...Examining Classical Conditioning in A Clockwork Orange: Realizing its potential for good and bad Cory Latour St. Lawrence University Psychology blossomed as a relevant field of study in the 19th century, as emerging social constructs like individualism and romanticism encouraged scholars to evolve the study of human behavior (Carlson, Miller, Heth, Donahoe, & Martin, 2010). At the beginning of the 20th century, one question provoked notable research: how can learning be studied? Learning is defined as an enduring shift in behavior or knowledge due to experience, and Ivan Pavlov and Edward Thorndike both designed experiments that measured how these long-lasting changes occurred; the pair’s research introduced the idea of conditioning into the field of psychology (Carlson et al., 2010). Pavlov and Thorndike differed in experimental methods, but their research ultimately concluded that one achieves learning through conditioning, which is a construct that modifies behavior through the operant and classical procedures (Carlson et al., 2010). Thorndikes’s investigation exemplifies operant conditioning, while Pavlov’s study highlights classical conditioning. Operant conditioning is a type of learning where responses are the result of consequences (Carlson et al., 2010). One example of the experiment placed a cat in a box where a latch was the only means to get out; whenever the cat successfully pulled the latch (the response), Thorndike rewarded it with food (eliciting...
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...A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, written in 1962, is a shocking view of dystopian life featuring a subculture of extreme youth violence. Set in a near future English society, the novel may is often seen in part as an attack on communism (a prevalent issue of the time), given the novel’s extremely negative portrayal of a government that seeks to solve social problems by removing freedom of choice. The novel is comprised of the first-person account of a juvenile delinquent named Alex who, in place of jail-time, voluntarily undergoes state-supported psychological rehabilitation for his evil behavior that will brainwash him into being physically sick if he even thinks about committing a crime. “You are to be made into a good boy, 6655321. Never again will you have the desire to...
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...A Clockwork Orange (UK Version) Anthony Burgess Introduction A Clockwork Orange I first published the novella A Clockwork Orange in 1962, which ought to be far enough in the past for it to be erased from the world's literary memory. It refuses to be erased, however, and for this the film version of the book made by Stanley Kubrick may be held chiefly responsible. I should myself be glad to disown it for various reasons, but this is not permitted. I receive mail from students who try to write theses about it or requests from Japanese dramaturges to turn It into a sort of Noh play. It seems likely to survive, while other works of mine that I value more bite the dust. This is not an unusual experience for an artist. Rachmaninoff used to groan because he was known mainly for a Prelude in C Sharp Minor which he wrote as a boy, while the works of his maturity never got into the programmes. Kids cut their pianistic teeth on a Minuet in G which Beethoven composed only so that he could detest it. I have to go on living with A Clockwork Orange, and this means I have a sort of authorial duty to it. I have a very special duty to it in the United States, and I had better now explain what this duty is. Let me put the situation baldly. A Clockwork Orange has never been published entire in America. The book I wrote is divided into three sections of seven chapters each. Take out your pocket calculator and you will find that these add up to a total of twenty-one chapters. 21 is the symbol...
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...Theo Siggelakis Prof. T Dansdill February 20, 2012 Of Books Books either encompass my thinking or they stretch the limits of my imagination. Some of the most inspiring books are those which capture life, as I know it down to every specific detail. These books are similar to watching an HD TV; every detail is just so pronounced and accurate. Books that resemble this beautiful real life portrayal could be like J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in The Rye. Every emotion that Salinger delineates through his characterization of Holden Caulfield is so potent that those details resonate even more for someone dealing with a similar internal struggle. When I read the book at 15, every sensory detail that Salinger described helped better illuminate part of my own internal struggle. The over exaggeration of the resentment of society as being in genuine really captured my own internal resentment for molds that people contrive themselves to fit. The one scene with Caulfield sitting in the bathtub depressed after refusing sex from a hooker will always be infused into my constant sub consciousness. When I just feel worn out and pushed to my emotional limit, I see that image burned bright into my memory because that scene is the ultimate depiction of frustration and stress. Although, this style of writing may be beautiful, sometimes it is nice to escape the hyperrealism captured in a book like Catcher in The Rye, and instead read something that expands the mind’s imagination. The contrary to the...
