Listening to the J. S. Bach, I began to pony away to the brown gorgeousness of the starry German master, that I would like to have tolchocked them both harder and ripped them to ribbons on their own floor. (34) Young Alex, nave, unloving, and uncaring to the world he lived in. The screaming decade of the 70s is the setting of when the story takes place. A group of young teenage boys out and about looking for a good time but by what definition is a good time? If some people see a good time as hanging out at the movies and talking on the phone, then their imagination is far off from what Alex and his droogs are plotting.

Walking around in a small clique of 4 wearing and dressing in their own fashion and style. Alex is the leader of his small army and friends. He first introduces his strange behavior by walking the streets in search for some action and by means of action meaning fights, drinking, and sometimes in search of young girls to ravage. Alexs venture is to change his life around without realizing what he once was to a new beginning or becoming an adult. The beginning of his teenage life was being a young violent seeker and having a certain love for immoral acts against people or any living subject that he could find a way to hurt.

Like young teenagers or youths there is a stage that they go through where they believe they are infinite and nothing can harm them or create a recognizable danger. There is a journey to becoming an adult and it may not be as violent or as sad a journey as young Alexs but there is that road that teenagers travel down where they may learn their mistake and right they wrongs. Alex may not realize what his quest is in the beginning but it becomes clear once he has undergone the worst of his punishment that in return to fit the crimes he had committed.

Alex begins his journey of departure when he challenges another group of boys to a duel, which resulted in near death to one of the members of the opposing gang. Alex and his droogs get away clean without remorse of fear from authority. They go out once again on their spree of violence in search of new ways to receive entertainment that meets their definition. After finding a house out in the country they ravage the young wife of a writer and take pleasure in seeing the writer himself cry out in pain as his witnesses his wives demise.

Through out the first six chapters there is a repetition of his acts of violence until his trusted droogs turn him in by a simple twist of betrayal and hate. Alex is forced serve time in a prison or correctional vicinity. Up until Alex had reached his punishment he was still undergoing his departure and now had reached his state of initiation. Alex had spent nearly two years in jail and had already devised a way out. He had no clue what new program lay ahead but only it was his ticket out of jail, out of that hellhole in his eyes.

His wise old man, was the warden who saw Alex as a young man ready to change his life around but little did the man know that Alex wasnt about to give up his horrorshow style of living. He had enjoyed too much of the immoral act of violence and in his mind it was all a boy could want. Since the warden was not a very big help to Alexs escape plan Alex took it upon himself to scheme a way out. Without the knowledge of his future or what lay ahead Alex volunteered himself for the new rehabilitation program. There had been no others before him in the program so Alex took it upon his own ideas as to what he was going to be put through.

Alex spent the next month or so in a hospital where he was being used as a human guinea pig. His wasteland was his punishment for all the crimes he had committed. He spent his hours watching videos of violence and taking unprescribed medication. The government had used Alex in order to run tests and a first experiment or trial run. They had taken away his freedom and his right to choose what was right or wrong. He had no choice to get sick at the thought of violence or to act helpless when he was faced with a fight. In the publics opinion he deserved all that he received as penalty for his sins.

Being in jail for almost a life sentence would not have changed a thing about his idea on life and how he spent his fun. He never evolved properly from being evil to becoming good. He was good by force and not by choice. All the experiments brought about a non-effective way to change criminals and Alex was later released with his mentality tampered with and his mind brainwashed. Once Alex had been released he was back on the streets and looking forward to being home with his family whom he had set aside for so long. They had little love for the son they never really saw.

He was replaced quickly and Alexs only means of fighting back was to leave his home. He was still in his own wasteland and his punishment was still not over. He had reached the half way mark and met up with old victims of his troubled and violent past. His once faithful droogs, which had turned him in, had the upper hand in revenge and took the chance when they saw the opportunity arise. Alex was left defenseless and was unable to fight back. His mind and thirst for violence had abandoned him and he was left with the pain of what the experiments had done to him.

He was left bloody, beaten, and alone in the forest where his droogs had taken him. His instinct had led him to a home, but not just any home, a place where he had been to before. He led himself to the original house where his violent acts had taken place. He had left a man crippled and his wife dead from the emotional pain Alex and his friends ravaging had brought. The crippled man was grateful to have Alex in his home. He had no idea yet that this boy was the same one who had taken away his life. Alex was still in his state of shock and little to worry about thinking the old man would not remember had it been so long ago.

Was it just the singing of a simple song that unveiled Alex or had the man known all along? Alexs punishment was coming to an end and a mans revenge was just beginning. Alex was tricked, drugged, and tortured once more but not physically anymore but mentally, the worst of all tortures. During his medical treatment or experimentation the doctors did not realize that a song they had played, Symphony Number Three, by Otto Skadelig drove Alex insane. Once Alex had woken up he was locked in a small room where this very same song was played over and over again. His only way of escaping the torture was the plummet from a nearby window.

