I will go through each of the three parts of this book, and give an in-depth look at Alex, his views, thoughts and escapades. In the first part we will see Alex as a young rebellious youth with no concern for the affect he has on others. Then in part two I will introduce a young man without a name merely a number, who chooses to give up his free will and let the state reform him. Finally in part three there will be a man that has regained his freedom of choice and has grown compassionate to those around him. In each part I will talk about the religious side, focusing on original sin, and the forces that contend for governmental power that are labeled Pelagain and Augustinian. Another major point that I will touch upon in each part is the play on light and dark that represents good and evil. This is a theme that runs through the entirety of this novel.

In Part one the novel draws us to a young and rebellious youth named Alex. He doesn’t

As he is in the station he says, “I had become a thing.” In Alex’s words to the police there is a feeling that he is physically exhausted yet, he is still unwilling to surrender to the state, “and I thought to myself, Hell and blast you all, if all you bastards are on the side of the Good then I’m glad I belong to the other shop” ( ). In the prison we come across the play on white and black. “The white of the doctors, the black of the prison cell, the white of the technicians, the black of the chaplain, the white of the interrogations room, the black of Alex’s reentry into society- all carefully balanced inversions” (Petix, 130).

In this short part of the raid we see the light representing the good of the people in the house. Then in contrast we see how Alex and his gang move into the darkness, the evil, to hide before the make their attack. This faithful night is that when Alex and his droogs kill the writer’s wife, rape her and beat her husband, better known as Alexander. On this same night Alex is sold out by his friends, the only people he thought he could trust. He is incarcerated and put into prison at Staja 84F.

With the introduction of original sin there comes the debate of Augustinian and the Pelagian views that Burgess mixes in this novel. Burgess shows Alex as a misguided corrupt teen that is being shaped by his environment. He may be born with original sin but he can change that he does have the choice to overcome the odds and live a good life.

This is when the reader needs to take a step back and think, Alex is a youth and in being this he has innocence. This is missed usually in the midst of all this ultra-violence being committed. He is still young and naïve to the effect that his actions have on others. This leaves us to ponder whether or not he truly has free choice to commit good or evil. In Alex’s statement below we see his view of the choice he has between good and evil. We learn that in his innocence he simply cannot see what is so bad about choosing evil over good. Further more why should anyone care, no one has ever told him what causes goodness therefore; how can we know if he has it in him. He goes on to say that lewdies are good because they like it and he would not interfere with their pleasures so why must they (the government and the police) interfere with his. Alex states that badness is of the self; that is created by God and is a part of us. Everyone has this badness when they are born and it is called original sin. In his world the government and schools don’t allow God so therefore they don’t allow the self. He chooses to be bad on his own because he likes to be and that is his only reason.

Some topics in this essay:
Esther Petix, Alex Staja, Orange” Alex, Original Sin, Geoffrey Aggeler, Bog Good”, Clockwork Orange, Pelagain Augustinian, John Stinson, Georgie Dim, original sin, play light dark, it’s fair, alex takes, alex doesn’t, attempt impose, esther petix, choice choose, don’t allow, play white black, rebellious youth, allow self,