Anthony Burgess: The importance of moral freedom for all in A Clockwork Orange
Moral freedom is one of the most if not the most important of any freedoms available for humans. Moral freedom is the ability to either choose to perform good and bad deeds or both. Totalitarian governments take away one’s individual choice and thus, suppresses and suffocates thee soul. The setting in A Clockwork Orange, is a general parallax to a totalitarian and oppressive government. Alex the main character is the representative of the common man, and his struggle in this type of government. In the novel, A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess suggests that the importance of moral freedom be stressed even for criminals condemned by society.
“There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim….and we sat in the Korova milkbar making up our rassadooks what do with the evening,” this was a typical night of a “nadsat” or teenager. A bunch of hoodlums, going around committing acts of violence and crime, for they have moral freedom; which they choose to do bad. First they assault a young man in an alley, and then they go to this author’s house, and vandalize it and rape his wife. But while at this house, they come across a book called A Clockwork Orange, and Alex reads about it: “The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, to attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation,”(26) at which he ironically laughs and tears up.
After an eventful night like that, Alex goes home, “Where I lived was with my dadda and mum in the flats of Municipal Flatblock 18A, between Kingsley Avenue and Wilsonway.”(37) There he goes to his room, and turns on his stereo and his good side comes alive. His deep love for classical music like Mozart, Beethoven, and G.F. Handel, can be seen clearly. In the morning he decides not to go to school, and he ends up violently raping two “devotchkas”, again displaying his moral freedom to be bad. That same night, they try to rob and old “psitsa” that has a hundred cats living with her. Alex ends up killing the old lady, but he gets caught by the “millicents” and will be tried as an adult.
...erson of increasingly reputable morals. Now Alex wants to break away from the group and adopts more the philosophy that “Madness is rare in individuals—but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule” (Neitzsche 90).
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.
What does “movement” mean? There are many definitions for the word. In this case, I am referring to a political meaning. Movement is a series of organized activities working toward an objective. There have been many groups in history to start up movements throughout the decades. One that stands out to me the most is the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Women’s movements are led by powerful, courageous women who push to better the lives’ of women or lives’ of others. Most familiar movements are those involved in politics, in efforts to change the roles and status of womanhood in society. Groups of women also attempt to improve lives of others with the help of religious and charitable activities. Either it was a political, religious, or charitable women’s movement, each woman of each group have made an impact on today’s view of women and achieved greater political involvement.
A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom.
Before they go and start the “ultra-violence” they drink milk that’s laced with drugs which makes Alex’s and his gang’s brutality even more nonchalant. At the beginning of the night the “droogs” beat a homeless man almost to death and right after they start a fight with another gang who are trying to rape a girl. After their fight they take a drive to a well-known author’s house, break in and beat the author almost to death and then raped his wife while singing “Singing in the Rain” and enjoying it. Alex’s victims are targeted because they apparently deserve it in Alex’s eyes. They beat that homeless man almost to death because he couldn’t stand to see a “slob” screaming about absolutely nothing.
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment begins with Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov living in poverty and isolation in St. Petersburg. The reader soon learns that he was, until somewhat recently, a successful student at the local university. His character at that point was not uncommon. However, the environment of the grim and individualistic city eventually encourages Raskolnikov’s undeveloped detachment and sense of superiority to its current state of desperation. This state is worsening when Raskolnikov visits an old pawnbroker to sell a watch. During the visit, the reader slowly realizes that Raskolnikov plans to murder the woman with his superiority as a justification. After the Raskolnikov commits the murder, the novel deeply explores his psychology, yet it also touches on countless other topics including nihilism, the idea of a “superman,” and the value of human life. In this way, the greatness of Crime and Punishment comes not just from its examination of the main topic of the psychology of isolation and murder, but the variety topics which naturally arise in the discussion.
