Review: A Clockwork Orange

Learning Nadsat was a fun exercise, and helped me understand "Girl Loves Me" by David Bowie about 3% better. The story itself was also entertaining enough, being neatly split into three short, distinct acts, with enough linguistic deciphering and rapid-fire events to make each one pass quickly. I was surprised to find that A Clockwork Orange was not, in fact, inspiration for "Teenagers" by My Chemical Romance, although it certainly would have been a fitting soundtrack for the first third. In the second third onwards, it also raised some interesting questions about the nature of goodness, and order/authoritarianism trade-offs.

Moving into spoiler territory, there are three things I appreciate.

The first is how post-treatment, Alex is not a fundamentally different person. He still has the same desires, goals, mentality; instead, all that's changed is the addition of a Pavlovian reflex to violence (as defined by the state, his later "supporters" point out). He's not a better person, just one infinitely more likely to avoid things considered "bad".

The second is his sudden mental shift and reflection after meeting Pete; it's probably more sudden than would happen in real life, but I did appreciate the author discussing the cyclical nature of society as each generation grows up, although in real life being punctuated moreso by rebellion, self-discovery, good intentions, and frustration with the lassitude/indifference of their elders, rather than violence and ultraviolence.

The third is the irony of the state employing criminals to use violence to curb violence commited by criminals; the truncheon isn't being laid down, but rather the wielder is switching sides.