part 2, 1-3

Part 2 begins with the same sentence in which the book begins, “What’s it going to be then, eh.” The repetition of this sentence proves that it is important, which was made clear in the very first chapter. The first time that this is spoken Alex is the speaker, but instead this time the guard at the jail that says it. The question itself changes because of this switch, in the first part, Alex was asking the question, asking for the answer leaving others in control, and this time Alex is being asked to answer the question himself, which is leaving him in charge. This is ironic because in the beginning Alex is free, he could make the decision of “what it was going to be” but he was leaving the decision in the hands of someone else, and when the question is brought back again in part two, and he is asked the question and is given the choice, he is in jail, locked up where he has no freedom and no ability to make decisions. This shows that Alex is in control, he shouldn’t be, this is the place where he should be controlled. In these chapters Alex is brought to jail after being abandoned by his droogs. When he arrives, he is treated like an object rather than a human, he is given a 7-digit number to replace his name. This reminds me of my job, everyone is known in the system as a number, and the feeling of being a number makes you feel worthless. While in prison, Alex rekindles his devotion to God, he considers himself a disciple of God, he compares himself to God and his followers, and he himself reads the bible, following the words of God. This idea that he is comparable to God shows how Alex feels superior to everyone, it is very strange tat he would compare himself to God when in fact the two are complete opposites. While Alex is in rehabilitation he loses all control he ever had of his life. He is forced to take injections of an unknown substance, which is a symbol of his loss of power, and he begins to lose his energy, which we are lead to believe is a result of the injection. Alex is very naïve about his fatigue, which also shows his loss of assertion. It seems that Alex is going to lose himself in rehab, and I believe that his experience is not going to be a happy one.

As I have said before, this is a really strange book! I’m at the end of the first part. The last two chapters from this part leave me thinking, and connecting the events to my life, not that I have ever done anything that Alex and his droogs have done, but, I can relate to certain emotions and moments. By now, nothing that Alex does shocks me, so breaking into an elderly woman’s house was not the most shocking moment for me. Honestly, when Alex is being betrayed by his friends, and attacked by cats, I felt like everything came together; I think everyone can relate to being scratched by a cat; I have two cats, both whom like to attack and scratch and bite! While reading this I could feel the pain Alex must have been feeling. And the fact that simultaneously his friends were betraying  him reminds me of a cat. It doesn’t matter how nice I am to my cats, how much I play with them, how much I feed them, nothing matters, if they get angry they will open me up like a can! This reminded me of the droogs, it didn’t matter to them that Alex was their friend, they left him anyway. Another detail that stuck out in my mind was the fact that while Alex sat in jail, he thought of Beethoven’s 9^th, “And then there rose like the sun Ludwig van himself with thundery litso and caravat and wild windy coloss, and then I heard the Ninth…” I know that piece very well, and it would not be the first thing that would come to my mind if I was in jail. It’s almost happy, and playful, I can imagine what was going through his head while he thought of this. The contrast of the symphony and the situation creates a dynamic scene, I can picture it as a musical, the loud dramatic powerful parts of the song being the bad things he has done, and the happy rejoicing parts being the moments when he moves on and thinks about his actions. I love the fact that every time Alex is doing something wrong, he connects it to music in some way, I think that ultimately he knows that what he is doing is wrong, and if he can focus his attention on music, he can forget what he is doing, it was clever of the author to chose that to be his characters way of coping. 

A Clockwork Orange

This book is very strange, the language mostly, although the plot is very unusual also, but the language is what stands out the most. Everything is spoken in an English type language but everything is slang so they are not real words, which makes this book very confusing at times. In the first chapter, there are a few strange things that the author does with repetition, for four pages the phrase “’What’s it going to be then, eh?’” is repeated after every paragraph, I don’t really understand why the author did this, while reading, it feels almost like a flash back, but I also think that maybe it is supposed to be Alex asking himself this question over and over, thinking about everything in his head. Then, suddenly the phrase stops and doesn’t show up again. Another thing that the author repeats are the ways in which he explains the words that are slang or even made up. It is strange because instead of just using another word he insists on putting it in the story, and they way that the word is described is very down to earth, as if the main character was having a conversation with the reader. I think this is done in contrast of the main character who is somewhat evil, and creepy, but he seems so simple with his tone.