Abuse Of Power Within A Clockwork Orange Essay, Research Paper

Abuse of Power within A Clockwork Orange

by Christopher Borycheski

The choice between good and evil is a decision every man must make

throughout his life in order to guide his actions and control his future. This

element of choice, no matter what the outcome, displays man’s power as an

individual. Any efforts to control or influence this choice between good and

evil will in turn govern man’s free will and enslave him. In the novel A

Clockwork Orange, the author uses symbolism through imagery, the

characterization of Alex, and the first person narrative point of view to prove

that without the ability to choose between good and evil, Man becomes powerless

as an individual.

The symbolism through imagery proves how Alex’s ability to choose

between good and evil is his ascendancy over the innocent and the weak. The

first symbol is the music to which he listens and loves. It is the only thing

in Alex’s life that he truly cares for. This music represents the element of

his choice and free will. When his ability of choice is robbed in an attempt

to better him, he loses his love for music in which he exclaims, “And all the

time the music got more and more gromky, like it was all a deliberate torture, O

my brothers . . . then I jumped”(131). The music that represents his freedom

to choose is now gone. He is left without any reason to live. When he realizes

that he is no longer a man because of his absence of choice, Alex decides to end

his life. The author illustrates through Alex’s violent actions, how they

represent his abuse of power through his freedom of choice. Alex consistently

chooses evil as a means to display his power over the innocent and the good.

While beating and raping a young girl, he states with pride, “So he did the

strong-man on the devotchka, who was still creeching away . . . in very

horrorshow groodies”(22). This proves that he feels he must display his power

through his abuse of choice. His love for violence symbolises his abuse of

power as an evil trait, but his love for music symbolises his human side. In

the end of the story Alex decides that he is ready to become a man. During this

rapid evolution from adolescence to manhood, Alex chooses a wife, a family, a

life, and in essence he chooses good for the first time in the story. “There

was your humble narrator . . . I knew what was happening, O my brothers. I was

growing up”(147). Alex realizes that he may choose good and still maintain a

strong element of choice. He becomes stronger because he now has a broader

selection to choose from. He sees that the abuse of the ability of choice is

not what makes Man powerful. It is instead, the realization that the choice

between good and evil, no matter what decision, is the power within Man.

Using the characterization of Alex, it effectively illustrates how the

element of choice is linked to the power within man. The author uses violence

to represent the abuse of power when the right of free will is controlled. Alex

believes that his decision towards evil proves his freedom of choice;

subsequently it also proves his abuse of the power within him. The violent acts

described are graphic and are intended to shock the reader. They also show that

the suppression of others is wrong, because it is destructive to the natural

rights of man. He consistently chooses evil and violence to show his power of

choice, “And now I was ready for a bit of twenty-to-one . . . then I cracked

this veck”(7). Alex beats, rapes, robs and pillages the weak and innocent to

prove domination and control, thus proving his choice towards evil. In a society

that “lets the young get on to the old . . . there’s no law nor order no

more”(14). He takes on a role of authority in a society of anarchy, and uses

violence to portray his abuse of this ascendancy over the weak. Although he is

impervious to the choice of good, Alex does not remain ignorant to this choice

throughout the entire novel. In the beginning, he believes that violence is the

only way to prove his control. This then leads to his loss of control through

the loss of his ability of choice. Only in the very end does Alex finally

evolve and become a well-rounded character. He realizes that he does not have

to choose evil and abuse his position to prove his right of choice. Proven is

his freedom to decide between good and evil. “But where I itty now, O my

brothers, is all on my oddy knocky, where you cannot go. Tomorrow is all like

sweet flowers”(148). Alex now knows that his future is open for his choices to

lead him. For good or for evil, it is his right to decide, and this is what

truly proves his power. Through these thoughts narrated by Alex, he illustrates

how horrible it is to be powerless and how it proves through characterization

that man develops power through the element of choice.

These thoughts and feelings prove that through a first person narrative

point of view, the author is able to effectively demonstrate how the element of

choice is essential to man. Throughout the story, Alex is the narrator for the

reader. The only feelings and insight originate from Alex’s point of view.

This view is very biased and one sided, thus evoking a sense of sympathy and

compassion from the reader. Even though he commits horrible, senseless acts of

violence, they are lightened by his narrated thoughts to prove his control.

Alternatively, any attempt to control Alex is shown as a horrendous attack and

abuse of power. When the ability to choose independently between good and evil

is stripped from Alex, he realises the importance of choice to his rights as an

individual. “I was not your handsome young narrator any longer, but a real

strack of a sight”(55). Alex has lost all of his rights and control of himself,

which leads to his loss of self respect. He has now lost what gave him

ascendancy over the weak, his free will and ability of choice. As stated in the

story, “goodness is chosen from within”(67). When choice is forced, man no

longer has any power within himself. He is told from the prison warden, “When

a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man”(67). After being told, Alex is

still able to sign over his rights as an individual. In each stage, his point

of view proves how he loses his natural power as he loses his choice. When Alex

regains his ability to decide between good and evil, he narrates, “And there

was the slow movement and the lovely last singing . . . I was cured all

right”(139). Through this thought, he proves power through the ability of

choice. He once again decides upon evil to display his power through violence.

This thought is crucial to the reader’s understanding of how close the ability

of choice is related to individual power. The demonstration of his free will

and his loss of power through the absence of choice is effectively accomplished

through the use of first person narration.

Throughout this story, choice has proven many aspects of power and it’s

abuse. Through strong symbols in imagery, Alex’s characterization, and his

point of view, the absence of choice is proven as the most debilitating and most

overlooked depravation of man’s individual power. In everyone’s life, the

struggle for power exists in all situations. The decision between good and evil

is the power that anyone must have as an individual. The choice of which path

to take is dependant on the person and the situation, but the realization that

both exist is a power unto itself.