A+Clockwork+Orange

=**Title of the Work**= //A Clockwork Orange//

=Author= Anthony Burgess

=Nationality/Ethnic Background= British.

= Genre and Sub-genres = Political Satire, Dystopian, Bildungsroman.

=Pertinent Biographical Information= Anthony Burgess was born on February 25, 1917, in Harpurhey, England. He was the son of Catholics Elizabeth Wilson and Joseph Wilson, and his sister was Muriel Wilson. Elizabeth Wilson died on November 19, 1918, and four days later, Muriel passed away. Their deaths caused Burgess's father to hate him, so he ended up being raised by his maternal aunt where he lived a solitary childhood.

Burgess disliked music on the radio, favoring classical music. Burgess wanted to be a composer, but his family discouraged composing as they claimed it didn't pay well. Despite resistance from his family, Burgess taught himself to play piano at age fourteen. He was unable to enter a school for music, so instead he studied English at the Victoria University of Manchester, where he would meet his future wife.

Burgess entered the military in 1940 for six weeks before becoming a nursing orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After leaving the army, he became a teacher and taught for the Mid-West School of Education to Malaya. He was sent back to England after his teaching career. After a while, he left England and lived in many parts of Europe before finally settling down in the Monaco. Burgess would die from Lung Cancer in London on November 22, 1993.

Burgess's political views were considered by some to be anarchist.

=Literary Historical Period/Movement and Pertinent Background= //A Clockwork Orange,// written in just three weeks, was published in 1962 during the "British Invasion" era, where music (by bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones) and literature (such as //The Man in the High Castle// by Philip K. Dick) reflected the unrest of citizens and their rebellion against the government.

=Major Characters, Their Relationships, Their Conflicts=
 * **Alex**: The narrator and protagonist, Alex, is the leader of a gang of criminals.He enjoys classical music because it makes him feel violent. Alex's closest friend Georgie betrays him, causing Alex to get arrested and be sent to jail. Alex is enrolled in a new medical treatment, causing him extreme pain whenever any violent feeling arises. Alex is allowed to leave the prison and he makes friends with a group who believe what happened to him was wrong. To prove this point the lock Alex in a room, classical music blasting, and Alex is forced to jump from the top story window, almost killing himself.
 * **Dim**: The biggest, strongest, and least-intelligent member of Alex's gang. Dim plays a significant role in the arrest of Alex; crippling Alex by whipping him in the eyes with a chain. Dim later becomes a police officer who meets Alex after he is released from jail. Dim proceeds to beat Alex up and leaves him to die. Dim remains just as violent as a police officer as he was while in Alex's gang.
 * **Georgie**: A member of Alex's former gang who fights against Alex for the leadership role. Along with Dim and Pete, Georgie abandons Alex when Alex is caught by the police for breaking into an old lady's house. While in jail Alex vows to get his revenge on Georgie, who had plotted against Alex, but Georgie dies before his release.
 * **Pete**: A member of Alex's former gang. He abandons Alex along with Dim and Georgie. After leaving his treatment center Alex sees Pete. Now Pete has matured and is married. Seeing how happy Pete is with his wife instills a sense of longing in Alex for a wife and family. Therefore, Pete inspires Alex to grow up.
 * **F. Alexander**: At the beginning of the novel, Alex and his gang break into F. Alexander's home. Alex and his droogs then beat F. Alexander and rape his wife. F. Alexander's wife dies as a result of the attack. F. Alexander then dedicates his life to dismounting the government, as he holds them partially accountable for his wife's death. Later in the novel, when Alex is left beaten on the side of a country road by the police, F. Alexander takes in Alex to help him find justice for the experiments performed on him and becomes a father-figure to him. F. Alexander discovers that Alex is the murderer of his wife, imprisons him, and plays classical music to torture him with the sickness that Alex experiences whenever he hears the music (a result of the experiments imposed on him). Alex jumps out of a window to try to end his life and is taken to the hospital. F. Alexander is later punished.
 * **Alex's Parents (Pee and em)__:__** Alex's parents are terrified of their son, not disciplining him or questioning his illegal activities. His parents replace him with Joe when Alex is arrested and do not want Alex to come back into their lives. When he does return he finds that his old belongings in the house have been replaced by Joe's, and his parents have no desire for him to stay with them.
 * **Prison Chaplain__:__** The prison chaplain likes Alex when Alex is in prison. He aids him in reading the Bible (he enjoys the violence of the Old Testament). The chaplain represents the emotional forces that oppose the scientific forces at work in the world. He represents this by disagreeing with Alex's treatment, which ultimately transforms Alex into a machine that has no ability to reason and think for himself. The Chaplain also shows corruption and hypocrisy in the church. He is supposed to stand for all that is good and fair in the world, but he is a drunk and a pushover. Although the Chaplain opposes Alex's treatment, he still lets it happen because it will give him political gain.
 * **Dr. Brodsky__:__** Dr. Brodsky is in charge of the treatment facility that Alex goes to after he is released from prison. Dr. Brodsky mentally scars Alex by showing him violent images with classical music playing in the background, a treatment called Ludovico's Technique, and notices that the music amplifies Alex's emotions. Dr. Brodsky imposes this treatment onto Alex in an attempt to train him to become sick whenever he attempts or even contemplates performing violent acts, and seems to receive enjoyment out of Alex's suffering. Dr. Brodsky is a representation of figures in society who have a distorted and corrupt sense of morality. Dr. Brodsky is also an advocate of conformity, as he praises Alex once he loses the ability to make decisions for himself.

