What is your response to Alex as he appears in the first four chapters of the Novel?

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What is your response to Alex as he appears in the first four chapters of the Novel?

In the first four chapters we are given a shocking introduction into the life of Alex. In these first four chapters we see Alex beat up a teacher and a old drunk, rape a young woman and beat up her husband, rob a shop, steal a car and perhaps the most disturbing we see him commit child abuse. At this time I think it is very important for us to remember one thing: Alex is fifteen-years-old. Yet we do not find this out until the end of book one. By delaying this Burgess makes us think that Alex is much older than FIFTEEN and therefore when we our told we begin to realise how dreadful his crimes were. Yet despite these committing all these crime Alex has no fear of the "millicents" or any other figure of authoirty. In the first four chapters Burgess gives us a preview into the life of his anti-hero and shows him in his world of ultra-violence, rape and Beethoven.

When Alex is committing these horrifying crimes, he does it very casually and doesn't seem to think about the consequences or about how the crime could make that person's LIFE a living hell. A prime example of how looks down on his crimes, is after he has beaten up the teacher and stripped him, he thinks "We hadn't done that much" and refuses to make any " appy polly loggies". This casual view on his crimes is witnessed again when he is robbing the shop and he is standing over the now naked Mother Slouse and he thinks "I wondered should I or should I not, but that was for latter in the evening". This extremely disturbing view on rape is one that would send shivers down the back of any moral human being. Another example of how he looks down on his crimes is after they had beaten up the writer and raped his wife, Alex thinks "But they'd live." Although when he left they "were not really there" meaning they were unconscious. This is evidence that Alex is completely at home in his world of ultra-violence, rape and Beethoven. He is a King in his own sub-culture and his moral universe has no connection whatsoever with that of the average human being. By Alex behaving like this Burgess is trying to make us hate him more and more, but still we find a side of Alex that brings us close to him and makes us feel like a friend of his.
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Although we have already experienced Alex talking about rape, when he actually commits it, it is a totally different experience. As soon as Alex knocks on the door of the "malenky" cottage, and the "young pretty devotchka" answered the door, I think we all knew what would happen. After Alex had ripped up the writer's book, Dim had done his "fisty work" on him, Alex then decides, "Now for the other veshch, Bog help us all". So not only does Alex talk as if it was a normal everyday event, he also has the arrogance to ask God ...

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