Point of View in A Clockwork Orange Essay

Point of View in A Clockwork Orange

In the novel, A Clockwork Orange, author Anthony Burgess writes about a futuristic communist country. The story revolves around a gang of teenagers who cause mischief during the night. The leader of them being Alex DeLarge and his droogies named Dim, Pete, and Georgie. Anthony Burgess could have only portrayed the horrors of a communist government through the eyes of an anarchist like Alex DeLarge. This particular novel would only be as powerful as it is in first person.

The book starts out with Alex planning a night of chaos with his droogies in a milk bar. Within the first few pages of the book you can tell that Alex and his gang have very tormented minds. Alex, despite his hatred of society, has excellent manners. He can be very polite at times and he also thinks very highly in classical music, which makes him very protective of it. This mainly affects him later in the story.

Alex eventually gets questioned about his authority in the gang by his droogies. After this Alex is aware he has to keep them in line, so he beats them up to maintain order. Later that day when he and his gang are robbing a home in the country side, his gang betrays him. The cops were arriving at the scene, and one of Alexs droogies knocks him out. The cops then catch Alex, sending him to prison.

In prison Alex tries his hardest to get better treatment. He tries to impress the priest by helping him with mass and discussing the Bible. Alex mainly just likes the Bible because of all the stories of rape and murder. Through gossip in jail Alex hears about a program that will allow him to get out of prison in only two weeks. The day the inspector comes to nominate a prisoner for the program, Alex flatters him and is chosen. During the program Alex becomes brainwashed by watching movies about killing, rape, and murder. Alex is effected by the treatment in the long run by a sort of sickness that comes over him when he is about to do something wrong.

In the long run, the treatment never really cured Alex. The story really makes you think, you are what you are. This is the message Anthony Burgess tries to get across to show the wrong in a communist government, that everything and everyone cannot be equal. This message could not have been delivered by any other point of view besides first person, which is depicted perfectly by Alex.