Free will and choice are important elements in maintaining humanity. Without them, man is considered a “clockwork orange” or simply a “mechanical toy” as mentioned in the film A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. Man is bound to make a choice between good and evil in his entire life. This is the only way he can be able to guide his future and be in control of his life. Alex, the main character in the film, has been imprisoned together with his friends, the droogs, after committing an unimaginable number of atrocities in their city. He was fifteen by the time of his arrest. After being imprisoned, the government robs him his ability to choose. Not that he had that ability before; but his life in detention means that his free will and ability to make a choice is at stake. The following essay discusses whether the idea of government taking free will from a person like Alex is better for the greater good and the importance of choice.
Before imprisonment, Alex is free to make choices in all aspects affecting his life. Right from the time he wakes up in the morning, until the time of bed in the evening. He makes all decisions that make him happy regardless of whom they hurt. He controls his own life. Together with his friends, they terrorize the town by all means possible: they rape, rob and commit all forms of atrocities. In fact, his happiness comes from hurting others and does not care about money: “money isn’t everything”, he says (Mirmasoomi & Beyad, 2015). They justify their robbing behavior by giving away the money. They do so as an excuse to go and rob again. According to him, he is just free to do anything.
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However, his freedom of making choices does not last forever. The “same time same place tomorrow” slogan eventually turns out to be his worst nightmare (Mirmasoomi & Beyad, 2015). He is caught by the Millicent’s while breaking the home of an elderly woman. Consequently, he is apprehended by the authorities. According to him, he was just getting involved into some “casting” and participating into “ultra-violence” (Simion, 2013). Things change from bad to worse for the little Alex when news about the death of the elderly woman arrive at the hospital. He considers the murder as his worst crime. However, he does not take any remorse. He just chooses to be carefree.
After being found guilty of murder among other crimes, Alex is sentenced to fourteen years in prison. While in detention, he realizes that his freedom of making bad choices has been taken away. The government has taken away his freedom of choice. He is jailed with other criminals older than him and realizes how terrific the new place is. Ironically, even his good choices are not because he has ceased to be a bad person, they are the only means through which he can get revenge on his former friends as quickly as possible. As a result, he befriends the chaplain and performs gospel music during ceremonies. When the government introduces “the Ludovico technique,” he becomes a subject of its experimentation to ‘fix’ and ‘cure’ the mind of a crime (Mirmasoomi & Beyad, 2015). However, since most of the subjects have not chosen to be good, it makes no sense introducing the new technique.
Alex only joins the new technique as an avenue to be free quickly; he does not necessarily chose to be good. According to him, it is an ideal solution to his current situation. However, he is blinded to the fact that the technique is robbing him his moral freedom. At one point, even the prison chaplain tries to make it clear to him: “very hard ethical questions are involved, you are to be made into a good boy” (Smyslova & Khabibullina, 2016). According to the chaplain, it is better for a man to be free of choosing bad than have goodness imposed on him. This shows how important the freedom of choice is. This, however, is what the government takes from Alex, he cannot choose bad since that would make him serve his sentence fully or get imprisoned again, and he does not have the free will to choose goodness. Due to the goodness imposed on him, the technique conditions him into a life full of miseries after being released. Eventually, he goes back into his former thug life. Indeed, had he been free to choosing goodness, he could have been a reformed part of the society.
To some extent, when the government takes away the freedom of choice from a criminal, it is an ideal solution for the greater good. However, the main problem sets in when the freedom is not restored even after it is taken away, may me after a sentence. The right thing to do is to train people in making rational choices in life other than taking their freedom to choose badly and conditioning them to doing well. It is lack of moral freedom that drags people back into making bad choices. In my view, choice is not a predominantly American ideal; it is upheld in other parts of the world as well. The ability to make a choice is important in peoples life as it gives them meaning and purpose.
References
Mirmasoomi, M. & Beyad, M. S (2015). From “Freedom from “towards” Freedom to”: A Frommian Reading of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange
Simion, M. O. (2013). Freedom of Choice and Moral Consequences in Anthony Burgess'a Clockwork Orange. Analele Universitatii" Constantin Brancusi" Din Targu Jiu. Serie Litere Si Stiinte Sociale, (2), 65.
Smyslova, E. V., & Khabibullina, L. F. (2016). The Problem of Free Will in “The Clockwork Testament or: Enderby's End” By A. Burgess. The Turkish Online Journal of Design, Art and Communication.–Turkey, Tojdac. E-Issn, 2146-5193.