=Brief Plot Summary= __A Clockwork Orange__ takes place in a futuristic, totalitarian society. The society appears to be content, complacent, and oblivious to the violent culture and activities of the youth. The protagonist is a fifteen-year-old boy named Alex DeLarge who leads a gang of teenagers who he refers to as his "droogs," one of the many terms of the nadstat slang that Alex uses to narrate the story. Alex's gang of droogs include Georgie, Dim, and Pete. The boys roam the streets at night, committing criminal acts such as robbery and rape. When they're not spending their time wreaking havoc, Alex and his droogs spend their time at a bar that serves milk laced with hallucinogens. The novel begins at the milk bar, and soon Alex and his gang leave to cause mischief. Their night entails beating up a drunkard, robbery, and stealing a car with which the boys use to drive to the country. Once in the country, Alex and his friends break into a couple's home. Once inside, Alex and his friends, wearing masks, beat up the man, named F. Alexander, brutally rape his wife, and force him to watch. The rape causes F. Alexander's wife to die. After their crime spree, the boys return to the milk bar where Alex becomes angry at Dim and punches him in the face. Georgie, Pete, and Dim then become angry with Alex and turn against him. The next time the boys go out, they break into an old woman's house and the old woman calls the cops. As the boys are leaving, Dim incapacitates Alex by hitting him in the face with a chain, allowing Alex to be arrested by the police. Alex is then sentenced to fourteen years in prison, where he is treated cruelly and his fellow prisoners want to rape him. As time progresses, Alex adjusts to life in prison and becomes friends with the prison chaplain. The prison chaplain allows Alex to read the Bible, as Alex is infatuated with the violence in the Old Testament. After Alex kills a fellow prisoner, he is chosen to be the candidate for a new experiment called Ludovico's Technique that brainwashes its candidates. To brainwash Alex, he is injected with substances that cause him to become very sick and he is forced to watch incredibly violent movies with classical music playing in the background so that he will associate the sickness with violence. Once the experiment is completed, Alex begins to become sick at the mere thought of violence. An unintended consequence that arises from the experiment is that Alex can no longer listen to classical music, something he dearly loves, without becoming sick. Alex is released from prison after two years as he is believed to now be a harmless person that is incapable of performing violent acts or crimes. Once out of prison, Alex runs into Dim and a former enemy of his named Billyboy. Dim and Billyboy are both now police officers and decide to seek revenge on Alex. Dim and Billyboy drive Alex out to the country, beat him up, and leave him there. Alex then begins to search for help and comes across a cottage. The man living there is F. Alexander, the man who Alex and his gang had beaten up and killed his wife two years earlier. F. Alexander fails to recognize Alex and gives him food and a room to sleep in for the night. Alex tells F. Alexander his experience with Ludovico's Technique, and F. Alexander decides that he can use Alex's story to cause public outrage towards the government. F. Alexander and his associates plan for Alex to make several appearances, but Alex is opposed to the idea and castigates F. Alexander in his old nadstat slang. F. Alexander, however, remembers the slang from the night his wife was raped and decides to lock Alex in apartment and play classical music in the hopes that it will cause Alex to kill himself. Alex does, in fact, attempt suicide by throwing himself out of window but his attempt is unsuccessful. While Alex is in the hospital after his suicide attempt, a political struggle occurs, but the current system persists. State doctors successfully reverse the effects of Ludovico's Technique and restore Alex to his violent nature. Alex then creates a new gang and falls into his previous vicious habits. Alex soon becomes indifferent to his life of violence and sees Pete at a local bar with his wife. Alex then realizes that he wants to settle down and live a life of normalcy and begins imagining having a son. Alex's transformation from a rebellious teenager to an adult is complete.

