Essay: A Clockwork Orange / Filthy with Things

‘He who makes a beast out of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man’, Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).
Mankind can be regarded as beasts in a certain way. Do we become beasts to ignore the pain life can bring us? We have free will; this allows us to make our own decisions and choices. We can decide whether to be good or bad, to be humane or a beast. The choices and decisions people make are fascinating. Some choose to be kind, loving and caring. Others choose the opposite; hateful, egoistic.
Therefore, my thesis statement is: A human chooses to be a beast to ignore reality and pain. In this essay I will be using A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and Filthy with Things by T.C. Boyle.
In A Clockwork Orange, our protagonist is the young violent, Alex. He is a sociopath, but seems to love classical music, such as Ludwig van Beethoven or as he calls him; ‘Ludwig Van’. He and his three friends, whom he calls ‘droogs’, roam the streets every night. They steal, rob, rape and drink. They call this ultra-violence. When things start to get a bit shaky within the gang, Alex fights George and Dim for the leadership. Alex eventually wins, but his droogs dislike him even more afterwards. George has the idea to break into an old lady’s house. Alex is the first to go in and he shall open the door for the rest. However, when inside, he encounters the old lady and she is not planning to give up that easily. Eventually, he kills her and opens the door for the rest but the police are already on their way. Dim hits Alex and leaves him on the doorstep for the police. In prison, he is accepted for a new experimental behavior-modification treatment; the Ludovico Technique. Alex is injected with a nauseating drug and is shown very violent films. Eventually this causes him to feel awfully sick at just the thought of violence. There is one thing he hates even more; he can’t listen to his beloved classical music anymore. One of the soundtracks of the film was Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. He had lost the choice to be bad; he must be good because otherwise he will feel a crippling nausea. In other words, he has lost his free will. He used to be horribly bad, a beast, but now he has no choice anymore.
‘I don’t understand about feeling sick lick I did. I never used to feel sick before. I used to feel like very the opposite. I mean, doing it or watching it I used to feel real horrorshow.’ (Burgess, 81)
‘It may not be nice to be good, little 6655321. It may be horrible to be good.'(Burgess, 71)
Alex was one of the arrogant and hateful people. He did not care about anyone but himself. He made the choice to be like he was. He became this way to escape from the reality, to escape from the pains a human life can bring. He who has nothing, has nothing to lose. However, he did not expect the treatment’s effects to be the way they turned out. He only wanted to participate to get out of prison, to go back to his life of violence. He did not realize he would not be capable of doing anything violent again.
In Filthy with Things, Julian and Marsha live in a house which is filled with things, from top to bottom. The entire house is packed with furniture, collector’s items and other things which sometimes do not even have a use. Julian is married to a collector. He refers to her as ‘his chief purchaser’. When Julian has had enough, he asks for the help of a Professional; the minimalistic, cold and empty Susan Certaine. She is willing to help the couple, but they do have to sign a contract with the rules for this intervention. Julian and Marsha have to be separated, it was thought to better during the intervention. Their belongings are all categorized and labeled. They are ‘disburdened’ of their things. Julian does not like the Co-Dependent Hostel, he decides to stay in a motel. On Sunday, at twelve o’clock, he can go back into his house. When he arrives, his key doesn’t fit. Susan Certaine arrives and tells him they had to replace the locks because he did not cooperate properly. When Julian goes inside, there’s nothing in the house anymore. Over a period of sixty days, they can choose one item per day out of the warehouse to be returned to them. He and Marsha have no possessions anymore, only the house and each other.
Julian is a beast in the way of simply not caring. He claims to love his wife Marsha, but still does not do anything to stop her purchasing things they do not need. He says he does not like it all, but does not seem to do anything about it. His things matter, hers do not. His things are not to be taken away by Susan Certaine’s helpers, but he does not care that Marsha’s things are taken away. He does not realize his part in this problem.
‘What did you think, that you could solve all your problems by depriving her of her things, making her suffer, while all your precious little star charts and musty books and whatnot remain untouched?’ (T.C. Boyle, 53)
Julian seems to only think about himself. He claims that only Marsha has a problem, he doesn’t need to ‘purified’.
‘This room doesn’t need anything, this room is off-limits, this is mine’ (Boyle, 53)
Both Julian and Alex seemed eager to participate in the treatments, but both did not expect the final result. The only thought about themselves, not caring about what anybody thinks or feels. Julian does not think it is fair his belongings are taken away and Alex does not think it is fair that he has to watch to violent films, even though it is very similar to the damage he has inflicted to many of his victims.
Good behavior is important; it has always been and always will be. However, Alex and Julian both do not behave properly. Alex acts like he owns the world and does whatever might please. He even takes two little girls to his room, gives them spirits and rapes them. Julian signs a contract without having read it, he does not discuss anything the whole thing with Marsha, he wants to keep his own belongings, and he tries to contact his wife even though it is forbidden. He knows this might set back the effect of the treatment, but still he does not seem to care about it. He also did not see his part in the problem of collecting; he blamed Marsha. Alex does not care about his treatment, he only thinks about getting out, so he can go back to his old ways. He even calls himself ‘Your Humble and Suffering Narrator’ at one point, not realizing he is suffering only because he behaved terribly before.
Alex and Julian are more alike than one might realize. Both are selfish, quite arrogant and do not think about the effects their actions might have. However, they are different in several ways. Julian chooses not to use pain as a tool to gain power over others, while this seems to be Alex’ only tool. Julian chooses a way that’s a bit sneakier. Behind Marsha’s back, he signs a contract thinking it will cure Marsha of collecting everything. Even though he’s quite aware of the fact this inflict pain to Marsha, not physically, he still decides to sign. The only thing he did not know was that he would have to take part in the treatment as well.
The two treatments had one difference; Alex’s treatment is conversed after he jumped out of a window. Julian’s treatment can not be conversed. He has lost everything and is not able to get it back.
The two characters became beasts to escape from the reality. Alex might subconsciously realize his life is far from perfect because he does not seem to have a proper education, he does not have a job, his parents do not look after him, others do not really care about him and he has never encountered true love. Julian realizes his life and his marriage are not perfect, but instead of facing these problems himself, he blames others rather than blaming himself for being a part of the problem. Both have become beasts in the way they ignore the reality while they should take a look in the mirror. They prefer not having to face real problems, they choose the easy way out so they can see themselves as ‘good’ people. Julian chooses not to deal with the enormous collection himself and Alex chooses the Ludovico Technique because he believes he will get out sooner. Eventually both become better men but only because of the influence of others, not because of their own actions. Julian becomes a better man because Susan Certaine takes away everything. Alex becomes a better man because of Pete’s influence. Pete has always been the most rational one of the gang, he had the least part in all the violence. Alex sees him and his wife in a bar and they a little talk, this makes Alex want to settle down and think further than today.
Tomorrow is all like sweet flowers and the turning vonny earth and the stars and the old Luna up there and your old droog Alex all on his oddy knocky seeking like a mate. (Burgess, 141)
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