A Clockwork Orange Essay: Alex's Identity

Freedom to have an identity

A Clockwork Orange was first published in 1962 and features a futuristic society, but yet it can still be related back to the modern day. Burgess demonstrates, through the main character of Alex, that it is necessary to be free to form an identity in order to have a genuine existence be it a good or evil one.

When Alex is first introduced to the reader he is the self-appointed leader of a local group of hooligans, who have decided that the law does not apply to them. Alex knows who he is and relishes in his reputation of being a negative member of society."Alex knows he is evil, telling readers, "What I do I do because I like to do." The novel implies his degree of insight is greater than most people's insight. He accepts himself for who he is, rather than hiding behind illusions of what he should be according to others and the government.” (Clockwork).

He does not experience any guilt over his actions despite assaulting, terrorizing, and raping people just because he

can. “"He recognizes no law beyond his personal pleasure in inflicting pain on innocent victims and experiencing the high that drugs and classical music alike provide him. Not even the consensus will of his gang of thugs merits his loyalty, nor does he respect or speak the legal language or "word" of his society." (Lowe-Evans).
Humans possess both a good and evil nature and the way a person’s identity is constructed comes from the way they choose to blend or separate the two.

“To fully grasp the human condition, Burgess implies in A Clockwork Orange, individuals must both recognize and accept their evil nature and recognize how society attempts to stifle it." (Clockwork). The way a person handles themselves and their environment is how their personality and identity is formed, but sometimes outside forces attempt to alter those as they believe it’ll benefit themselves or society better. "Alex's frequent address to his readers, "Oh, my brothers," implies the readers' collusion in Alex's violent projects" (Lowe-Evans), meaning that the reader should also be able to identify with the evil aspect of Alex’s personality. The level of violence shown in A Clockwork Orange may not be relatable universally but it is something the human form is capable of, and there are examples

globally.
Alex finds himself in prison but that does not make him second guess his chosen life. He continues along the same path until he is stopped in his tracks by a government program that intends to convert all “evil” members of society into an idol of goodness. When Alex is signed up for the Ludovico Technique he is secure enough with himself, and his nature, that he does not believe it will change him.
"Goodness comes from within, 6655321. Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man" (Burgess, 92). Alex loses his independence and free will as well as his identity when the Ludovico Technique takes full effect. The book poses the question "What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?" (Burgess, 105). To take away someone’s free will and force upon them a different life is possibly worse than anything they were capable of before, because they are no longer a person. A part of the human make-up is the ability to make a decision about personal behaviours and decisions, so by taking that away Alex lost his humanity. The only way he believed he could reclaim his independence from the life selected for him was Suicide. Suicide is the ultimate example of free will, the decision and consequences belong to that individual alone. "One moment of pain, perhaps, and then sleep for ever and ever and ever." (Burgess, 181).
Identity and Free will correspond with each other because freedom of choice is needed in order to form an identity. "A Clockwork Orange registers Burgess's deeply felt conflict about the need to control violence while at the same time respecting the freedom of the individual to choose goodness over evil." (Lowe-Evans). Society needs safety but the world can not be made up of people without any say in how they function. "F. Alexander's book, titled A Clockwork Orange, concerns the immorality of turning a juicy, sensuous organic being (an orange) into a machine (a clockwork)" (Lowe-Evans).
"You have been everywhere with your little droog Alex, suffering with him, and you have viddied some of the most grahzny bratchnies old Big ever made, all on to your old droog Alex. And all it was was that i was young. But now as i end this story, brothers, I am not young, not no longer, oh no. Alex like groweth up, oh yes" (Burgess, 204). Humans can grow and develop by themselves, without any outside interruption, and may turn into the person everyone expects them to be. The end result is just as important as their journey, they have to travel it their way. An authentic life can only be obtained by having the freedom to create one, despite the implications.