=Motifs (Recurring Images, Ideas, Figures of Speech, Symbols, Colors) & Their Thematic Significance=
 * Nadsat**:** The teenagers speak nadsat, a mixture of Russian and Cockney English, to separate themselves from the rest of society. The youth have a different style and language because they are opposed to the traditions set down by the reigning government. Burgess's literary device enables readers to understand and sympathize with Alex because they have to delve into his language.


 * Classical Music**:** Music is inspirational for Alex because composers were outcasts in their society and seen as failures until they gained notoriety. Alex likes to think of himself as similar to these geniuses so he can hope for fame and acceptance in the future. Also, classical music is full of swells and decrescendos, representative of life's ups and downs that Alex likes to capitalize on. Music uses repetition to make the audience familiar with the themes and Burgess uses repetition of statements and characters, like F. Alexander, to connect his piece of art.


 * The Color White: Burgess uses the color white to represent the evil forces in Alex's life. The doctors at the treatment facility wore white and were a menace to Alex's health. Alex noticed that there were more police officers patrolling in the daylight. Light represents the revealing power of truth that can unveil an individual's dark desires.


 * Appearance versus Reality: Billyboy knows that he is not supposed to legally beat Alex, yet he is bypassing that by bringing Alex out of town and covering it up. This is again the motif of the corrupt government trying to hid something. This relates to earlier in the book when the police arrest Alex and claim he resisted arrest, and that that was why they were beating Alex. This anger and unjustified anger towards Alex, and others that police beat, may make people angry at them. This anger could turn into violence. This could be the violence Alex exhibits in the beginning, and references in the end of the novel. The motif of appearance vs. reality in that the government tries to appear good, but off to the side they are committing violent acts themselves. Also in the novel there was the nice white facility they brought Alex to with the nice room and bed. This also was false, and that place was used to torture Alex. Along with this every time somebody tried to use Alex they acted like Alex's friend, but really wanted him for their own gain. This lead Alex later to yell out and ask what they, the people trying to get back at the government, would do for him. It made him angry. He later tried suicide. This is a theme that continuously lying to someone may make them mad, and that anger could turn out to be disastrous for them, or for who they are angry at.

**Other Significant Thematic Elements (Significant Character's Names, Significant Quotations, Significant Actions/Events)** Alex reading the Bible: Alex found the Old Testament to his liking because it was full of bloodshed, lust, and violence. The prison chaplain, on the other hand, was full of love and forgiveness in accordance to the teachings of Christ in the New Testament. This represents the opposing forces found in the world that humans must choose between.

