Summary On Clockwork Orange Essay, Research Paper

?Listening to the J.S. Bach, I began to pony away to the brown gorgeousness of the starry German master, that I would like to have tolchocked them both harder and ripped them to ribbons on their own floor. (34) ?

Young Alex, na?ve, unloving, and uncaring to the world he lived in. The screaming decade of the 70?s is the setting of when the story takes place. A group of young teenage boys out and about looking for a good time but by what definition is a good time? If some people see a good time as hanging out at the movies and talking on the phone, then their imagination is far off from what Alex and his droogs are plotting.

Walking around in a small clique of 4 wearing and dressing in their own fashion and style. Alex is the leader of his small army and friends. He first introduces his strange behavior by walking the streets in search for some action and by means of action meaning fights, drinking, and sometimes in search of young girls to ravage.

Alex?s venture is to change his life around without realizing what he once was to a new beginning or becoming an adult. The beginning of his teenage life was being a young violent seeker and having a certain love for immoral acts against people or any living subject that he could find a way to hurt. Like young teenagers or youths there is a stage that they go through where they believe they are infinite and nothing can harm them or create a recognizable danger. There is a journey to becoming an adult and it may not be as violent or as sad a journey as young Alexs? but there is that road that teenagers travel down where they may learn their mistake and right they wrongs. Alex may not realize what his quest is in the beginning but it becomes clear once he has undergone the worst of his punishment that in return to fit the crimes he had committed.

Alex begins his journey of departure when he challenges another group of boys to a duel, which resulted in near death to one of the members of the opposing gang. Alex and his droogs get away clean without remorse of fear from authority. They go out once again on their spree of violence in search of new ways to receive entertainment that meets their definition. After finding a house out in the country they ravage the young wife of a writer and take pleasure in seeing the writer himself cry out in pain as his witnesses his wives demise. Through out the first six chapters there is a repetition of his acts of violence until his trusted droogs turn him in by a simple twist of betrayal and hate. Alex is forced serve time in a prison or correctional vicinity. Up until Alex had reached his punishment he was still undergoing his departure and now had reached his state of initiation.

Alex had spent nearly two years in jail and had already devised a way out. He had no clue what new program lay ahead but only it was his ticket out of jail, out of that hellhole in his eyes. His ?wise old man,? was the warden who saw Alex as a young man ready to change his life around but little did the man know that Alex wasn?t about to give up his horrorshow style of living. He had enjoyed too much of the immoral act of violence and in his mind it was all a boy could want. Since the warden was not a very big help to Alex?s escape plan Alex took it upon himself to scheme a way out. Without the knowledge of his future or what lay ahead Alex volunteered himself for the new rehabilitation program. There had been no others before him in the program so Alex took it upon his own ideas as to what he was going to be put through.

Alex spent the next month or so in a hospital where he was being used as a human guinea pig. His wasteland was his punishment for all the crimes he had committed. He spent his hours watching videos of violence and taking unprescribed medication. The government had used Alex in order to run tests and a first experiment or trial run. They had taken away his freedom and his right to choose what was right or wrong. He had no choice to get sick at the thought of violence or to act helpless when he was faced with a fight. In the publics opinion he deserved all that he received as penalty for his sins. Being in jail for almost a life sentence would not have changed a thing about his idea on life and how he spent his fun. He never evolved properly from being evil to becoming good. He was good by force and not by choice. All the experiments brought about a non-effective way to change criminals and Alex was later released with his mentality tampered with and his mind brainwashed.

Once Alex had been released he was back on the streets and looking forward to being home with his family whom he had set aside for so long. They had little love for the son they never really saw. He was replaced quickly and Alex?s only means of fighting back was to leave his home. He was still in his own wasteland and his punishment was still not over. He had reached the half way mark and met up with old victims of his troubled and violent past. His once faithful droogs, which had turned him in, had the upper hand in revenge and took the chance when they saw the opportunity arise. Alex was left defenseless and was unable to fight back. His mind and thirst for violence had abandoned him and he was left with the pain of what the experiments had done to him. He was left bloody, beaten, and alone in the forest where his droogs had taken him. His instinct had led him to a home, but not just any home, a place where he had been to before. He led himself to the original house where his violent acts had taken place. He had left a man crippled and his wife dead from the emotional pain Alex and his friends ravaging had brought.

The crippled man was grateful to have Alex in his home. He had no idea yet that this boy was the same one who had taken away his life. Alex was still in his state of shock and little to worry about thinking the old man would not remember had it been so long ago. Was it just the singing of a simple song that unveiled Alex or had the man known all along? Alex?s punishment was coming to an end and a man?s revenge was just beginning. Alex was tricked, drugged, and tortured once more but not physically anymore but mentally, the worst of all tortures. During his medical treatment or experimentation the doctors did not realize that a song they had played, ? Symphony Number Three,? by Otto Skadelig drove Alex insane. Once Alex had woken up he was locked in a small room where this very same song was played over and over again. His only way of escaping the torture was the plummet from a nearby window. His escape was clear and final; death was the only answer. He had longed for it so much since the experiments had begun and if jumping out of the window were the only way out of his mental prison then that was the only answer he would take.

Waking up in a hospital not realizing the kind of horror he had just been in was enough shock one person. Alex had survived his leap. He was in a full body cast and aching all over. He figured so much as to knowing he had survived but wondering what sort of trouble he had gotten himself into. But his ideas were exactly the opposite. His jump had taken him out of the wasteland and into his rebirth. The government who had so wrongly used him without consent was now under investigation and the knowledge of the experiments were made public. Alex had become somewhat of a celebrity in the public?s eye. Although the worst was over and his punishment had ended he was left with a little of the mental scars. His recovery was not only physically but also mentally.

As penance from the government Alex was to receive the best of whatever he wanted. By helping Alex the government tried to make up for what they had done to him. Alex was glad the worst had finally ended and his rebirth had begun.

Alex was changed once more but this time not quit back to his old self. He still had the little taste for violence and he found himself a new crew of followers, all younger then him of course. Alex was now an eighteen-year-old man and not yet sure of what he wanted out of life. He took his usual long strolls around town and left his new droogs on their own way. They were finding themselves just as Alex once was at their age. He came across a tea and coffee shop and had himself a seat. There he began thinking and in his random thoughts he looked upon a young girl with her love sitting across from her. Alex realized that he was a little lonely and longing for that comfort that another person could give him. The girl?s lover finally turned around and faced Alex and to his surprise it was his old droog Pete. Pete now had the signs of age stretched out across his face and Alex quickly began to speak to Pete but in the same manner that he used when they were younger. Pete had made Alex realize that they had all grown up and were not young boys anymore but men. It was time for Alex to set aside his childish ways and become a man. He was left there with many thoughts flowing through his head regarding his future. He no longer wanted to repeat his mistakes but start fresh the way all his other friends had done. He was in search for a new life and his rebirth had begun.

Alex had not realized at the time but he had changed if not by force in the beginning but now by his own choice. He was no longer the young boy he started out as but a man who needed to find his niche in life. He had no real future running with those younger boys. He would return to that shadow self now, which he had grown to hate. The government had reformed him without knowing what they had really done.