His escape was clear and final; death was the only answer. He had longed for it so much since the experiments had begun and if jumping out of the window were the only way out of his mental prison then that was the only answer he would take. Waking up in a hospital not realizing the kind of horror he had just been in was enough shock one person. Alex had survived his leap. He was in a full body cast and aching all over. He figured so much as to knowing he had survived but wondering what sort of trouble he had gotten himself into. But his ideas were exactly the opposite. His jump had taken him out of the wasteland and into his rebirth.

The government who had so wrongly used him without consent was now under investigation and the knowledge of the experiments were made public. Alex had become somewhat of a celebrity in the publics eye. Although the worst was over and his punishment had ended he was left with a little of the mental scars. His recovery was not only physically but also mentally. As penance from the government Alex was to receive the best of whatever he wanted. By helping Alex the government tried to make up for what they had done to him. Alex was glad the worst had finally ended and his rebirth had begun.

Alex was changed once more but this time not quit back to his old self. He still had the little taste for violence and he found himself a new crew of followers, all younger then him of course. Alex was now an eighteen-year-old man and not yet sure of what he wanted out of life. He took his usual long strolls around town and left his new droogs on their own way. They were finding themselves just as Alex once was at their age. He came across a tea and coffee shop and had himself a seat. There he began thinking and in his random thoughts he looked upon a young girl with her love sitting across from her.

Alex realized that he was a little lonely and longing for that comfort that another person could give him. The girls lover finally turned around and faced Alex and to his surprise it was his old droog Pete. Pete now had the signs of age stretched out across his face and Alex quickly began to speak to Pete but in the same manner that he used when they were younger. Pete had made Alex realize that they had all grown up and were not young boys anymore but men. It was time for Alex to set aside his childish ways and become a man. He was left there with many thoughts flowing through his head regarding his future.

He no longer wanted to repeat his mistakes but start fresh the way all his other friends had done. He was in search for a new life and his rebirth had begun. Alex had not realized at the time but he had changed if not by force in the beginning but now by his own choice. He was no longer the young boy he started out as but a man who needed to find his niche in life. He had no real future running with those younger boys. He would return to that shadow self now, which he had grown to hate. The government had reformed him without knowing what they had really done.

The freedom of choice and the rehabilitating form of corrections encase the realm of A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess. It produces the question about man’s free will and the ability to choose one’s destiny, good or evil. “If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange-meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or State”(Burgess ix). Burgess expresses the idea that man can not be completely good or evil and must have both in order to create a moral choice.

The book deals upon reforming a criminal with only good morals and conditioning an automated response to “evil. ” Burgess enforces the idea of the medical model of corrections, in terms of rehabilitating an offender, which is up to the individual. That one should determine the cause and then find an exclusive treatment to resolve that individual’s case, then apply it. This is the case with the character Alex, a juvenile delinquent introduced into prisonization then conditioned by governmental moral standards. This lack of personal moral choice imposed upon Alex creates conflicting situations in which he has no ontrol over.

This is apparent when trying to readjust into society. As conflicts arise within the spectrum of criminal justice the main focus is revolved around the corrections aspect of reforming the criminal element. Within the confines of the seventies Londoner. The character, Alex is created as the ultimate juvenile delinquent leading a small gang. Living within his own world the use of old Londoner language and attire reflect the non- conformity with society. Let loose within a large metropolitan, Alex is engulfed in the affairs of several criminal practices, from rape to aggravated assault.

As a juvenile delinquent, Alex is finally caught and seen as an adult offender. Like all offenders he promotes his innocence and sets blame upon his companions. “Where are the others? Where are my stinking traitorous droogs? One of my cursed grahzny bratties chained me on the glazzies. Get them before they get away. It was their idea, brothers. They like forced me to do it”(Burgess 74). Betrayed by his cohorts Alex is beaten by local officials and confesses to all the crimes. As a point to retribution a sergeant states, “Violence makes violence”(Burgess 80) and proceeds to through Alex back into the cell.

All the hile Alex detests the treatment and conditions of the local jail, ” So I was kicked and punched and bullied off to the cells and put in with about ten or twelve other plennies, a lot of them drunk”(Burgess 81). Unlike the fair treatment of most juveniles Alex was finally getting the taste of adult corrections, being held in a drunk tank along with other felons. Faced with the reality of prison life, Alex is introduced to prisonization by the same system which incarcerated him. Showing him one must be tough and violent to survive within the penal system.

The term prisonization refers to the effect when an offender is ubjected to the culture, morals, rules, and values of a penal institution. Then this is inscribed into his or her own behavior and deems them fit as a norm. This is the case involving Alex when he must prove his worth in a correctional institution by beating a fellow inmate. “If we can’t have sleep let’s have some education, our new friend here had better be taught a lesson I fisted him all over, dancing about with my boots on though unlaced, and then I tripped him and he went crash crash on the floor.