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...Victoria Allred Prof. Olson ENG 2309.007 September 18, 2013 Morality Play In A Clockwork Orange written by Anthony Burgess, we read about a fifteen year old boy, named Alex, from Britain in the nineteen-seventy’s. He goes through many obstacles and many questions arrive in the readers mind about the treatment of citizens and the control of government. We watch this boy go through some many harsh times and the biggest question is if humans should have their free will to choose good or evil, or if the government should be able to choose that there will be nothing but good in the world. And as the prison Charles and F. Alexander said, “A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man” (pg. 100). I believe that moral depravity is much better than forced morality. The main point that Burgess makes in this book is that a humans right to choose good or evil is essential to society. During the book, Alex goes through a treatment that is supposed to cure his desire to be evil. This treatment was a liquid substance that was injected into his bloodstream that made Alex became sick at the sight or thought of evil. When Alex tells F. Alexander, a writer, about the things he went through, he says, “They have turned you into something other than a human being” (pg. 100). Alex cannot do as he pleases without getting that horrid sick feeling. And sometimes he even feels as if he wants to end his own life. The treatment does keep Alex from doing evil but it also keeps him from defending himself...
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...Introduction It was the year of 1516 when Utopia was brought into being by Sir Thomas Moore, and from then on to the 19th century, utopian fiction has experienced a development and a dramatic turn into just the opposite tone, dystopian. These two distinctive streams in British literature, with a same distant source, contain totally different settings—if the utopian novels have demonstrated the perfectly idealized future society for mankind, then the dystopian ones describe the least ideal society, and it is usually considered that a dystopia is the vision of a society in which condition of life are miserable and characterized by poverty, oppression, war, violence, disease, pollution, nuclear fallout and/or the abridgement of human rights, resulting in widespread unhappiness, suffering, and other kinds of pain.1 As material civilization develops into a certain level and can be considered as more than sufficient, then the world is superior to spiritual civilization; however human spirit is the reflection and is controlled by the substances. So, in a highly-developed society with rich material life and high technology, human spirit indeed has no real freedom. Of course, flooding modernized technologies provide human beings a better living condition, but they are covering up an empty and weak spiritual world. Human beings are made to be squeezed to become the flat and instrumental existence surround by machines which makes them feel it is a perfect world. It is obvious...
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...A Clockwork Orange The movie starts out with the boys sitting around drinking in the bar. When Alex and his gang leave the bar, they go on a crime spree that involves mugging, robbery, a gang fight, auto theft, breaking and entering, and rape. The boys travel to the countryside with their stolen car, break into a cottage and beat up the man inside before raping his wife while making him watch. They then head back to the Korova, where they fight with each other. Alex, who loves classical music, becomes angry at Dim when Dim ridicules an opera that Alex likes. Alex punches Dim in the face, which encourages the others to turn against their arrogant leader. The next time they go out, they break into an old woman’s house. She calls the police, and before Alex can get away, Dim hits him in the eye with a chain and runs away with the others. The police apprehend Alex and take him to the station, where he later learns that the woman he beat and raped during the earlier robbery has died. Alex is sentenced to fourteen years in prison. At first, prison is difficult for him. The guards are heartless and cruel, and several of the other prisoners want to rape him. After a few years, though, prison life becomes easier. He befriends the prison chaplain, who notices Alex’s interest in the Bible. The chaplain lets Alex read in the chapel while listening to classical music, and Alex pores over the Old Testament, delighting in the sex, drinking, and fighting he finds in its pages. Alex is selected...
