A Clockwork Orange Analysis Essay

Lauren Waters

October 20, 2012

English 213

Palmer

Human beings are born with a choice- the choice between a life of morality, or a life of wickedness. When stripped of this individual right, one must take into account the question of what limitations should be put on society so that one still retains said rights, but so that society remains free from chaos. If possible, should society be allowed to enable programs that permanently alter one’s wicked behavior and thoughts to the point of brainwashing? There have been debates in the past over whether maintaining order in a society is worth the sacrifice of a human’s free will. Both the novel and film versions of A Clockwork Orange address this issue by depicting the effects of such a program on a young man who chose a life of sin.

In A Clockwork Orange, the main character, Alex, selects for himself an immoral way of life, living completely in sin until he is convicted for murder and put into a program designed to correct his wicked ways. Guilty of all types of antisocial behaviors (rape, violence, and theft, to name a few), Alex is responsible for committing many acts against society. Finally after the accidental murder of a woman in an invasion gone wrong, Alex is arrested and convicted. In prison he meets a chaplain with whom he establishes a relationship with, and they discuss the idea of something called a Ludovico treatment with him. The chaplain says that they will discuss his thoughts on it further, but that same night Alex and his cellmates get into a dispute. Alex begins to beat up a fellow cellmate with other cellmates, but accidentally kills him when a blow is much too forceful. The accidental murder of both the lady in the home invasion and his cellmate, he is considered a perfect candidate for this governmental program, these Ludovico procedures. The government makes the decision to use Ludovico procedures on Alex, an aversion therapy program that equates images of violence and horror with the...