Analysis Of Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange

Tinkering the Clockwork

Sometime during the 60’s in East London there is a boy by the name of Alex, who is fifteen. He is supremely confident, cold blooded yet has a strong sense of irony and humor, and a lover of Beethoven as well. During this time, society fears the young hoodlums that roam up and down the streets at night. They are known for their villainous and horrendous crimes against the public. Alex is partaking in these crimes with his “droogs”, who are Dim, Pete, and Georgie. These characters and the setting are what makeup Anthony Burgess’s book A Clockwork Orange. Alex is the protagonist all throughout the book. He is arrested for accidentally killing an old woman in her home, and is taken to a prison,but as always he is

During Alex’s “oddy knocky”, he likes to listen to classical music on his record player at home. As told in Craik’s Some unheard melodies in a Clockwork Orange, “Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange swarms with allusions to classical music. The favorite composers of Alex, the novel's protagonist, are Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven.” Normally people who listen to classical are to be thought as calm and collected. Alex is far beyond from being that. Alex enjoys his music even more when he is committing rape or the “ultraviolence.”On page 51 of A Clockwork Orange Alex comes across 2 girls that are the age of 12 in his favorite record store ,where he acquires all of his records for his record player. Alex decides to take the two girls back to his apartment and rape them. He drugs them with pills which make them unable to move, they can only feel. Alex also injects himself with a drug as well, and proceeds to rape them while he plays Beethoven’s 9th symphony on his record player. He describes the rape in such a way that it makes it seem like a good thing. In some parts of the book Alex likes to address himself as, “Alexander the Large.” This would be one of many points of the book where he feels like he is in control. He wants to be known as the higher power. He feels that his victims should be grateful for Alex’s beatings and

Alex does not look at his gang of droogs as friends, but as mindless servants. He even goes on to call them his “sheep.” Alex and his droogs cannot be considered friends due to the characteristics of them in the group. Alex is demanding, cruel, and unfair to his droogs. Alex will occasionally hit his droogs just for the joy it brings him. Earlier in the book Dim rudely interrupts an opera singer in the milk bar. This greatly upsets Alex and he goes on to strike Dim in the mouth to shut him up. Dim complains that he did not deserve the hit, but Alex says otherwise. Alex does not want any disruptions while he is enjoying his music. This would further explain why Alex drugs the two girls he met in the record store. He did not want any sound other than the beauty of Beethoven’s 9th symphony. He only wants to hear the beauty of his music, nothing