Milk at the Milk-Bar: As a substance that nourishes young animals, milk symbolizes the immaturity of the people who drink it at the Korova Milkbar. The teenagers all yearn to be transported to a different place in hopes of finding happiness, so the milk is laced with hallucinogenic drugs. Alex sees Heaven after drinking milk once and has a revelation that he wants to be in that nurturing atmosphere, but it fades into oblivion because his hallucinogenic state can not produce real places of security. The only way he can achieve his place of happiness is by maturing and forsaking the illusions of milk.

=Major Themes=

Alex is starts to be concerned for himself, and he doesn't want to only be used for other's gains. Alex wants to be cured of his sickness. Also he wants to know what will happen to him, because right now he has nothing in his life. He has been used as a scapegoat when he killed the cat lady, for experiments in prison, to strike back at the government, and to get back at the ones who used him to speak out against the government. Just about every time Alex actually ended in a worse situation. This is important because it is a motif that those without anything, like the poor, want more than what they have. Alex has nothing, so he wants a lot. He wants his life back. It is possible he will do whatever he can to get his life back. This is a theme; those who are caused to suffer because either all they have has been taken away by those in power, or those in power fail to help them, can lead to the people who are suffering striking back in some manner, possible violence.

There is a power struggle between Alex and two of his friends. Alex's friends feel that things are not democratic enough, so they try to overthrow him and take control of the group. Alex wins wounding both Georgie and Dim. This scene shows the theme that a dictatorship and suppressing others can lead to a revolt. Although this shows it on a small level within individual groups, this book shows it on larger levels with Alex and his friends fighting against the community around them, and against the police (government).

It seems that society is applying rules that everyone needs to follow. These rules however are shown that they should only be for a mechanical race. Machines are made to do exactly as they are programmed for, they have no artificial intelligence and they are all the same. However, humans are different. Humans have unique personalities, and believe different things. Therefore, rules that should only be followed strictly if humans were a race of machines should not be enforced. These laws we create are only possible if everyone is the same. Consequently, the theme that if people are suppressed and forced to abide by others' rules, then possibly by acting out against the society that surrounds them they are trying to avoid being a machine.

Alex and the people around him live in fear of each other. Fear can lead us to many things we would not ordinarily do. Fear of loss for one’s life is an example, and it can cause you to act out and try to recover what you are about to lose, or to protect yourself. Therefore, the theme that by living in fear his whole life, people, Alex specifically, begin to lash out to protect themselves from those surrounding them; in this novel it is either from the other gangs or from the government who also is against him.

Evil in humans is not inherent but is chosen. Alex is violent not because he is born with an evil nature but because he wants to create chaos. He yearns to create dissidence because he disagrees with the structure of society and the respect that he get as a teenager. This is evident when Alex laughs at his parole officer's confusion of why Alex chooses to defy societal rules but Alex simply wants to bring about disorder to change societal traditions.

The loss of free will. When Alex is forced to be good by the treatment, the prison chaplain believes that Alex has lost the free will of a human. Without the choice between evil and good, one can not be considered human because he has lost the ability to think for himself. Burgess believes the choice to be good must spring from individual desire to be more than an empty, meaningless gesture.

The novel has many opposing forces to accurately depict the forces at work in the universe. The most prominent struggle is between good and evil. Also depicted is the debate between complacency and rebellion against unfair conditions, such as the government.

Burgess displays the inherent evil found in any government in the futuristic government of the novel. The government is ruled by corrupt leaders such as the Minister of the Interior and scientists who see citizens as experimental subjects that should be programmed to follow the will of governing individuals. F. Alexander was punished because he attempted to enlighten the people about the corruption of the government, indicating that governments take away individual freedom of speech and belief.