Punishment In A Clockwork Orange By Anthony Burgess

The question of what is right and what is wrong has been debated for a long time. It has evolved to what we see in today's morals and ethics. These can be enforced through laws, incentives, or other methods. Not everyone follows these morals and ethics, which leads to them being punished. Punishment is another area of controversy. There are many ways to punish, some methods are more effective than others, but with more effectiveness in most cases comes more questionable methods. The best option is the most efficient and humane method of punishment. In the novel, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, the main character Alex goes through this same conundrum. Alex is a juvenile delinquent who finally gets caught and is subjected to a questionable treatment. Although the treatment was controversial to some and ultimately failed, Alex willingly agreed to the terms, therefore the treatment was justifiable. However, just because
Anthony Burgess set the book in the future and some things are just bound not to happen. However, some of the things portrayed in the novel can be seen today. Acts of violence such as rape and stealing still happen. Just recently look at the riots which occurred in Ferguson Missouri. And similar to the novel, the media controls what the side of the story the public sees. As for the government, it would be more likely to see more corruption in other countries. However, the United States government has shown signs of corruption such as the NSA spying. The Ludovico treatment or aversion therapy today is very rarely seen, due to it's lack of scientific evidence of being an effective option. This is reflected in our prison system, the United States has the highest prison population in the world. Both in raw numbers, and percentage of the population