Luckily for me this book is already divided up into three distinct sections, each one in a different setting. The first is about an unchanged, free Alex, the second about Alex's imprisonment and "treatment", and I have yet to read the third.
In the first part of this section Alex is in a regular jail. Alex has been in this jail for two years and in that time shown himself to be a good inmate, sucking up to the right people and manning the music for the prison church. He seems to be slight friends with the preacher of the prison and greatly enjoys still being able to listen to good music.
The cell Alex stays in is over crowded; there are four people and only three beds. One night the person who is forced to sleep on the floor tries to sleep with Alex, and you get the impression that he also puts his hands on Alex. Needless to say Alex kicks the man out of his bed and somehow all the people in the cell decide to teach the man a lesson. They all beat the other man up and go back to sleep. When the inmates wake up they realize that the man is dead. In true prison fashion everyone blames to crime on Alex. Alex then gets sent to an experimental treatment center where after only a month of treatment he will be released into the free world. Unsurprisingly he is very excited. The "treatment" Alex receives consists of forcing him to watch many films of extremely violent and horrible acts while he is under the influence of a certain drug. This treatment causes him to feel physical pain whenever he thinks about or does a violent act, thus causing him to refrain from violence.
The title of the book, A Clockwork Orange is meant to describe something that looks alive on the outside, such as a sweet and juicy orange, but has no choice between good and evil, like clockwork. This is an interesting moral dilemma, is it better to have no choice and always do well, or have a choice and choose evil? In this part of the book it is clear that Alex is not "cured" of violence because he wants to hurt people and things, but his body is opposed to it. It seems that wanting to do evil doesn't matter as long as you body won't let you do evil.
Another interesting occurrence is the language of this section of the book. Alex still speaks in his russian-british slang but it seems out of place in this sanitary treatment center. Like if you heard someone on a big boat talking like a pirate it wouldn't be too out of place but if you heard a Wal-Mart employee talking like a pirate you might be a little amused.
Overall I have greatly enjoyed this book, there are many ambiguous moral issues that this book faces, and it faces them well.
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