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...A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man."Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange is a novel about moral choice and free will. Alex's story shows what happens when an individual's right to choose is robbed for the good of society. The first and last chapters place Alex in more or less the same physical situation but his ability to exercise free will leads him to diametrically opposite choicesgood versus evil. The phrase, "what's it going to be then, eh?," echoes throughout the book; only at the end of the novel is the moral metamorphosis complete and Alex is finally able to answer the question, and by doing so affirms his freedom of choice. The capacity to choose freely is the attribute that distinguishes humans from robots; thus the possibility of true and heartfelt redemption remains open even to the most hardened criminal. A Clockwork Orange is a parable that reflects the Christian concept of sin followed by redemption. Alex's final and free choice of the good, by leaving behind the violence he had embraced in his youth, brings him to a higher moral level than the forced docility of his conditioning, which severed his ability to choose and grow up. The question, "what's it going to be then, eh," is asked at the beginning of each section of the novel. In the first and third part it is asked by Alex, but in the second part it is asked by the prison chaplain. The answer does not come until the end of the novel when Alex grows up and exercises his ability to choose...
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...A Clockwork Orange abandons normal 'language' (which Modernists believed couldn't always convey meaning anyway) and is written in 'Nadsat' (which means teenager). It is a slang that is spoken by the teenagers at the time. Burgess uses approximately two-hundred and fifty 'nadsat' words (most of which have Russian roots) to convey his story. This gives the reader a sense of intimacy with Alex and his 'droogs' (friends) due to the fact that the adults in the novel can't understand what they are govoreeting (saying). There is also a disruption of the linear flow of narrative aside from this private language; Alex ('Our Humble Narrator') tells the story in a remembering type sequence, but often interjects with thoughts or questions posed directly at the reader. Aside from the strange language that is found on the pages of this novel, one of the most obvious modernistic features is Burgess's ability to shock. There are many different scenes that are quite disturbing and violent. Alex's propensity to rape young girls (ten years old), and his absolute joy in the sight of blood and pain. ' ...while I ripped away at this and that and the other...and real good horrorshow [good] groodies [breasts] they were that then exhibited their pink glazzies [eyes], O my brothers, while I untrussed [undresses] and got ready for the plunge. Plunging I could slooshy [hear] the cries of agony' ( Burgess 23). This ties in with the fact that, as readers, we tend to follow the actions of Alex and his droogs...
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...A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess I chose the novel A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess because I have watched the movie and I really wanted to read the book. The blurb also shows a dark and interesting book “A Clockwork Orange is the shocking seminal novel that spawned one of the most notorious films ever made...Alex and his thrill-seeking gang indulge in violence...rape and drugs”. The first page already suggests that Alex is a troubled leader of his gang sitting in the milk bar drinking a glass of milk which is laced with illegal drugs, making plans for the evening. I predicted A Clockwork Orange would be an easy going, interesting novel that hopefully I could relate to. I was particularly interested how the characters were introduced. Alex and his droogs (friends), Dim, Pete and Georgie as sitting in the Korova Milk Bar, a place that serves milk injected with illegal drugs like stimulants, trying to decide what to do for the night. Alex and his droogs are young, with lots of money and very well dressed, “Waisty Jackets without lapels...with big built up shoulders...off white cravats which looked like whipped-up kartoffel or spud...hair not too long...and big flip horrowshow boots for kicking”. The Author also describes the other patrons surrounding the bar, with a man hallucinating on the milk next to the boys and young girls in tight bright dresses on the other side of the bar. These people and the surroundings are different to what would experience today in our...
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...Alex as an Antihero The question that has plagued scientists, sociologists and psychologists alike over time has been a simple "Are humans born completely good or evil?". Though the question still remains elusive, Anthony Burgess attmepts to make a point about humanity in his novel Clockwork Orange. Burgess presents the idea that good and evil are both necessities in humans, and that often it is up to freewill and choice to become one or the other. In his novel, Burgess created a character that chose to do many bad things voluntarily, but near the end the same character decided to show some good qualities and good intentions when goodness was not being forced upon him. Alex's presentation as an antihero emphasizes Burgess' point of the co-existance of good and evil. Alex fufills many qualities to being identified as an antihero. He has visible flaws, creating an imperfect image, and he appears to be more "gritty" in personality instead of being more refined. When Alex decides to engage in criminal activity he never thinks about what the right or moral choice is, he often thinks of what will benefit only himself. As seen on page 23, Alex punches his friend, Dim, in the nose as revenge for not composing himself and being mannered in public showing that Alex does seek revenge for personal satisfaction. Lastly, Alex also posesses qualities in himself that would normally belong to a villian, such as greed, amorallity and having violent tendencies. There are also several qualities...
