Thursday, June 4, 2009

FREE WILL OR DIE

There is this over arching theme in Burgess's novel. Freewill versus conformity. SPOILER ALERT!!!! In the end, Alex decides to live a complete adult life. Yes, he was brainwashed (Ludvico Technique) into believing that violent or wrong action is associated with sickness. Now the question is, was the experiment he went through the cause of his final decision? I don't think so. Shortly after Alex was released from prison he tried to kill himself, but failed. He jumped out of his 18th floor window and survived. He did this because he couldn't bring himself to do the things that he wanted to do. He wanted to rape, assault, steal, kill. He couldn't do it. It was a moral issue. After prison he went from an amoral punk to a proper abiding citizen. While in the hospital he had dreams of doing the same old thing. Being bad. He also had dreams of settling down, having a child, a wife. Why not? The question he asked hiself in the beginning of Part 3 finally has meaning. It was a choice he was asking himself to make. Should he go back to the same old drill? Or should he clean himself up and see the greater things in life? He chose the lighter path. It was his choice. It was not the government's choice. Maybe the experiments influenced Alex to open his mind, but in the end Alex chose to say farewell to a life of destruction and evil. It was him and no one else. The book shows the reader that among a broken world, people can make choices for themselves, and that choices of freewill are not always going to be immoral. It's your choice.

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