It was Theodore Roosevelt, who stated that, “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care”, conveying the idea that with no voice comes no change. In the morning of August 26, 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified, which centralized mainly on the enfranchisement of women. Today, they have the legal right to vote, and the ability to speak openly for themselves, but most of all they are now free and equal citizens. However this victorious triumph in American history would not have been achieved without the strong voices of determined women, risking their lives to show the world how much they truly cared. Women suffragists in the 19th century had a strong passion to change their lifestyle, their jobs around the nineteenth century were limited to just children, family, and domestic duties. It consisted of a very low rate of education, and job opportunities. They could not share their opinion publicly and were expected to support their male family members and husbands during the time. Women knew that the way to enfranchisement was going to be tenacious, and full of obstacles along the way. Therefore a new organization was formed, The National American Women Association (NAWSA), representing millions of women and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the first party president. This organization was founded in 1890, which strategized on the women getting education in order to strengthen their knowledge to prepare for the suffrage fight. NAWSA mainly focused on the right to vote one state at a time. In 1917, a member named Alice Paul, split apart from NAWSA because of the organization’s tactics and major goals. Due to this split, many other suffragists from NAWSA bitterly divided into a new organization named, National Women’s ...
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
In the early 1900’s, women made one of their chief advancements for their cause. In 1869, the NAWSA did a statewide campaign to have states adopt the legislation that the suffrage created (Loveday, Women’s Suffrage). By 1912, only nine states had adopted the legislation (Loveday, Women’s Suffrage). Since they needed a two-third majority to make it national, NAWSA and other feminists began to be more active than they had been (Loveday, Women’s Suffrage). They organized rallies, parades, silent vigils, and even hunger strikes...
Women had an arduous time trying to demand the rights they deserved to have. Women suffragist made associations and paraded down the street to endeavor rights. Two associations were made up, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Women Suffrage Association. The National Women Suffrage Association is also known as NWSA was developed by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This association work for suffrage at the federal level. They tried press for more extensive institutional changes, such as married women being granted right to own land. The American Women Suffrage Association is also known as AWSA was developed by Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe. This association aimed to secure the ballot through state legislation. The ladies at NWSA refused to endorse the amendment because it did not give women the ballot. However the ladies at AWSA argued that once the black man was enfranchised, women would achieve their goal.(Buechler) With making associations, suffragist would march together in a parade down streets. All women who believed in the women’s suffrage movement came together, not caring what class each other are in since the demands were the same for all who marched. The intent of the parades were to dazzle and impress observers and gain recruiters, as well grab the attention of legislators who ignore the suffragist petitions and dispel unfav...
Amidst a population composed of perfectly conditioned automatons, is a picture of a society that is slowly rotting from within. Alex, the Faustian protagonist of A Clockwork Orange, and a sadistic and depraved gang leader, preys on the weak and the innocent. Although perhaps misguided, his conscientiousness of his evil nature indicates his capacity to understand morality and deny its practice. When society attempts to force goodness upon Alex, he becomes the victim. Through his innovative style, manifested by both the use of original language and satirical structure, British author Anthony Burgess presents in his novella A Clockwork Orange, the moral triumph of free will within the controlling hands of a totalitarian society.
Freedom and liberalism are catchwords that appear frequently in both philosophical and political rhetoric. A free man is able to choose his actions and his value system, to express his views and to develop his most authentic character. What this kind of idealistic liberalism seems to forget, however, is that liberty does not mean a better society, better life or humanistic values such as equality and justice. In his novel A Clockwork Orange (1962), Anthony Burgess portrays an ultimately free individual and shows how a society cannot cope with the freedom which it in rhetoric so eagerly seeks to promote.
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.
A Psychological Analysis of Alex in A Clockwork Orange & nbsp; In A Clockwork Orange, Alex is portrayed as two different people living within the same body of mind. As a mischievous child raping the world, he was as seen as filth. His actions and blatant disrespect towards society are categorized under that of the common street bum. However, when he is away from his evening attire. he is that of suave.
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.