some disjointed thoughts on "A Clockwork Orange"

first off, i can now definitively say i've found a dystopian novel with themes of teenage violence that's better than Fahrenheit 451! though, to be honest, most books i've read are better than Fahrenheit 451. my thoughts on that book aside, A Clockwork Orange is a profoundly interesting book. from the made up "nadsat" language that most of the book is written in, to the fairly unlikable narrator, and the fact that the 21st chapter was omitted from US versions on release, not for violence, but because they thought it was too optimistic. the book can be a bit hard to decipher due to the weird language thing, but once you get the hang of it (with the help of a Wikipedia translation guide), it's mostly understandable. despite the difficulties, it ultimately serves to make the story feel that much more immersive! now, to the plot, i guess:

Alex is, without a doubt, not a good person. yes, the things done to him are equally terrible, and you can all argue on your own whether you think they were justified, but he also does terrible things. it doesn't matter that he never means to cause irreversible harm, or that he grows out of it in the end, he still lets his violent inclinations get the better of him for the majority of the book. eventually it all catches up to him and he winds up in prison. in an effort to get out as fast as he can, he volunteers to be "treated", which is likely the most famous part of the book and certainly the most famous part of the movie. he's conditioned to find violence completely repulsive, which makes him incapable of doing violent things, but certainly doesn't change him too much as a person. he's not choosing to do good things for the benefit of others, but being forced to do good things the same way a cat learns the sound of a can opener and associates it with tuna fish. instead of being reformed, he is effectively declawed, and is now unable to be anything but harmless and obedient. and even when he's "cured" he still gets punished for his previous actions. he is denied access to his home, he's attacked by his previous victims, and still finds himself on the wrong side of the police, despite being incapable of harm. he truly cannot win, not by asserting dominance via violence or becoming completely docile and submissive. no matter what he does, he's still a teenager, and no one will be willing to take him seriously until he grows up. and he does grow out of the violence, and he does grow up. that's what happens in the 21st chapter, he simply stops with the ultraviolence one day and decides its time to do everything society has set out for him. instead of the movie's end, which suggests that no one can truly change and that some people are inevitably violent, the book chooses to leave us with the message that some things truly are just a phase. some people just do terribly, terribly stupid things when they're young, but at the end of the day, we all grow up, and we all cringe about our past actions. so, i guess i mean that, while Alex isn't a good person, he's also not a bad person. in a better place, at a better time, he could have gotten therapy and the bad things may have been prevented, but if he's going to out grow it anyway, does it really matter? i'm kind of just rambling now, so i guess i'll stop. rip Alex from A Clockwork Orange, you would have loved My Chemical Romance.