty actually present in the play the term is most commonly applied to Iago, who also happens to be the most dishonest character in Othello. Due partly to the other characters naiveté, Iago is capable of manipulating, brainwashing, and molding the other characters to satisfy his need for revenge against Othello.
tells us not that you can't tell a book by its cover. From him saying this I
In every bookstore across America, people are faced with the tough question of what book should be bought. There are millions of books resting on shelves everywhere but what makes a reader pick up a novel to buy and read? Looking at book covers people can get ideas about what type of book is in their hands. Most books grab their audience by the way that they look on the outside. Many different authors and publishers choose famous works of art or use book reviewer’s comments to grab a specific audience for their book. When children are looking for books, they choose a book because of what is on the cover. Parents can view the cover as appropriate for their child. It is the cover that initially grabs the attention. Even as children grow up and begin reading books with few to no pictures, it is still the cover that says what kind of book it is.
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.
Morality; it is a choice that we as humans contextualize through our thoughts and actions that set us apart from the ones who do “right” and the ones who do “wrong”. While bioethics touches on a multitude of subcategories, they collectively return from what one perceives is morally correct. But, what is seen as “right” in one person’s view can be entirely different in another person’s. A Clockwork Orange is about a reproachable British teenager with whose actions most living in today’s society would agree were not morally correct. An array of bioethical issues are demonstrated by a team whose goal is to “bring him back” to morality and conform him to what society views as acceptable. We will particularly look those pertaining to morality, autonomy,
In the novel A Clockwork Orange, the author Anthony Burgess tells a story about a young man name Alex and his friends, every night they go around and start committing violent acts. In the novel Alex expresses his freedom of choice between good and evil. The freedom of choice is a decision that every person must make throughout his life in order to guide his actions and to take control of his own future. This Freedom of Choice, no matter what the outcome is, displays person power as an individual, and any efforts to control or influence this choice between good and evil will take way the person free will and enslave him. In this novel the author uses this symbolism through imagery. He shows that through the character of Alex, and the first person narrative point of view to prove that without the ability to choose between good and evil person becomes a slave.