Alex and Patrick - Separated at birth
Alex and Patrick - Separated at birth? A comparison of characters Hypothesis For my project, I have chosen to compare and analyse the characterisation of two of literature's most psychotic characters, Alex from 'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess, and Patrick Bateman from 'American Psycho' by Bret Easton Ellis. Patrick and Alex are from, and live in two completely different worlds, but what I aim to prove is that if you look past the superficial differences of the stories, the base characteristics and emotions of the two characters are the same. The Books Both 'American Psycho' and 'A Clockwork Orange' are considered to be satires and black comedies. Ellis' version of 80's New York and a Wall Street executive gone insane is considered a satire of the 80's obsession with greed, money, power, women, drugs and getting a reservation at Dorsia. It is about Patrick bateman, a successful stockbroker, who by day goes to work, discusses fashion tips with his friends and goes to the most expensive restaurants, and by night, is a psychopathic mass murder. It is derivative of, and has been praised as the darkest satire since... 'A Clockwork Orange', Burgess' vision of a future run by martial law with teenage criminals running amok is considered a satire on State Censorship, the government and free will. It is about Alex, a fifteen year old boy who goes out raping, stealing
A clockwork orange.
Q1. What do we learn about the character of Alex in "A clockwork orange" form the first four chapters? In "A clockwork orange" Alex is the main character, there are also 3 other important characters too they are Dim, Pete and Georgie, they are all in the same gang. Alex is the leader of this gang we know this because he calls Dim, Pete and Georgie "his droogs". Alex is fifteen years old and he is a teenager who enjoys drinking and taking drugs, like all teenagers he is rebellious. He has a lot of power over people and can be quite manipulating at times as in chapter one he buys some drinks for some 'old baboochkas' so he has an alibi. We find out that Alex is fascinated and enjoys violence and sex. He chooses to do the bad things he does because he likes to do them 'But what I do I do because I like to do'. We learn that Alex is well educated and can speak politely to people who are able to find out what he does and make him stop doing what he does, like P.R. Deltoid, his post-corrective adviser; he talks to him very politely however he does go over the top on the politeness and sounds patronising for example 'to what do I owe the extreme pleasure? Is anything wrong, sir?' we learn that he doesn't care for anyone than himself, otherwise I don't think he would of caused pain to innocent people. He doesn't like to be dirty, and when Dim was all dirty and looked a mess Alex and
How do the writers of Riddley Walker and A Clockwork Orange present the future in their novels?
How do the writers of Riddley Walker and A Clockwork Orange present the future in their novels? Both Riddley Walker and A Clockwork Orange present a future where humanity is on the brink of destruction. Violence and death are common occurrences in both novels and the governments, rather than try to help their citizens, merely control them while covertly trying to gain more and more power. In Riddley Walker humanity has gone through a cultural devolution. It has regressed from a time when they had "boats in the ayr" to a second Iron Age. Man has returned to its hunter-gatherer roots. However this does not simply mean that they hunt live animals. Iron is a highly sought after resource and so finding and salvaging old pieces of iron is a common event in Riddley Walker's future. This all happened due to the "1 Big 1"; a nuclear world war which was initiated by Mr. Clevver, the Big Man of Inland. The Nuclear Holocaust written about by Russell Hoban stems from the period in which it was written. Riddley was written in 1982 and if we presume the past mentioned in The Eusa Story to be from roughly that year then we are, in the words of Riddley, living in a time where we "had evere thing clever". If that is the case then we can see The Eusa Story as partly an allegory of the cold war, part speculative vision of its outcome. Looking back, the notion of a nuclear war actually
