The protagonist, Alex, in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange (1962) fights against his futile existence through acts or dreams of violence, the only things capable of providing him with stimulation in the bleak State-controlled society of Burgess’ novel. The punishment Alex receives for his crimes is not a means of criticizing Alex himself, but rather of highlighting the potential for evil inherent in all human beings and the necessity of preserving individual free will.
A Bleak Future
The setting of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange is a grim future society run by the State and characterized by rampant youth violence. Alex and his gang assault, rape, and murder in a world where, according to one of Alex’s victims, there is “no attention paid to earthly law nor order no more.” In addition to the widespread gang brutality, Alex’s society is characterized by a corrupt government and police force, as well as a dismal communist-like working class living in apartments like prison cells and performing monotonous and mandatory work in State-run locations such as “the Statemarts.”
The impact of this stagnant environment is clear at the beginning of the novel; although the extent of Alex’s love for violence is shocking, especially at fifteen years of age, Burgess shows this to be a part of the skewed and pessimistic perspective Alex has developed. For Alex, life is about “some getting knifed and others doing the knifing.” It is only through violent acts or listening to classical music with violent overtones, that Alex feels fully alive.
The Impact of Social Disintegration
Human relationships in A Clockwork Orange, when they develop at all, are hindered by an isolation created by self-interest. For example, , the prison Charlie, as Alex correctly perceives, uses Alex because he “was after becoming a very great holy chelloveck in the world of Prison Religion.” Even F. Alexander is willing to sacrifice Alex (without having yet identified him as his wife’s murderer) to fight the government. It is little wonder that Alex, even at age fifteen, should have no sympathy for his victims when he has not experienced any kind of human connection or compassion.
In fact, the lack of this connection and compassion is what allows Alex to create his over-simplified and distorted categorization of his society into those doing the knifing and those getting knifed. Alex has learned by example to be motivated by his own self-interest without taking into consideration the impact of his actions on others. He suggests that he acts the way he does because he likes patronizing "the other shop" (i.e. being bad), but he also alludes to another possible motivation for his violence. He tells us that “badness is of the self” and society “cannot allow the bad because they cannot allow the self.” He then refers to modern history as “the story of brave malenky selves fighting these big machines.” This passage suggests that Alex's aggression is a way of lashing out against the stagnant society that threatens to limit his individuality and power of choice.
The Potential for Change
Alex’s punishment is a means for Burgess in A Clockwork Orange to explore the central debate of the novel: “Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?” To answer this question by considering only the extraordinary violence of Alex’s exploits and his apparent lack of remorse about these actions is to ignore the hints throughout the novel of Alex’s childlike nature and, by extension, his potential for growth.
Perhaps it would be difficult to accept Alex’s claim at the conclusion of the novel that his violence was the result of youth and that “youth is only being in a way like it might be an animal.” However, Burgess makes its clear through Alex’s language, with phrases like “appy polly loggies” and “jammiwam and eggiweg,” and actions such as offering “a bit of lip-music: brrrrzzzzrrrr,” that Alex is still very much a child. As a child, as we see later in the novel, he has the potential to eventually mature.
Violence and Hypocrisy
In addition to Alex’s childish disposition, the question, “‘What’s it going to be then, eh?’”, that is the question of whether a violent and free Alex is preferable to a good and conditioned Alex, must also be answered in light of the violence and hypocrisy of the other characters in the novel. After severely beating Alex, a corrupt millicent says, “‘Violence makes violence,’” while the Governor tells Alex that he should be punished accordingly for his actions: “‘Why should not the State, very severely hit by you brutal hooligans, not hit back also?’”
Moreover, Ludovico’s Technique, an apparently non-violent way to ensure criminals can be successfully rehabilitated, is shown to be the product of unfeeling and cruel minds; as Alex himself recognizes, Dr. Brodsky and Dr. Branom are "cally and filthy" for making such gruesome films for the prisoners to watch. It is difficult to feel sympathy for Alex after the suffering he has inflicted on others, but Burgess makes it impossible for the reader to ignore the blatant hypocrisy of Alex’s so-called rehabilitators. Even F. Alexander, who claims to reject Ludovico’s Technique as the brutal tool of a government on the verge of totalitarianism, reveals his eye for an eye mentality when he begins to suspect Alex to be his wife’s murderer: “‘For, by Christ, if he were I’d tear him, I’d split him, by God, yes yes, so I would.’”
In effect, Burgess suggests that violence is a natural aspect of the human condition. It is, therefore, unacceptable to transform Alex into “a clockwork orange” or automaton; instead, Alex, like all human beings, should be free to make a moral choice between good and evil.
Reference
- Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange . London: Penguin, 2000.
Jennifer McNeil Bertrand - Jennifer McNeil Bertrand is an association professional with a background in English Literature and Communications.
Join the Conversation