Alex's story. A Clockwork Orange is a dystopian novel, written by Anthony Burgess, published in 1962
This is Alex's story, a fifteen year-old boy who loves free violence towards who surrounds him, and who is fond of violence just for the sake of doing it, who spends his nights wandering around with his friends. The story is set in a near future London and shows a state unable to control the education of boys. The book is divided into three parts:
In the first part we come across a series of violent scenes and crimes committed by the protagonist, like the murder of an innocent woman. At the end of these series of violent acts, Alex quarrels with one of his droogs, so they betray him and as a consequence he is sent to prison.
In the second part of the book, the time that Alex spends in prison is described. Here Alex meets the prison chaplain, a man really interested in Alex's life and soul. In the period that Alex spends in prison, he reads the Bible, and he likes to imagine himself as the protagonist of violent and bloody episodes from the Bible. Two years later, Alex learns about a new experimental programme, proposed by the Government, called "Ludovico's Technique". Ludovico's Technique is a psychological treatment that involves the patient being forced, through the use of a speculum holding his eyes open, to watch violent images for long periods of time, while under the effect of a nausea-inducing drug.
This method alters the subject's mind. Alex accepts the programme and he will be released after two weeks of treatment. When Alex finishes this programme, he is unable to do and see violent acts without having a strong nausea.
The last part of the book shows Alex as a victim. Fate leads him to meet with the people who he had abused in the past. He's beaten by the two old droogs of his, but Alex is unable to defend himself. After being subjected to a series of violences, Alex tries to commit suicide. After Alex's attempted suicide, the Government is accused of mental violence on Alex. The public opinion endangers the power of the party in government, so he is sent to hospital by the politicians because they are afraid of losing the elections. Now, Alex can go back to being free and violent because the Government is on his side. But, in reality, he feels no more pleasure in committing ultraviolence. At this point Alex would like to make up his own family, with a wife and possibly a child.
Tesina di maturità su Stanley Kubrick
