A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Book Review

The novel A Clockwork Orange, written by author Anthony Burgess, is a first person dystopian fiction that is set in a dismal England in which gang violence runs rampant among the streets all the while a brutal government attempts to deal with said gangs through any means possible. The novel follows the main protagonist Alex, an immoral fifteen year old gang leader that is no stranger to evil acts. As the audience follows Alex throughout the novel they bear witness to the type of wicked person Alex is as he commits inconceivable atrocities such as lying, theft, assault, murder, rape, and much more while he explains his thought process of his said actions. But, despite knowingly causing pain and suffering to the people around him, Alex in a postmodern fashion breaks down well accepted morals claiming that in reality he is not the one at fault in any situation. It is through Alex’s unreliable accounting of the events that unfold in front of him in combination with the novels structural repetition as well as  the stream of consciousness style type of writing Anthony Burgess utilizes throughout the novel that Burgess is able to demonstrate the broad statement of how human morality and freedom of choice both go hand and hand while also commenting on a lesser known theme of how forced morality on a human being is more detrimental to their personal development rather than good.

When analysing the novel, A Clockwork Orange, it is very overt that one of the novels' more larger themes is the confliction of freedom of individual choice and the moralities of people. The theme is most overtly explored in Part Two of the novel when Alex has undergone his treatment and the scientists are discussing the matter of his transformation “‘Choice,’ rumbled a rich deep goloss. I viddied it belonged to the prison charlie. ‘He has no real choice, has he? Self-interest, fear of physical pain, drove him to that grotesque act of self-abasement. Its insincerity was clearly to be seen. He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases to be a creature capable of morale choice.’” (Burgess 140-141) There are many other situations in the novel similar to the quote in which freedom of choice vs morality are discussed and it would appear to any normal reader that this discussion of morality vs freedom of choice is the main purpose of the novel with some violence strewn about as well. That statement , however, is false.  As the scholar of the article Nadsat: The Argot and Its Implications in Anthony Burgess' ‘A Clockwork Orange.’  Roberto O. would put it “But A Clockwork Orange is not nonsense, nor is it simply “horror comedy”, or sick humor, as the writer for Heinemann implies on the dustjacket.And it is certainly not “a fable of good and evil” demonstrating “ the importance of human choice,” the alternative suggested by the publisher” (3). To state A Clockwork Orange is simply a novel demonstrating the importance of choice would be a disservice to not only Burgess but also the novel itself as such a broad statement ignores the novels more finer details such as the structural repetition throughout the three parts and the extreme juxtapositions of Alex to Alexander F.  With these finer details the reader is able to identify Burgess’s lesser known themes present such as the detriment of forced morality on personal development as seen through Alex. 

When regarding the personal development that is contained within A Clockwork Orange the structural repetition the novel contains is the best at demonstrating how a forced morality is much more detrimental rather than good.  Scholar Ray E. Philips of the article Alex before and after: a new approach to Burgess A Clockwork Orange puts this structural repetition into perspective as he states “The three parts of A Clockwork Orange are of equal length, each having seven chapters, but they otherwise fall into an ABA pattern.” (4) The ABA pattern Philips is referring to is the consistent use of the question “What’s it going to be then, eh?” in the beginning of each of three parts as well as throughout the novel. Parts one and three both open with Alex asking the question to himself while in part two the question of “What’s it going to be then, eh?” is asked by the prison charlie while Alex is incarcerated, hence an ABA pattern. With the consistent use of the question “What’s it going to be then, eh?'' The audience is shown development within Alex as he searches for the answer to the question until eventually he is able to come up with an answer of his own, stating “That’s what it’s going to be then, brothers, as I come to the like end of this tale. You have been everywhere with your little droog Alex, suffering with him, and you have viddied some of the most grahzny bratchnies old Bog ever made, all on your old droog Alex. And all it was that I was young.”(Burgess 212)Alex, with a new goal set in mind, is able to outgrow his violent impulses and move forward to become a functioning member of society. Ironically, this process of growing out of violent impulses was only hindered by the state whose sole intention was to make Alex become a functioning member of society.  When Alex is incarcerated and is under the influence of his treatment he is unable to develop on his own as he more so focused on pain that he is experiencing to the point where he contemplates suicide “Suddenly, I viddied what I had to do, and that was to do myself in; to snuff it, to blast off forever out of this wicked, cruel world. One moment of pain perhaps and, then, sleep forever, and ever and ever.” (Burgess 188) It's only after Alex regains the ability to make his own moral decisions that he is able to develop and move past his impulses.

Another way Burgess presents the theme of forced morality being detrimental to development is through the novel's stream of consciousness writing style to peer inside Alex’s mind. In part one when Alex gets a home visit from his corrective advisor P.R Deltoid he is asked the question of “What gets into you all? We study the problem and we've been studying it for damn well near a century, yes, but we get no farther with our studies.You’ve got a good home here, good loving parents, you’ve got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside you?” (Burgess 43) Alex responds to this question simply stating how he hasn’t done anything wrong for a while but as soon as P.R Deltoid leaves the house Alex give a more detailed explanation to his question inside his mind stating “But, brothers , this biting of their toe-nails over what is the cause of badness is what turns me into a fine laughing malchick. They don’t go into what is the cause of goodness, so why of the other shop? If lewdies are good that’s because they like it, and I wouldn't ever interfere with their pleasures, and so of the other shop.More, badness is of the self, the one, the you or me on our oddy knockies, and that self is made by old Bog or God and his great pride and radosty.But the not-self cannot have the bad, meaning they of the government and judges and the schools cannot allow the bad because they cannot allow self.And is not our modern history, my brothers, the story of brave malenky selves fighting these big machines? I am serious with you, brothers, over this.But what I do I do because I like to do.”(Burgess 44-45 ) With this thought that passes through Alex’s mind it is clear that in the beginning of the novel he does evil simply because he enjoys so and that the state that the state would never understand. This stream of consciousness narration that comes from Alex not only gives an in depth explanation to his way of thinking but  also shows the futility of forcing morals onto another person. In part two of A Clockwork Orange there is a moment when Alex is given a final test in which he is being watched to see his response when interacting with an unsavory individual and having been put through treatment Alex doesn't opt to violence. It is during this encounter Alex’s stream of consciousness narration comes into play again as it reveals to the audience that despite having gone through the treatment to lose his violet tendencies Alex still harbors them inside his mind, he states “Now I knew that I’d have to be real skorry and get my cut-throat britva out before this horrible killing sickness wooshed up and turned the like joy of battle into feeling I was going to snuff it.” (Burgess 139) Despite having gone through the state's treatment and having their morals imposed onto him Alex still has not changed in the slightest and now only suffers because so.