The Significance Of Choice In A Clockwork Orange, By Anthony Burgess

“It may be horrible to be good. And when I say that to you I realize how self-contradictory that sounds. I know that I shall have many sleepless nights about this. What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses to be bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has good imposed upon him?” (Burgess 106). Within Burgess’s novel, A Clockwork Orange, the significance of choice is emphasized. The methods used to impose good on those who commit evil acts are assessed and address how moral choices are the only way humans are able to distinguish themselves from machines. In the absence of moral choice, humans will cease to be humans. Students should not be deprived of reading this insightful novel pertaining
Alex and his “droogs” embody the rebellious teens of modern society by dressing in the height of fashion and speaking the Nadsat language: a language formulated from Russian origins. His habitual activities of theft, drug use, rape, and violence reach an end when Alex is captured by the police is and must face the consequences. He is sentenced to fourteen years in prison, but two years into his imprisonment an opportunity presents itself for him to return to the streets. The Ludovico Technique is an experimental method that would grant Alex freedom within two weeks time. Unable to decline, he undergoes the experiment, which consists of watching graphic videos of egregious acts that are intended for Alex to associate violence with pain. After being released from the program, he questions whether has been granted freedom or if he has become a subject of government control and ceases to be to have any choices left to distinguish himself as an
“And then I was forced to viddy a most nasty film about Japanese torture. It was the 1939-45 War, and there were soldiers being fixed to tree with nails and having fires lit under them, and you even vidded gulliver being sliced off a soldier with a sword, and then with his head rolling about and the rot and the glazzies looking alive still, the plott of this soldier actually ran about, krovvy like a fountain out of the neck, and then it dropped, and all the time there was very very loud laughter from the Japanese” (Burgess 118). The extreme violence demonstrated helps Alex understand the evil it takes to commit these acts. It also acts as a comparison of Alex’s before, during, and after the treatment. Even though he temporarily loses his freedom the harsh conditions aid the evolution of Alex’s character. By Burgess including their cruel actions such as rape, violence, and theft he is demonstrating that despite the harsh reality, Alex had the ability to choose. By taking away Alex’s freedom it showed its salient role in society and the impact it has on a