Clockwork Orange
In A Clockwork Orange, author Anthony Burgess deals with the matter of depriving a criminal the ability to make a moral choice. This topic of behavioral conditioning was presented by the psychologist B.F. Skinner in the 1950's and caused uproar in society, striking a chord with Burgess. In Skinner's essay "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" he shows his solutions for changing a criminal's behavior with positive reinforcement. Professor Gerald Smith of the University of Utah took it a step further than Skinner. Smith proposed an implanted device that measured the adrenaline level in convicts. His assumption was that the adrenaline level would rise from the excitement received while committing a crime. If the adrenaline levels became high, an electrical pulse would send signals to a receiver, which the parole officer could read. Inadvertently, the device failed to distinguish the difference between committing a crime, and the adrenaline rush involved with lovemaking. Smith's r!easoning was that the convict loses nothing, since he is a prisoner, already without freedom. Burgess explains, "I began to see red, and felt I had to write the book" (Alleger 172). The absurdity of this behavioral co
and there was a light like dim on in on of the rooms on the ground level, and we went to a nice patch of street dark. People are referred to as "lewdies", the prison chaplain is "Charlie", cigarettes are "cancers", and the cinema is "sinny" (NADSAT Translation guide). The way Burgess sets up the chapters is a very important aspect of the novel. "They dragged me into this very bright-lit whitewashed cantora" (Burgess 68). This is just another subtle pun that Burgess put in the novel. Something that the reader cannot miss in the novel is Burgess' vivid use of symbolism with color contrast. In Part three Alex asks himself the question, how will he live his life now that he has this treatment in him. His father, Joseph Wilson, was a classically trained pianist, and his mother, Elizabeth Burgess Wilson, was a musical comedy actress. They paralyze the man and the wife dies soon after the brutal incident. The first part of the book is a "satiation of all his appetites" (Alleger 170), in which Alex and his "droogs" murder, fight, rape, steal, vandalize, and rob for the mere thrill of it. The sarcastic guffaw becomes the "sarky guff".
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Acceptance Essays
