A Clockwork Orange Literary Essay

A Clockwork Orange Literary Essay

Nadine Gordimer wrote, "Penetrating fiction doesn't give answers, it invites questions." This quote is made apparent in Anthony Burgess's 'A Clockwork Orange', where it "invites questions" relate to the right to choose, where ethics fall into place in the novel, morals, and the idea of good vs. bad.

The questions that are asked in 'A Clockwork Orange' are all closely connected in ways where one question has a side that relates to another and the circle just carries on.

Morals are connected with the accepted rules and standards of conduct in society and the goodness or badness of people and their behaviour. Ethics, relating to utilitarianism states that the way one conducts themselves or does things should create the greatest happiness or benefit of the largest number and the theory that actions are right as long as they promote happiness. The idea of morals and ethics come into play right at the beginning of the novel on the first page, where Alex doesn't bring up the ides of morals or ethics but you as the reader pick up on those concept, "no real need from the point of view of crasting any more pretty polly to tolchock some old veck in an alley and viddy him swim in his blood...". Here we get a view of what our character Alex gets up to, and one sees that what he does is not in line with general conduct of society and is what is believed to be wrong. Later on in the novel we see that one is questioning what is ethically and morally appropriate could be wrong. Alex states: 1"If lewdies are good that's because they like it, and I wouldn't ever interfere with their pleasures, and so of the other shop." So he is not questioning why people do good so why should people question why he does bad if it make him happy. Alex understands that what he does is not accepted in society and that if caught it has its consequences but he just says 2"if I get loveted, well, too bad for me," the question is not concerned with his understanding of the world, he understands it, it is more placed on, can morals and ethics really be placed as a general rule of conduct for the whole of society?

Choice, 3"the power or opportunity to choose."

4"there is a form here to be signed. It says that you are willing to have the residue of your sentence commuted to submission to what is called here, ridiculous expression, Reclamation Treatment. Will you sign?" Here Alex's is given a choice on whether or not to sign, this choice is not fair. Alex is not given all the information concerning the treatment and it just sounds like a quick way out. Also once he has accepted the "treatment" he is also not given the truth about what things are. 5 "Vitamins, sir, will it be?" "Something like that," Dr Branom isn't telling Alex what the injectons are for, although Alex doesn't pursue after Dr Branom says "something like that" he is still being lied to and doesn't understand what is being done to him and that is taking away his choice.

"Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed on him?" This is what the Prison Chaplin says to Alex after he signs the permission for the Reclamation Treatment. This really highlights the choice question that the novel asks. Choice is one of the greatest human rights and here it is being pushed to its limits. Alex does "bad" and is "bad". But we have to ask whether it is better to have the choice to be bad rather than being forced into something we are not. Sure he is harming others, but when he goes through the Reclamation Treatment they are harming him and this touches on the idea of morals, morals are concerned with the distinction between right and wrong. Alex does wrong and the justice system is supposed to do right? But in "A Clockwork Orange" both the justice system and Alex are doing wrong. Alex does wrong because he commits heinous crimes and the justice system does wrong because they are taking away Alex's right to chose and he is physically