Clockwork Orange Hero

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In his life, Anthony Burgess never had anything handed to him. He had to work for what he wanted. Although he wanted to be a musician, the University of Manchester would crush that dream, leaving him with his consolation prize of being an English major. This chain of events would lead to Burgess deciding to become an author, leading him to pen his most famed novel A Clockwork Orange. Throughout the novel, Burgess would implicate the youth as the troublesome faction, with Alex, the sadistic anti-hero, taking pleasure in callous crimes. Although the dystopian classic discusses numerous problems in the violent world, Burgess continually returns to how characters in the novel would rather choose to be a wicked person instead of being forced against …show more content…
He would lose his mother and older sister before the age of two because of the Spanish influenza, and his father would resent him. His father would remarry, but be largely absent throughout his life. As a child, he was extremely intelligent, and therefore shunned by peers around him. Burgess would go to Xaverian College and later apply to the University of Manchester’s music program, getting turned down because of poor grades in physics, leaving him with his second choice of majoring in English language and literature. This would lead to Burgess graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree, and shortly after graduating, he would join the military. Due to his dislike of authority, this profession would be quickly substituted for an education officer career in Malaya, but this occupation would not be long-lasting either. During one of his lessons, Burgess would collapse, and be diagnosed with a brain tumor, and only having one year to live, but Burgess himself denies the diagnosis, believing that he did not have a brain tumor and was “driven out of the Colonial Service” because of an obscene remark his wife made towards the British Queen’s consort, the Duke of Edinburgh during an official visit. After his career working for the British government ended, Burgess settled for a writing career. He did not want to leave his wife a widow without financial stability, so he would …show more content…
After being arrested, Alex would be tried and sentenced to 14 years of prison. Although the first few years of jail is terrible for Alex, he eventually gains respect from the other prisoners, and guards are no longer excessively violent on him. Alex would obtain the job of playing religious music on the stereo following Sunday service. The chaplain is pleased that Alex is taking interest in the Bible, believing that he has turned to faith to better his life, but in actuality, Alex only reads the Bible because of violence that occurs in the book. When a new obstructive prisoner joins the cell Alex sleeps in, violent issues occur, eventually leading to the death of the cellmate. Alex’s violent tendencies would lead to him being the prisoner chosen for the Ludovico Technique. If Alex goes through with the treatment, the rest of his sentence would be terminated, and Alex, believing that the treatment would be easy, and wanting to return to normal life agrees. The treatment involves Alex being drugged before restraining and forcing him to watch violent acts, involving rape and murder, crimes Alex often participated in before his incarceration. The treatment would succeed in discarding Alex’s violent tendencies, but the chaplain does not agree with how the government took away Alex’s decision-making ability after he agreed to the treatment. The government would release Alex, elated that their treatment
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