Clockwork Orange Response

A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, develops a fictional account of a violent futuristic society, while integrating commentary on  current political and social issues.

A primary theme that runs throughout the movie is the importance of free will. This theme is deeply entangled with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the idea the Ninth provides the backdrop to pivotal violent points during the movie. Free will in the movie is often depicted as the presence of a moral choice. This moral choice for Alex is heavily influenced by the way society and the government views the young people of that time period. The youth are neglected not only by their parents, but by the society who is supposed to be welcoming them with open arms and helping them become a productive, responsible adult. John Locke suggests in his Social Contract Theory that the idea that though men are “by nature free, equal and independent”, they can “be subjected to the political power of another” with their consent. The purpose of this being is to maintain a set of rules for which all agree to follow, thus creating social peace

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

Alex DeLarge is a vicious fifteen-year-old droog whose thirst for ultra-violence is his main catalyst in A Clockwork Orange. His savage characterization is clearly illustrated through his thoughts and actions in Anthony Burgress’ original novel, as well as Stanley Krubrik’s film rendition. However, while both interpretations follow corresponding objectives, they differ dramatically in the way they are perceived by the audience. The most prominent distinction between the two pieces of work is the way Alex is perceived by the audience throughout the story.

Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, a critically acclaimed masterstroke on the horrors of conditioning, is unfairly attacked for apparently gratuitous violence while it merely uses brutality, as well as linguistics and a contentious dénouement, as a vehicle for deeper themes.

Rubin Rabinovitz, a literary expert at Bloom’s, analyzed the ethical values displayed by society in A Clockwork Orange and delved into what these values show about the citizens of England and their psychological states. Rabinovitz explains how there are two moral points of view that are utilized in A Clockwork Orange: Pelagianism and Augustinianism. He describes the two ideologies, stating how “with the Augustinians in power there is a period of social stability which comes as the result of a rigidly enforced authoritarian moral code” while the “libertarianism [of Pelagianism] gives way to permissiveness and then to an anarchic period of crime, strikes, and deteriorating public services”. As A Clockwork Orange goes through both ideologies in the form of two different government administrations, Rabinovitz explains how the “anarchic quality of the society portrayed early in the novel indicates that

“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.

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

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

     A Clockwork Orange had a loose theme of the necessity of not only good, but also evil in human nature. Alex may have been selfish and deviant but his character and the characters like him did seem to have a strong grasp on the concept that life was for living. Without the ability of choice to commit evil acts which was an impulse inside of him, his ability to act human was affected. The freedom of making these choices seems to be what makes us human. Hence without this freedom he is driven to attempt suicide.

The created patch-work language of Nadsat in the novel, A Clockwork Orange, satirizes the social classes and gang life of Anthony Burgess's futuristic society. The most prominent of these tools being his use of a completely new language and the depiction of family life from the eyes of a fifteen year old English hoodlum. Burgess effectively broke arcane traditions when he wrote A Clockwork Orange by blending two forms of effective speech into the vocabulary of the narrator and protagonist, Alex. Burgess, through his character Alex, uses the common or "proper" method of vernacular in certain situations, while uses his own inventive slang-language called "Nadsat" for others. Many

   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.

“Nevertheless, when the first American edition of A Clockwork Orange was published in 1963, it had not only a glossary but an afterword by Stanley Edgar Hyman. The glossary confirms the preponderance of Slavic-based or more particularly Russian-based coinages, and the afterword still stands as the most comprehensive discussion of nadsat. Even though Hyman surprisingly confesses himself unable to read Burgess's book without

A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, is one of the most experimental, original, and controversial novels of the twentieth century. It is both a compelling work of literature and an in-depth study in linguistics. The novel is a satirical, frightening science fiction piece, not unlike others of this century such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. However, the conflicts and resolutions in A Clockwork Orange are more philosophical than social, and its message is far more urgent.