Quarter #4 of A Clockwork Orange

-->

A Clockwork Orange Q#4

Part two chapter 1—7 and part three chapter 1---7

Major events

1. Alex gets sentenced to fourteen years in State Jail. The first two years of prison are hellish for Alex.

2. After several years, Alex gets a job, playing the stereo for the prison chaplain every Sunday mass. And he begins to take an interest in the bible.
3. Minister selects Alex for Reclamation Treatment, a two-week program which will culminate in the State releasing Alex. Alex is happy with that.
4. The doctors force Alex to watch numbers of violent movies. Even when Alex feels horribly sick and screams, Dr. Brodsky and the others just simply laugh at him.
5. Alex’s torture continues for the following days, he is very painful. For one time, Alex attempts an escape but fails.
6. The last time Alex went to the screening room where he always sees the movies, a man insults and beats him. But Alex just clings to the man's ankles until the man falls.
7. Dr.Brpdsky declares that Alex is a true Christian and after doctor's successful presentation, Alex is free then.
8. When Alex arrives home, he sees a strange man and his room is totally changed. From the conversation, Alex realizes that he is not wanted so he leaves.
9. Any violence makes Alex ill, such as pop music and the Korova Milkbar. Therefore, Alex decides to suicide. Then in the library, a schoolteacher-type man recognizes Alex and beats him but Alex doesn't fight back. On the contrary, Alex begs others to call the police.
10. To Alex's amazement, he finds the policemen are Billyboy and Dim. They recognize Alex and then the officers take Alex to a deserted place where they beat him brutally and abandon him.
11. Alex goes to a cottage for help. Inside, Alex recognizes the man as the writer who he and his friends robbed before. But the writer doesn't recognize him and even treats his well. Alex tells the writer all the things about the Ludovico's Technique.
12. Alex reads the book ''A Clockwork Orange'' written by the writer F. Alexander and thinks the book sounds crazy and worries that perhaps F. Alexander is insane.
13. F. Alexander and his friends plan to use Alex to revolt against the government. They want to describe him as ''a superb device''. And soon when F. Alexander recognizes that Alex is the man who raped his wife and robbed his house, Alex tried to run away but fails. Finally, he is locked in a room.
14. Alex has no way to go out so he jumps from the window to suicide. He doesn't die, instead, he lies in the hospital and a lot of people come to visit him.
15. ,Alex realizes that something has changed, and that he is able to have violent thoughts without any negative consequence. The doctor tells him that he is cured as a result of “deep hypnopaedia.”
16. Alex goes back to his former life. He has a new gang and a new job. However, one day, Alex criticizes his friends in the bar and says that he will go home to be on his own and think things out.
17. Alex meets Pete and his pretty wife, they are going to a party. In the end, Alex decides it’s time to start a new chapter in his life, of finding the mother for his children. He is growing up.

Characters' introduction

Alex

As we know, Alex is the narrator and main character, in the second and third part of the novel, he experiences the life in jail and there's a change in his character. When Alex is in the jail, he is put through an experimental ''Reclamation Treatment'' to make him incapable of doing any wrong. However, F. Alexander who Alex later meets, tries to use Alex to go against the government. Alex is unfortunately used and duped by both the government and F. Alexander. He completely loses his born natural personality during this time. Alex's childish actions and immature thoughts lead him to a miserable during his youth time. Finally, Alex's freedom restores. He makes the choice to grow up on his own.

F. Alexander

F. Alexander is a writer and an anti-government activist. He is also the author of A Clockwork Orange, a book about the importance of free will. In the first part, F. Alexander is the one whose wife was raped and beaten by Alex. Nonetheless, F. Alexander appears again in the third part and uses Alex to oppose the government. At the end of the story, F. Alexander is thrown in prison by the government. Although he is a liberal ideologist who claims to help Alex but he doesn't really care about Alex's thoughts. F. Alexander is fake and evil.

Dr. Brodsky

Dr. Brodsky is the scientist who is taking control of Alex in the Ludovico’s Technique. Brodsky is short, fat, hairy, and wears thick glasses. He and his assistant always are laughing at Alex’s suffering. Unlike Alex, Dr. Brodsky knows nothing about classical music and does not appreciate it either.

Prison Chaplain

Prison Chaplain is a good friend of Alex in the jail. He tries to stop Alex choosing the Ludovico’s Technique. Prison Chaplain is big, burly drunk with a red face. He gives the most concise definition in his speech of the importance of free will in the novel.

Point of view

The narrator speaks in the first person. It's good because we can know Alex's thoughts and actions. Therefore, we can compare Alex's true natural personality with the changed one. But we cannot feel other characters' thoughts.

Setting

In the second part, the setting is the jail and a nice building for experiment in result from Alex's punishment. In the third part, the setting changes back to the small city in England because Alex is free then.

Notables about the writers' style

Notables are the same as the last one.

Burgess' clever and unique style owes much to his use of nadsat, which has its fair share of onomatopoeia to clue us in on what is being said. A Clockwork Orange is Anthoy Burgess's rebellion against brainwashing and political suppression. It is a mixture of Russian, English, and American slang, and rhyming words and phrases, with a touch of Shakespearean English.

Themes

1. The Inherent Evil of Government exists and it affects people because the State seeks to control Alex and take his will free away. The State also does not tolerate dissent. F. Alexander who aims to go against the government is finally arrested.

2. The author presents the attraction to evil as a natural part of being human. Alex does evil simply because he likes to. Human nature should be respected but Alex is forced to become a good man who is afraid of violence. However, it doesn't last long. Alex changes back to himself later. Therefore, human nature is something essential and changeless.