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange For a novel, which empathises betrayal and a dark society full of corruption and immorality, a clockwork orange seems to endorse a remarkable view on such characters in power. Dr Brodsky, Dr Branom and the discharge officer are the ones who empathise these particular themes in this chapter. Dr Brodsky and Dr Branom are responsible for the treatment of the Ludovico technique, which as a result 'cured' Alex. Dr Brodsky is written to be of a very prominent status with abundant power. But what we learn at this point in the novel is how Dr Brodsky uses his power in order to exploit those who are powerless. "He like patted me on the plectho and said: 'Good, good. A very promising start'" Dr Brodsky has a patronising tone in the way he talks to and treats Alex. He treats Alex as if he was like a robot or a machine, which wasn't able to function without the dependency of those who are in charge. Dr Brodsky and Dr Branom, from Alex's eye, are conniving, deceitful adults. Alex explains to us how it is just as bad to make the films about violence as it is to commit acts of violence. And what is even worse is how it comes across in the novel, that the doctors are getting a sinister pleasure from torturing Alex and disregarding his human rights. It seems as if they are not trying to teach Alex to better his life, but they are punishing him for his previous violent
A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess has been heralded as one of the greatest literary geniuses of the twentieth century. Although Burgess has over thirty works of published literature, his most famous is A Clockwork Orange. Burgess's novel is a futuristic look at a Totalitarian government. The main character, Alex, is an "ultra-violent" thief who has no problem using force against innocent citizens to get what he wants. The beginning of the story takes us through a night in the life of Alex and his Droogs, and details their adventures that occupy their time throughout the night. At fifteen years old, Alex is set up by his Droogs-Pete, Dim, and Georgie-and is convicted of murder and sent to jail. At the Staja or state penitentiary, Alex becomes inmate number 6655321 and spends two years of a sentence of fourteen years there. Alex is then chosen by the government to undergo an experimental new "Ludovico's Technique." In exchange for his freedom, Alex would partake in this experiment that was to cure him of all the evil inside of him and all that was bad. Alex is given injections and made to watch films of rape, violence, and war and the mixture of these images and the drugs cause him to associate feelings of panic and nausea with violence. He is released after two weeks of the treatment and after a few encounters with past victims finds himself at the home of a radical writer
How is Alex characterised by Burgess in Part 1 of A Clockwork Orange?
How is Alex characterised by Burgess in Part 1 of ‘A Clockwork Orange?’ Gabriella Guy In “A Clockwork Orange”, the character of Alex is both the protagonist and the vessel used to impart the novels unusual views on morality. At face value, Alex is portrayed as a psychopath who robs, rapes, and assaults innocent people chosen at random for his own amusement, showing no remorse for his actions. He is the classic example of an “evil individual”, almost unrealistically so. He even has the intellectual capacity to know that this sort of behaviour is wrong, saying that "you can't have a society with everybody behaving in my manner of the night". He nevertheless professes to be somewhat puzzled by the motivations of those who wish to reform him and others like him, saying that he would never interfere with their desire to be good; it's just that he "goes to the other shop". It is almost as if, although he has the logical capacity to understand the concept of morality, there is not a single shred of “innate morality” in him that which is believed to be a defining aspect of human nature in Judeo-Christian influenced western thought and is also the position the novel adopts. Alex is the perfect set piece around which the novels message that morality is not clear cut black or white revolves. From the moment we are introduced to Alex in the ‘Korova Milkbar’ we
How does the reader respond to Alex in Part 2 Chapter 6 of A Clockwork Orange?
How does the reader respond to Alex in part 2 Chapter 6? In ‘A Clockwork Orange’ the character of Alex is both the protagonist and the vessel used to impart the novels unusual views on morality. Burgess initially presents Alex as a psychopath who commits various acts of violence, ruthlessly raping and robbing, showing no remorse for his actions. Alex is the classic example of an ‘Evil individual’ in such a way it is almost unrealistic. However, it is not until Part two, Chapter six that we truly begin to see Alex in another light, one which allows the reader to start forming an opinion on the message Burgess is trying to portray through Alex. Burgess questions the morality of both good and evil and whether ‘a man ceases to be a man’ if he has no moral choice, something Alex begins to show us in this chapter. Emotionally and physically distressed, Alex is forced to further endure the Ludovico treatment. Helplessly, he screams out ‘Stop it, stop it, stop it’ forcing the reader to feel sympathetic towards him and somewhat disturbed. Ironically, the very thing that is meant to be helping Alex to become a ‘better’ person is the very thing that seems to be destroying him. This effect of tripling allows us to view Alex in a different light, one which we have previously forgotten; as a child. His desperate attempt for attention from adults who are meant to care