Anthony Burgess' novel, A Clockwork Orange has been called shocking, controversial, and horrifying. A Clockwork Orange is controversial, but to focus merely on the physical aspects of the work is time wasted. Burgess is concerned with the issue of ethics. He believes that goodness comes directly from choice; it is better to choose the bad than to be forced into doing the good. For taking away a person's free will is simply turning them into a piece of "clockwork"; a piece of machine containing all the sweet juices of life, but incapable of being human.
Government, as it is simply named in the book, is portrayed as being the great oppressor. The novel is based in a future where the government brainwashes its people and beats them into submission, all in the name of "goodness". This creates quite the oxymoron. The ultra-violence done by Alex and his droogs is unthinkably bad, yet for the police to beat the criminals is socially acceptable? It is made quite clear throughout the novel......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 484
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |