A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man

My Review on Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange (with spoilers)

I went into the novel not expecting anything and not knowing what this is all about so of course, I got surprised by its unique language which is like Flowers For Algernon (book) in a way. The unique language adds a layer of contrast to its violent themes which I think was appropriate so that its whole message can be expressed. From what I’ve gathered, many advise to read the novel without using a dictionary so I went with that and kinda enjoyed figuring out the meaning of the words because it can still be determined within the context of the paragraph and sentence.

What is the book about?

It’s about a teenager named Alex and his life of crime. The novel composes of three parts: Part 1 consists of Alex’s life before prison, Part 2 deals with his life in prison, and Part 3 explores his life after prison.

The point of view of the novel is in First Person Central Perspective which makes the reader sympathize with the main character even though he leads a criminal life.

The novel uses a unique language called Nadsat. Even though the language uses non-English words, its meaning can still be found within the context of the paragraph and sentence. The novel is in this format due to the fact that it is in first person perspective and the main character is a gang member who thinks and speaks in Nadsat.

Is the book true as a whole or in part?

I found the events in the story believable except the part where Alex heals from his condition, which is trauma, without therapy. When he jumped and got unconscious for a week, he wakes up mentally healed. He could listen to music again without that horrible somatic response. You could argue that the meds helped him, but I find that unbelievable. In real life, emotional problems require emotional solutions, which means he must process that traumatic event emotionally in order to heal from it. You could also argue that the one week he was unconscious helped him forget or unconsciously process the trauma, but I still find that unbelievable, because when he woke up, he remembers what led to him jumping off the window and basically everything before that.

The people’s response to Alex going out of prison is believable. Basically, they were shocked to find him out of prison so soon. It’s an irony how the free people and police are as abusive and violent as the criminals, which can be seen when the people in the library beat him up. This is an extreme but still understandable response to Alex destroying a very rare book they value. In real life, people have been killed from smaller reasons.

It doesn’t sit right with me that Alex, who’ve raped and killed multiple people, is out on the streets 3 years later. Undergoing the Ludovico Technique can be seen as enough punishment, as that kills the reason and free will of the person, making the real person dead in a way, and making it somehow equivalent to capital punishment. However, suffering for two weeks and having its effects undone for one week doesn’t feel equivalent to lifetime imprisonment or death penalty.

However, in the last chapter, Alex undergoes real change. He finds his usual gang activities boring and even rebukes his members for preying on the helpless. Having one chapter for the start of Alex’s real transformation may not be enough for some, but in my opinion, it wraps up the novel satisfactorily. Alex’s change can be supported by the ideas from How We Change (book), where it says that real and lasting change is a result of contemplation. Alex’s new attitude towards violence and seeing his old friend Pete have a wife triggers him to contemplate on his life. He compares himself with figures in history like Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Rimbaud accomplishing great things at his age. He foresees himself in old age. Alex not finding the things he used to do and the music he used to listen to not enjoyable anymore, and also having this new desire to have his own family, supports the idea that he’s on his way to lasting change.

What of it?

The novel provides a thought-provoking dilemma: should the government fight and prevent crime by removing free will, or should it allow people to develop the moral capacity to choose not to do evil?

Removing free will to prevent crime typically leads to totalitarianism which can be seen in the likes of Nineteen Eighty Four (book) where the government monitors every move of its citizens and even limit the use of language, and in Animal Farm (book) where the government rewrites history and gaslight its citizens.

Overall, I’m giving this 5 stars for capturing my attention and giving me something worth thinking about.

My Favorite Quotes

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE – … 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, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation…
p. 18 Pt. 1 Ch. 2

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?
p. 30 Pt. 1 Ch. 4

Hell and blast you all, if all you bastards are on the side of the Good then I’m glad I belong to the other shop.
p. 53 Pt. 1 Ch. 7

An eye for an eye, I say. If someone hits you you hit back, do you not? When then should not the State, very severely hit by you brutal hooligans, not hit back also? But the new view is to say no. The new view is that we turn the bad into the good. All of which seems grossly unjust. Hm?
p. 70 Pt. 2 Ch 3

What does God want? Does God want woodness 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 upon him?
p. 71 Pt. 2 Ch 3

You are passing now to a region where you will be beyond the reach of the power of prayer. A terrible terrible thing to consider. And yet, in a sense, in choosing to be deprived of the ability to make an ethical choice, you have in a sense really chosen the good. So I shall like to think.
p. 72 Pt. 2 Ch 3

What is happening to you now is what should happen to any normal healthy human organism contemplating the actions of the forces of evil, the workings of the principle of destruction. You are being made sane, you are being made healthy.
p. 81 Pt. 2 Ch. 5

The heresy of an age of reason. I see what is right and approve, but I do what is wrong.
p. 87 Pt. 2 Ch. 6

Choice? 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 also to be a creature capable of moral choice.
p. 94 Pt. 2 Ch 7

You’ve sinned, I suppose, but your punishment has been out of all proportion. They have turned you into something other than a human being. You have no power of choice any longer. You are committed to socially acceptable acts, a little machine capable only of good.
p. 115 Pt. 3 Ch. 4

But the essential intention is the real sin. A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man.
p. 115 Pt. 3 Ch. 4

The Government’s big boast, you see, is the way it has dealt with crime these last months… Recruiting brutal young roughs for the police. Proposing debilitating and will-sapping techniques of conditioning… We’ve seen it all before in other countries. The thin end of the wedge. Before we know where we are we shall have the full apparatus of totalitarianism.
p. 118 Pt. 3 Ch. 5

All who do me wrong… are my enemies.
p. 131 Pt. 3 Ch 6