Clockwork Orange Analysis

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

The Ludovico technique that is used on Alex is an example of how immoral practices are used in this world. With this technique, he is injected with drugs to mess with his brain biologically. He is then forced to watch disturbing movies, which enhance the drugs previously injected into him to make him feel sick. The goal of this is to make him revolute at the sight of violence. After the first round of “treatment” Alex says: “ I do not wish to describe, brothers, what other horrible veshches I was forced to viddy that afternoon” (Burgess, 119). Alex, the ultra-violence loving teenager is so shook by what happened to him, he is unable to even explain what he saw. This shows that even the evilest of people can be affected by this practice. The background music that is in the films Alex is forced to watch is of his liking, which angers him because now he will associate the sick feeling with the music he loves. Dr. Branom, talking to Alex about this, says: “’Each man kills he thing he loves, as the poet-prisoner said. Here’s punishment element, perhaps. The Governor ought to be pleased.’” (Burgess,128). The doctors feel no remorse for taking away the pleasure of listening to the music alex likes, which show how other inhumane actions are done, not just in medical

John Jurgensen’s article asks us an interesting question: how many TV series can our brains take? As television series expand to grandiose levels, it gets harder to follow what is happening: who people are, and what their place in the overall story is hard to follow for a large number of viewers. Jurgensen attempts to address this within his article, and it has some interesting points.

Antisocial Personality Disorder ( ASPD) is a mental illness with various causal factors such as genetic predispositions, environment, parental neglect, gender, brain abnormalities, etc. The factors presented affect the character Alex DeLarge from Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (1963). Despite Alex not being diagnosed, it is evident that he suffers from ASPD, it is clearly expressed through his behaviors and mentality. Eventually, Alex is incarcerated preceding a murder he committed, in order to be released early he enlists himself to a treatment so that he could be cured. The events that follow include his participation in the Ludovico Technique, an experimental form of aversion therapy which leaves him unable to fulfill the needs of his mental illness.

I thought this book was very challenging. The slang words that Alex and his friends used was very difficult to understand at first but then I slowly started to catch on and it made it easier to understand.

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.

Although attacks on A Clockwork Orange are often unwarranted, it is fatuous to defend the novel as nonviolent; in lurid content, its opening chapters are trumped only by wanton killfests like Natural Born Killers. Burgess' Ted Bundy, a teenage Lucifer named Alex, is a far cry from the typical, spray paint-wielding juvenile delinquent. With his band of "droogs," or friends, Alex goes on a rampage of sadistic rape and "ultraviolence." As the tale unfolds, the

Through processes of rehabilitation, hypnosis and propaganda the government creates a society conditioned for manipulation. In particular, both novels exist to manipulate information of their own people as an advantage to keep their citizens under their complete control. Prior to Alex’s attempt for suicide in A Clockwork Orange, the government composes an article addressing the prevailing success the Ludovico Technique has achieved. The government subsequently restores Alex back to his old self in order to protect itself from blame on his attempted suicide. Knowingly still a threat to the government, Alex is ultimately released back into a society once again as a consequence of the government's inaccuracy and guilt. In an attempt for innovation,

What are the consequences of a negative demeanor when they are in a society that has no limits? In the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess the main character Alex is a perfect example that portrays the outcome of being a corrupted sexually sadistical youth in a community that is in dystopia. According to the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental health V by the American Psychiatric Association a sexual sadist may be a person who over the period of at least six months has had “a recurrent and sexual arousal from the physical or psychological suffering of another person as manifested by fantasies, urges, or behavior” (695). This is shown in Burgess’ work when Alex lies on his bed listening to music and fantasizes a scenario where

“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.

Anthony Burgess's writing style in his most famous novel, A Clockwork Orange, is different to say the least. This novel is praised for its ingenuity, although many are disturbed by Burgess's predictions for the future. However, for many, it is close to impossible to comprehend without outside help. This is because Burgess created a language specifically for this novel, called Nadsat. This Russian-based language forms conversations between the narrator, Alex, and his teenage, delinquent friends. There are many assumptions as to why Burgess chose to complicate A Clockwork Orange by filling it with the confusing Nadsat language. Some opinions are that the language shows A Clockwork Orange readers

In the novel A Clockwork Orange Alex the protagonist comes in contact with a lot of people who try to change who he is. On one hand we have P.R. Deltoid who tries to talk reason to him trying to change him by talking to him, on the other hand we have Dr. Brodsky who attempts to change him through a more primitive more violent way. It is ironic that the new way how to “cure” Alex’s urges is to show him violence. Even in the time in which A Clockwork Orange is set it is controversial. The so called Ludovico technique is controversial as it takes away the choice of being “good” and instead forces Alex to submit to the pain and to surrender to what is happening to him. Before Alex is given off to be cured, he talks to the Prison Charlie who tells him: “Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.” (pg.67). With this the Prison Charlie tells Alex that with giving in to this treatment he will lose the choice of being bad and will be forced to be what the government wants him to be.

     A Clockwork Orange is a film about a wild and troubled young lad Alex. Alex and his friends (droogs) get a high from inflicting harm upon others. They commit random acts of robbery and rape around London. Alex, as the ringleader, eventually gets caught and is sent to prison. It is in prison that scientists study Alex’s violent behavior. Scientists believed that through special training or a program that his evil ways could be fixed. Alex was subjected to a conditioning program that would create an unpleasant physical reaction to just the thought of doing harm to another person. Skinner’s theories on behaviorism are introduced in these scenes where the doctors are trying to “cure” Alex.

The society of A Clockwork Orange is constructed upon struggles for power. Crime is a part of the everyday. Violent street gangs seek power through anarchism, direct authority is represented by a network of corrupt police, and on the highest social level a struggle for political and administrative power is fought. Alex reflects: "Power, power, everybody like wants power." As a microcosm of the social mentality, he seems to fit the notion of being a product of his environment.

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.”