WEEK FOURTEEN: The Clockwork Orange (6)

 The Clockwork Orange was an interesting read. This was the first book from this semester I decided to read in russian without knowing that there are russian words in the original work which were written in latin letters to keep the originality of the author. This anglo-russian slang the characters use gives the story a unique look and completes its mood. However, it was very hard to understand what exactly the words meant because of the horrible spelling that I switched to listening to the audiobook from halfway through the book. 

The story is pretty violent but at the same time very realistic. Mostly because of the amount of detail the protagonist gives while describing every single scene and character. The author makes the reader face the reality not letting them close their eyes on the dark sides of it. Alex is a complicated and interesting character. What surprised me the most about him was his love towards classical music juxtaposed with his cruel lifestyle. It seems like those scenes are separated from the rest of the book and here we see another Alex, which makes the reader think that maybe there is some morality left in this person. 

Another surprising thing is the milk that appears throughout the book which is the least expected drink one can imagine in a world like this. In my opinion, the milk symbolizes the hidden pureness in Alex and gives the reader hope about this world. 

Some aspects about this book reminded me of 1984 but overall the lack of choice and freedom is described in a very unique way and of course the title makes more sense after reading the book and realizing the concept of something mechanical inside the organic shell. That choice to be pure or inhumane makes us human. There is no such world where people can be either pure evil or good. And it is not only about choosing between those two it is about how we make that choice. Did the treatment work? Of course not, it is like beating a child. They do not understand their mistakes and why they should not do it; they just know that it will hurt when they get beaten up again. 

At the end we see Alex more mature, we see him realizing what and why he is doing and making that choice.

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