A Clockwork Orange Analysis

The choice between good and evil is a decision everyone must make throughout their life in order to guide their actions and control his future. This element of choice displays one’s power as an individual.

Any effort to control 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 and 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 Alex becomes a slave.

The symbolism and imagery prove how Alex's ability to choose between good and evil is what makes him unique and human The first symbol is the music he listens to 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. “Classical music expresses the creative freedom of its composer, who yet works within the constraint of form”

(Scribd). When his ability of choice is robbed in an attempt to better him, he loses his love for music which is shown when 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 represents that his freedom to choose is now gone. “Though Burgess probably did not intend it to, Alex’s love of classical music within the confines of the novel’s repressive government invokes Plato, who argued that the enjoyment of music must be suppressed if social order is to be preserved.” (sparknotes) He is left without any reason to live. When he realizes that he is no longer human because of his lack of choice, Alex decides to end his life. The author illustrates this through Alex's viole...

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...free will and his loss of power through the absence of choice is effectively accomplished through the use of first person narration. ”Nor does he (Alex) attempt to define any sort of role for himself within a large social process. Instead he simply experiences life directly, sensuously, and, while he is free, joyously.” (Aggler 173)

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 humiliating removal of man's 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.