A Clockwork Orange

Alex at the start is destructive and harmful even after having already attended a sort of correctional facility. He treats his fellow wrongdoers without dignity, he beats up people unable to fight back, and rapes women. He eventually gets caught and left behind by his gang members. He then gets programmed into being unable to commit violence through inhumane means. * “You see, ladies and gentlemen, our subject is impelled towards the good by paradoxically being impelled towards evil. The intention to act violently is accompanied by strong feelings of physical distress. To counter these, the subject has to switch to a diametrically opposed attitude. Any questions?”* “Choice! The boy has no real choice, has he? Self-interest. The fear of physical pain drove him to that grotesque act of self-abasement. The insincerity was clear to be seen. He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice.” If Alex is only able to be good because he can’t be bad, is he actually good? Does the abstinence count as a cause for celebration?  “Goodness is something to be chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man.” “We are not concerned with motives, with the higher ethics…. The point is that it works.” Two separate qoutes in the same film. After Alex is “cured” from causing violence, he becomes the receiver of violence. He gets well-deserved karma for his misdeeds. There isn’t a need to feel bad for Alex though it is understandable to feel weird about a person not being able to fight back due to being conditioned.  Alex isn’t a good person but by not being able to do harm, he essentially is one. He is stripped of a choice though, the choice to be good or bad.  At the end, he assures the minister of the interior with his cooperation, using the words: “As an unmuddied lake, Fred. As clear as an azure sky of deepest summer. You can rely on me, Fred. “ The same ones he used to assure that he’ll do no wrong. I frankly enjoyed that parallel. I liked it even more after the last line was said. “I was cured alright.” I believe he says this in reference to being cured of his inability to cause harm. We don’t see what happens next, we don’t know if he decides to remain “good” or if he’ll revert back to his old ways (sort of implied though). I do suspect that he’ll try taking on the role of both. I imagine that he’d try and live a life considered acceptable to society while giving into some of his darker desires. He imagines himself having sex with a girl while people watch yet not stop. He now understands that there are things he can do to feel power but stuff no one would need to stop. Cooperating with the government is one of them, he already acts arrogant by continuing to get fed and calling the minister a nickname. From a gang to a morally dubious association. We are reminded that Goodness is something to be chosen again though, with the final line. Everyone has a choice, to do good or to do bad. Should there be a choice though or should it just be forced? When people are pushed to do one or the other, what sort of person does that make them?