A Clockwork Orange Literary Analysis

The theme, “fate versus free will”, originates when Alex volunteers for an experimental program, the “Ludovico Treatment” (the combination of an illness-inducing resolution and films of violence, rape, murder and war), that will allow him to depart his imprisonment within two weeks (Newman, 1991). During the “Ludovico Treatment”, Alex is classically conditioned to befall violently ill when observing, or even thinking about, violence and sex. The “Ludovico Treatment” is triumphant and Alex is “free to leave” (Newman, 1991). However, Alex is virtually helpless outside the prison because of his classical conditioning, and the government, realising the danger Alex can pose for political revolutionaries, deconditions him and assures him that he will receive a good job in exchange for his support. Alex, on the other hand, realises "I was cured all right" (Burgess, 2011:132), and plans to recommence his life of “ultraviolence” (Newman, 1991). The title, “A Clockwork Orange”, refers to "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 laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation" (Burgess, 2011:18), thus claiming that “humans” have free will. As soon as this free will is, one way or

During the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, author J.D. Salinger brings Holden’s pessimistic, antisocial personality to life through what he says, how he says it, and through the characters he meets. Salinger bases Holden’s expressions off of the culture of the 1950’s, his own personal dialect, and the everyday occurrences of Holden’s life in mind. J.D. Salinger manipulates the diction, uses syntax to criticize others, and controls the character interaction and dialogue in order to create the protagonist, Holden Caulfield.

Why does Holden continuously judge people based on their physical appearance? Could this be a projection of his insecurities or a reflection of his mental health?

Many pieces of literature have comparable characteristics, including the use of literary elements to portray deeper meaning. “The Story of an Hour” and The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are great pieces of literature which keep their main focus around the use of symbolism, hidden in the plot. Whereas Mrs. Mallard, from “The Story of an Hour”, appears to be insane due to her husband, characters from The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest gains their insanity from Nurse Ratched, both authors incorporate symbolism in order to display themes and reveal character traits

A Clockwork Orange, a novel written by Anthony Burgess in the 1960’s takes place in dystopian future in London, England. The novel is about a fifteen year old nadsat (teenager) named Alex who along with his droogs (friends) commit violent acts of crime and opts to be bad over good. In time, Alex finds himself to be in an experiment by the government, making him unable to choose between good and evil, thus losing his ability of free will, and being a mere clockwork orange. A “clockwork orange” is a metaphor for Alex being controlled by the government, which makes him artificial because he is unable to make the decision of good verses evil for himself and is a subject to what others believe is right. In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess

Holden is in a cab on his way to Ernie’s and after he asks the driver with Holden. When Holden asks why he is “sore” about it, the cab driver denies being upset. Holden seems to constantly anger people throughout the story due to his blunt way of addressing topics and his inability to see the positive side of things. The cab driver on the other hand, is clearly upset, but is instead choosing to be passive aggressive by denying his anger. I do not like when people are passive aggressive. I would much rather someone talk to me directly and maturely if they are upset.

In this world, there are two sides to everything. Whether it may be a message, a film or a novel, each platform of literature has two different windows. The first being the depiction of the author and the second being the interpretation of the audience. This concept is evident within both works this essay seeks to explore. In Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest, a charismatic criminal, Randle P. McMurphy is admitted to a state asylum due to his will of serving out of prison sentence in a mental hospital rather than the penitentiary. McMurphy brings in the outside world to the admitted patients after being legally declared insane through a condensed interview with a psychiatrist. He symbolizes freedom, life and the power of an

Piper Kerman is a Caucasian woman who is well educated, and of a comfortable socioeconomic class. Piper wrote the book Orange is the New Black to expose the injustices of the justice system through her personal account of her sentence in federal prison. Piper has written about all of her experiences starting from graduating college to her time spent in prison, to her release, and writes her account to exploit the criminal justice system and the struggles women face during their time of incarceration.

“What’s it going to be then, eh?” is the signature question in Anthony Burgess’s novel, A Clockwork Novel that not only resonates with the moral identity of the anti-heroic protagonist, Alex, but also signifies the essential choice between free will that perpetrates evil and deterministic goodness that is forced and unreal. The prison chaplain and the writer F. Alexander voice the most controversial idea in the novel: man becomes ‘a clockwork orange’ when robbed of free will and tuned into a deterministic mechanism.

“Orange is the New Black” is Netflix’s hit new original series. Currently in its second season, OINTB has received critical acclaim (Metacritic, Rotten Tomatoes) for its unusual subject matter as well as its varied and multi-dimensional portrayal of race, gender, class, queer and trans issues. However, while it excels specifically with issues of gender and sexuality, the show falters a bit more on issues of race and class.

A Clockwork Orange demonstrates the philosophically issues of free will and determinism through how the main character was treated in the movie. It also addresses important issues such as ethics, philosophy of the mind, free will and determinism, and the problem of perception. Philosophers such as John Hospers, B.F. Skinner, and Jean-Paul Sartre have different views on the issue through their theories of how individuals are or are not responsible for the free will choices that they make in life. The main character in the movie was a very violent , and reckless person. He participated in sinful acts such as being a gang member, raping women, being involved in fights, etc. These actions resulted in him being sent to prison and eventually being brainwashed into doing things out of his character. The three philosophers have very different interpretations of how the main character should have been dealt with and the reasonings behind his actions.

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

     The major theme of the novel was a battle of the greater importance of a safe stable society or greater importance of free-will. The main character had been conditioned to feel ill at the thought of bad acts, he had not however been conditioned to not wish to commit these acts. After viewing the presentation of the "successful" conversion from evil to "good,” where rather than fight Alex licked the man's shoe, the prison Chaplin stated, "Self interest, the fear of physical pain drove him to do that grotesque act of self-abasement. Its insincerity was clearly to be seen. He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice.” So, is it better to be morally right without free-will or

   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.

The technique is a scientific experiment designed to take away moral choice from criminals. The technique conditions a person to feel intense pain and nausea whenever they have a violent thought. The key moral theme of A Clockwork Orange is articulated during a chat between the alcoholic prison chaplain and Alex two weeks before he enters treatment. He reflects on the moral questions raised by the treatment that will force Alex to be good. “Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed on him?” The government experiment fails to realize that good and evil come from within the self. The Ludovico Technique messes with Alex’s internal clockwork. He transforms into a being that is unable to distinguish good from evil. The altering of his personality makes him, “as decent a lad as you would meet on a May morning, unvicious, unviolent…inclined to the kindly word and helpful act,” but his actions are dictated only by self-interest to avoid the horrible sickness that comes along with evil thoughts. He has no real choice, “he ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature of moral choice.” Being stripped of his free will, Alex is no longer a human he is the government’s toy. “Choosing to be deprived of the ability to make an ethical choice [does not mean] you have in a sense really chosen the good.”