A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Brugess

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Brugess

I have seen the title of this book pop up a lot in my Religious Studies notes to do with Free Will and Determinism but I've never read it before. Every time I've seen the title, I've wanted to read it but I had no idea what it would be about. An orange? A clock? Nope. Neither. But then it was next on my reading list from school so I felt I had to read it.

It was not an easy read for the first 50 odd pages as the lexis was half made up possibly to show how uneducated the main character Alex was. I thought he used language in such a way that no other author had, that I've read. William S. Burroughs said "I do not know of any other writer who has done as much with language." I wanted to give it up but I couldn't because of all the sub conscious pressure. I felt ashamed that this seemingly short book was taking me so long to read. I'm so glad I stuck at it though because it was one of the best books I've ever read.

"Is it better for a man to have chosen evil than to have good imposed upon him?"

As this quote suggests virtue has to be something someone chooses to be respected as opposed to have forced upon you. Then you respect it more. How do you decipher what is morally good and not evil. Surely we have free will to make these choices? We should do anyway and not do it out of guilt. 

Why did it keep on coming up in my RS notes? The book explores the idea of free will. Do people do crimes because of their upbringing? Is it determined? Can it be prevented? The book explores John B. Watson's argument that behaviour can be predicated and controlled as we live in a determined universe. Therefore can people be conditioned to act in a certain way? In the book, Alex is shown the worst things humanity has done to one another, during a psychological test, to prevent him from doing bad crimes. Is that morally right? Will it work? 

It starts off with the boy that everyone knows in their village, town or city. The ones who do drugs, threaten people and physically hurt others. The people you always cross the street to avoid. Alex and his friends, known as the 'droogs' hunt for these thrills at the cost of others. Alex has no respect for his parents who do not respect him either for going out and doing terrible crimes. 

However one night he is caught and sent to prison for what he has done only then to be part of psychological experiments that will shorten his prison sentence. 

Throughout the book, Alex calls cigarettes 'cancer' which every time it's read, does not loose meaning. Every time it makes you stop and think just like the rest of the book.

Thank you for checking out this blog and I'll be back soon with another one.