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...Does goodness really come from within or is it possible for one to change their evil ways? Issues such as the battle between good and evil are presented in the 1971 Stanley Kubrick classic film, A Clockwork Orange. If you are easily intrigued by the sight of violence and sounds of Beethoven then this is the film for you. Stanley Kubrick’s complex mind pulls an idea together that will leave you thinking for days. Aside from the inappropriate and disastrous story, it is an enjoyable and intriguing story for any audience member over the age of eighteen. Containing images of a rather violent and obscene nature, the film’s unique portrayal of a London dystopia becomes the backdrop of the story and the exploitation of the issues between the government...
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...want to rebel through violence. A third form of escaping can be from a source of entertainment of pleasure. When something extremely admirable is perceived, it can change the mood of whoever it is affecting. If someone is very passionate toward music, they might be able to escape their problems by listening to their favorite song. Other things like games can offer an escape because they take everyone's mind off of their problems and focus them on the game. Escaping is something that people do all the time without even noticing it. When someone feels uncomfortable or troubled they perform some kind of escape to feel better. The theme of escapism appears throughout the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey as well as in A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. The characters in both novels display their motives for escape in three main ways. They escape by using drugs and medication to alter their mind state and get them out of the present situation. In addition, they can use violence to escape or destroy their surroundings to break free. A...
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...He had a devious smirk behind soft blue eyes. That was the first impression of the main character, Alex, in A Clockwork Orange. Alex is the leader of a gang of terrorists. The four men in the group seem to get off on a good time raping women, stealing, and beating on innocent people. They all seem to work together in collaboration to portray chaos, but Alex is the worst of them all. Alex treats his other three members as if they are below him and he is the tyrant of them all. Alex seemed to have one weakness: classical music. Classical music is the powerful back ground to most of the movie, and the actions seem to sync with the music dramatically. This gang was used to routine. Their routine was to go to the milk bar and scope out who they plan to assault next. They would go door to door begging for help as if one of them got hurt, and then force their entry. A writer and his wife were the first victim of the gang and were completely helpless to Alex’s mastermind. They raped his wife as the husband was forced to watch helplessly. They were able to get away on were just looking forward to the next occurrence. The woman of their next plot was a lot cleverer and did not fall for the boy’s begging at the door act. She implied that she was not comfortable letting a stranger in, but the determination of evil that ran in the boy’s mind did not let them give up. Alex simply broke into the home and got into a fight with the woman when she tried to resist. This brawl led...
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...To what extent does the reading of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Lolita’ force the reader to question their own moral values? Both ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Lolita’ are written in 1st person from the perspective of the protagonists, Humbert Humbert and Alex, who are both despicable characters in different ways. The novels are settings of the novels are completely different, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ set in a dreary futuristic world and ‘Lolita’ set (mainly) in 1940s-50s America and revolve around two completely opposite, yet disgraceful people. That said both of the books somehow make the reader question the characters wrong doing. In both of the novels the reader is shielded, through manipulation of language, from the true horror of what is happening in the narrative. In ‘A Clockwork Orange’ it is (especially when first reading the novel) sometimes quite hard to fully grasp what Alex is saying in the unusual ‘Nadsat’ slang he uses. When he is wanting ‘A lashing of ultraviolence’ and describes his ‘plunging’ and ‘creeching’ the reader grasps enough to know what it going on as (including the example shown) many of the slang words used, derive from or are the similar to the words which we would use in our society. What is happening therefore, because it isn’t explicitly written, is easier for the reader to not be as shocked or offended by what they’re reading. In ‘Lolita’ Humbert uses such a beautiful language and style to express his story of (in his words) ‘Lolita, light of my life...
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