A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess - Book Report/Review Example

A Clockwork Orange is written by Anthony Burgess which is one his most popular books, also his least favorite one. The work of Burgess in this book became quite controversial by the 20th century, where a lot of people attribute the controversy to the Stanley Kubrick`s movie adaptation based on the book, with little variations. The movie is based on a 15 year old boy named Alex who is often at odds with the norms of the society. Alex, the protagonist of the novel, is indulged in mob violence to an extreme case where he robs, rapes and beats the citizens of London. He loves Beethoven music, though he is so obsessed with violence that even while listening to music he imagines various forms of violence. However, while trying to rob a rich lady he ends up getting in jail where he gets convicted for murder of the women. In order to incorporate sense of positive behavior inside him, the authorities makes him go through a treatment, which makes him sick with even the thought of committing crime. By the end of the book, the treatment is reversed, however, if he`s been a conformist, the results would have had a positive influence. In this context, the behavioral dimensions explicated by Alex can be understood with reference to Freud`s analysis of civilization and its discontents. Frued (70) states that kindness is the highest form of the exhibition of super-ego which suppresses one`s desires to inflict aggression. Therefore, Alex is in conflict with the civilization due to his deep rooted inclination towards aggression, where he seeks pleasure and satisfaction by inflicting violence and committing sins due to the super-ego element in his conscious, and thus he goes to the extent of committing suicide. The first sign pointing towards the proposition that Alex is at odd with the civilization are his tastes and natural inclinations, which are completely opposite to what a conformist would prefer. This argument must not be confused with the criminal mindset, since even a conformist could have a criminal mindset but for different reasons. According to Freud (34), the civilizations have flawed standards of measurement i.e. power, wealth or in a few cases prestige with the long term aim to enhance one`s social position in the society. On the other hand, in case of Alex he isn`t deeply indulged in criminal activities to enhance his status in the society, rather due to opposite sense of reasoning. He aims at maintaining his aggressive sense of self to seek satisfaction and to attain pleasure. This state of consciousness can be traced in Freud’s line of reasoning as the severity of super-ego which in case of Alex isn`t dominated by society`s sense of right and wrong. A conformist would still have a guilty conscious while committing serious crimes, or at least would agree that the act being performed is wrong, however, in case of Alex, he perceives aggression and violence as a fair activity. Similarly, people seek pleasure in music to relax their minds and take off negative thoughts from their minds, while Alex seeks pleasure to music to further aggravate the violence in his personality (Burgess 19). In the views of Freud (26), such withdrawal from civilization values to enhance one`s pleasure can be characterized in the metaphysical terms. Secondly, the civilization is inclines towards positive behavior where the yardstick to measure behaviors are set up by the society to which everyone aims at conforming. However, Alex fails to identify and relate to such positive reinforcers. Alex is a proponent of freedom, while his idea of freedom is also completely distinct from what the society perceives. He signs up for the test, not to make himself devoid of committing sins, rather to free himself of the conviction of prison. Such a scenario can be explained in context to how Freud critiqued the infliction of sense of nationalism by critiquing the Christian notion of ‘Love thy neighbor’ (Freud 58). Freud points out that one must conform to duties only because he loves doing it, not because of the role of aggression or mutual love in the process of communal identity formation.. When Alex goes through the treatment where he receives shocks every time he comes across any form of aggression, his entire life gets negatively affected. Though he gets free, but he doesn’t get content due to the conflict in his personality with the mainstream civilization. In fact, he gets suicidal when he loses affiliation with aggression and violence. Due to the treatment, he falls sick every time he even pictures any kind of violent behavior, while unlike the rest of the society, his entire life is based on aggression. Also, the music he once loved now also reminds him of violence, and thus, instead of taking him to peace, the treatment rather made him worse. He is someone who isn`t designed to live a normal life defined by ethics and morality, as the definition of rightful behavior for him is conflicting with that of the civilization. Therefore, Alex`s inclination against the reinforcement of positive behavior is yet another indicator of him being at odds with the civilization. Thirdly, Alex defies the conventions of the society by implicating that he is inherently built and designed in such a way so as to attract violence and aggression which again is in compliance with Presumptions proposed by Freud. In contrast, someone who follows the popular convention would commit such aggressive behavior due to the exposure of excessive violence from outside forces. Alex`s parents are descent and simple beings who have no relation whatsoever with any kind of violence. Thus, the genetic possibility of acquiring violence can be ruled out. The popular belief, however, is of the view that proper care from parents and by incorporating academic discipline inside a child, it can be ensured that the child turns out to be a descent being in his youth. However, in case of Alex, despite all these external factors aiming at turning him into sober boy, he turns out to be a criminal. In this context, Freud argues that the desire for aggression innocuous is interjected, internalized and is inflicted toward one`s ego, which is then set as the super-ego and thus, the inherent inoculation of aggression leads towards harsh behavior (Freud 70). Thus, a conformist who is at peace with the civilization would still blame the external factors, for instance poverty, neglect from parents or other similar reasons to justify his behavior. However, Alex proudly quotes at various instances that he loves doing what he does and he is aggressive only because of the reason that he finds satisfaction in doing so (Burgess 21). Also, he doesn’t even blame the apocalyptic environment of London during the era, rather he deems himself as one of the factors which turned London into a chaotic state that it is. Furthermore, a conformist would always try to avoid using religion to justify his acts while Alex is bold enough to explicate that since God has control over the earth and as long as God would continue to spin the earth, there would be sin, and thus, he finds pleasure in committing sins. In this case, Alex is found in a complete conflict with the civilization in the context that he believes that he is inherently capable of aggression and violence where external factors have nothing to do with his behavior. Conclusively, the character of Alex in the novel ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is completely at odds with the civilization given his inherent sense of committing violence and crime. His tastes and inclinations are completely in conflict with what the society would deem desirable, where the society in general aims at enhancing their social status where Alex enjoys gang and mob behavior. Also, the society has a taste for music for attaining peace and calm, while Alex sees violence even in music. Similarly, the civilization sees freedom as the liberty to live in a peaceful society and find peace in the capability to avoid aggression. On the other hand, Alex finds himself stuck in a suicidal position when positive behavior is reinforced on him. Also, a conformist would rather blame his unjustified and sinful behavior on external factors. However, Alex fails to do so, and rather imply that his sinful behavior is a product of inherent factors and he is the only reason why he seeks satisfaction in inflicting violence. Thus, Alex is in conflict with the civilization due to his deep rooted inclination towards aggression, where he seeks pleasure and satisfaction by inflicting violence and committing sins due to which when the civilization constitutes opposing behavior in him, he goes to the extent of committing suicide. Works Cited: Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. New York: Norton, 1986. Print. Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton, 1962. Print. Read More