A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess

    I just recently finished Anthony Burgess's story A Clockwork Orange. (This book appears on Time’s List of the 100 Best Novels, a list compiled of books written between 1923 and 2005 in the English language.)

BEWARE SPOILERS 

    The story was published in 1962 and takes place in a futuristic New York City where the streets are ruled with gangs and filled with crime, the police force and societal mentality at least as brutal as these lawless gangs. 

    One of the most singular traits of this book is the thick slang that Alex (the narrator) uses to tell the story: ‘rookers’ (hands), ‘litso’ (face), ‘starry’ (old), ‘devotchka’ (girl), ‘horrorshow’ (swell), etcetera. It takes a while to get into the swing of the slang, especially without a glossary. However, after reading the book, one starts trying to employ this new slang into everyday usage.

    The story follows the progress of an adolescent gangster, rapist, and murderer (Alex) as he is arrested and treated for his violent tendencies before being released back into the world. The first few chapters follow him and his ‘droogs’ (friends) as they spend a typical night out committing the old ‘ultraviolence’.

    Through causing physical pain (headaches, panic, nausea) while viewing videos of violent encounters of all natures, they teach Alex’s body to abhor violence in any form, including art, love, and music. As it happens, Alex has a passion for music, but his will no longer allow him to listen to it, which he finds doubly painful.

     The question of Ethics (and Good and Evil) is the reason to read the story. Burgess leaves no question that Alex is capable of great evil. When they force him to do good in effort to abate the nausea that fills him at the thought of violence, we can see that he still truly wants to do evil, and it is that desire that brings on the sickness, forcing him to do good.

    People with political agenda’s exploit Alex’s predicament to bring down the current minister. Questions arise, such as: does someone have the right to remove someone’s moral choice? And does a person, as an individual, have a right to do evil?

My Favorites:

• Scene: 

• When Alex throws himself out the window as music blares