I gave him a real horror show kick on the gulliver”(Burgess 102). Although being brutal deems fit for Alex, he realizes hat only repentance and good behavior in the eyes of the officials can release him from the jaws of justices. So in order to be viewed as a reforming criminal Alex turns to religion. As the prison minister clearly states, “Is it going to be in and out of institutions like this, though more in than out for most of you, or are you going to attend to the Divine Word and realize the punishment that await the unrepentant sinner in the next world, as well as in this? (Burgess 90) and the main focus for reforming is in the hands of God and individual moral choice.

Through religion Alex soon becomes a model prisoner, xternally, yet internally still willing to do anything to get out. This also included experimental rehabilitation methods done by the state. Being a juvenile in an adult prison one would have the urgency to be released as quickly as possible. When the word got out of a new experimental reforming process and a chance for early release, it immediately caught Alex’s attention.

To be chosen, this meant constant pressuring and questioning to the officials, plus showing that he is trying to reform. ” You’ve been very helpful and, I consider, shown a genuine desire to reform. You will, if you continue his manner, earn your remission with no trouble at all”(Burgess 94). However Alex’s intent on reforming was not a religious aspect but the quickest. He finally realizes a new way to get out and questions the proceedings. “I don’t know what it’s called, I said, All I know is that it gets you out quickly and makes sure you don’t get in again”(Burgess 95).

However the minister has doubts about the medical treatment techniques involved in forcing a person to be morally better. He brings up the question of what makes a real moral person. “I must confess I share those doubts. The question is whether such a technique can really make a man good. Goodness comes from within, 6655321. Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be a man”(Burgess 95). This does not deter Alex from the thought of early release but only intensifies his desires. With his determination and pure will Alex is finally permitted to be experimented on for rehabilitation.

With an early release in site Alex’s willingness overshadows any curiosities of the treatment. Transferred from a state prison to a private facility insures his release from incarceration. “In a little over a fortnight you will be out again in the big free world, no longer a number”(Burgess 108). With the increase in population comes an increase crime, this has also brought on encouraging new rehabilitating techniques to corrections. Stated by one government official the importance of reforming in corrections rather than retribution.

The government cannot be concerned any longer with out moded penalogical theories. Cram criminals together and see what happens. You get concentrated criminality, crime in the midst of punishment . . . Kill the criminal reflex, that’s all”(Burgess 105,106). The rehabilitating technique used upon Alex is that of responsive conditioning with the use of drugs and visual aids. Conditioning is the implementation of either teaching or forcing one to feel or think a certain way when given a decision. Alex is therefore forced to feel and think negative responses when shown evil sites or thoughts.

Yet the an error had occurred when the state was conditioning “good” into him. The use of classical music along with the treatment conditioned Alex to respond to that as well. As Alex detested the use of music, he states the cruelty of the technique, “But it’s not fair on the music. It’s not fair I should feel ill when I’m slooshying lovely Ludwig van and G. F. Handel and others”(Burgess 133). Yet the state feels the use of music is only an enhancement to the treatment, “It’s a useful emotional heightener, that’s all I know”(Burgess 131).

As the treatment ends the sick feeling is only increased when Alex is confronted with any “evil. ” With this conditioning set in place Alex is finally released into society and deemed healthy, pure of all morals. The readjustment into society’s values seems to be the main question. Was the implementation of conditioning a person to strictly good morals proper and humane? As the title suggests one can not be purely good or evil to be a man. One must have both in order to create humanistic choice. If not, the creation would be that of a robot like person incapable of feeling or self awareness.

As Alex is released into the world as the states’ example of a “healthy” person, he is tested by all extremes. One test was the incapability to defend himself against the smallest attacks on his character. Another error the state had provided is the use of music in the treatment of Alex. Not only does he feel physically sick when he thinks or looks at violence but also when he hears classical music. “It was that these doctors bratchnies had so fixed things that any music that was like for the emotions would make me just sick ike viddying or wanting to do violence”(Burgess 161).

Within the conditioning techniques of repulsing him to violence, the state had also forced him to hate music. The use of this correctional treatment failed due to the implementations on morality of human choice. Is it better to have a criminal make human choices, good or bad, or a purely good person not capable of making any choices. As most opinions state, criminals should all be locked up or dealt with in some harsh manner. There are also those who believe that offenders are diseased by some element and can and/or should be cured.

As far as corrections is concerned, society can not lock up every offender and can not come up with plausible means of curing the criminal element. With the rise in population there will always be a rise in crime. However this does seem to be the present trend, 5. 3 million people were on probation, in jail, in prison, or on parole in 1995 (B. J. S. 1). As seen in Alex’s case the corrections techniques to cure the element did not work. Perhaps the best means was to incarcerate him for his term and let him pay his debt to society. The only correct method of corrections is that of self correcting ones.