The choice between good and evil is a decision everyone must make throughout their life in order to guide their actions and control his future. This element of choice displays one’s power as an individual.
Any effort to control this choice between good and evil will in turn govern man's free will and enslave him.
In the novel A Clockwork Orange, the author uses symbolism and imagery, the characterization of Alex, and the first person narrative point of view to prove that without the ability to choose between good and evil Alex becomes a slave.
The symbolism and imagery prove how Alex's ability to choose between good and evil is what makes him unique and human The first symbol is the music he listens to and loves. It is the only thing in
Alex's life that he truly cares for. This music represents the element of his choice and free will. “Classical music expresses the creative freedom of its composer, who yet works within the constraint of form”
(Scribd). When his ability of choice is robbed in an attempt to better him, he loses his love for music which is shown when he exclaims, "And all the time the music got more and more gromky, like it was all a deliberate torture, O my brothers . . . then I jumped" (131). The music represents that his freedom to choose is now gone. “Though Burgess probably did not intend it to, Alex’s love of classical music within the confines of the novel’s repressive government invokes Plato, who argued that the enjoyment of music must be suppressed if social order is to be preserved.” (sparknotes) He is left without any reason to live. When he realizes that he is no longer human because of his lack of choice, Alex decides to end his life. The author illustrates this through Alex's viole...
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...free will and his loss of power through the absence of choice is effectively accomplished through the use of first person narration. ”Nor does he (Alex) attempt to define any sort of role for himself within a large social process. Instead he simply experiences life directly, sensuously, and, while he is free, joyously.” (Aggler 173)
Throughout this story, choice has proven many aspects of power and it's abuse. Through strong symbols in imagery, Alex's characterization, and his point of view, the absence of choice is proven as the most humiliating removal of man's power. In everyone's life, the struggle for power exists in all situations.
The decision between good and evil is the power that anyone must have as an individual. The choice of which path to take is dependant on the person and the situation, but the realization that both exist is a power unto itself.
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
Composers effectively reflect and communicate how universal human experiences can explicitly modify an individual’s understanding and acceptance of one’s sense of identity and maturation. Goldsworthy’s novel Maestro, Don McLean’s song ‘Vincent’ and Baz Luhrmann’s film Australia all inter-relate within the deeper realisation of the impact the appreciation of art, and the development of understanding the concept of love acting as a compelling emotion can create towards one’s self-image.
Very few modern or even classical novels present a psychological tale like that presented in Anthony Burgess's magnum opus and controversial novel, A Clockwork Orange. The novel follows the protagonist and narrator, Alex, who is not a given a surname until the film adaptation. Alex, while the protagonist of the novel, is a violent person up to the second to last chapter of the novel. However, the underlying psychology behind every one of Alex's actions rings true and presents a compelling argument about the nature of free will, violence, and what makes a man human.
The problem of evil is inescapable in this fallen world. From worldwide terror like the Holocaust to individual evils like abuse, evil touches every life. However, evil is not a creation of God, nor was it in His perfect will. As Aleksandr
The cause of how people have chosen evil has been a conceptual issue for thousands of years on many different perspectives. People from a religious point of view believe that the underlining cause of evil is sin and temptation. Half of the time humans can choose good over evil in situations based off the legal system and the moral standards of society. "The interest of work in the common would not hold it together, instinctual ...
3.) The methods of the treatment to rehabilitate Alex weren’t the most appropriate ones. They made him watch film after film over and over again until Alex became “good”. They showed him these violent films so Alex could get disgusted and never think of using violence ever again.
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” (Eleanor Roosevelt). This is just one of the infinite examples of how human nature has been explored by so many different people. Each and every human is born with the capability of making their own choices. The decisions that they will make in the future will determine how evil they are viewed by others. Although one’s nature and nurture do affect their life, it is their own free will that determines whether or not they are evil.
Music has the power to affect people in great ways. It can heal broken hearts, provide and escape from reality, and speak where words cannot. Both The Metamorphosis and “Sonny’s Blues” uses music to help the main character in life. In these pieces of work, music connects both Gregor and Sonny back to humanity and open windows that were previously closed.
The outcome of choosing good or evil can not be seen as favorable or just.
songs he had a fire and a fragment of pure joy in his voice, but when he sand
In the first introduction of music, Alex describes how his parents have learned to “not knock on the wall with complaints… I had taught them. Now they would take sleep-pills” (33) when he plays music loudly, showing the control Alex has manifested over his own parents with music. Alex also plays the Ninth by Ludwin van while raping two girls, as they were forced to “submit to the strange and weird desires of Alexander the Large with, what with the Ninth, were… very demanding” (46). By inevitably connecting classical music to violence, Burgess shows that there is little distinction in importance between the two for Alex, and the two become physically linked after the government’s brainwashing. This suggests that you cannot take Alex’s flaws without simultaneously taking those same elements that make him human. The focus on classical music as a pivot of Alex’s humanity accentuates the sympathy felt for Alex as he is being brainwashed, as the previous poetic love for classical music is replaced with “pain and sickness” as Alex had “forgotten what he shouldn’t have forgotten” (139). Without attempting to condone Alex’s actions, Burgess stresses the notion that humanity is not meant to be erased or forcibly removed, even if it means having to come to terms with the flaws that every person
There is a growing body of work in the philosophy of music and musical aesthetics that has considered the various ways that music can be meaningful: music as representational (that is, musical depictions of persons, places, processes, or events); musical as quasi-linguistic reference (as when a musical figure underscores the presence of a character in a film or opera), and most especially, music as emotionally expressive. Here I will focus on the last topic, for I believe it will be useful for researchers in music perception and cognition to avail themselves of the distinctions that aestheticians have worked out regarding the musical expression of emotion.
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being.
As children, we hear many stories about the interactions between good and evil. Since each story or fable have different characters, the description of evil and good are different from one another. The good character will have different characteristic compared to evil one.
Good and evil can be summed up as a difference between rational and irrational thoughts, with the former being related to “good” and the ladder to “evil”. This is a view shared by Immanuel Kant and his Categorical Imperative. In the movie Schindler’s List, we are presented with two individuals, Oskar Schindler, who by the end of the movie displays characteristics of a man following rational thoughts, doing acts that he would want to become universal maxims. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Amon Goeth. Goeth follows his irrational thoughts, using the Jewish people as a means for his own ends.