Civilization vs. Freedom of Choice (Essay Sample)

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Civilization vs. freedom of choice
In “A Clockwork Orange,” Alex the main character is in constant conflict with the laws due to his propensity towards violence. As a young boy in his teens, he goes to school by day and by night; he is a leader of a vicious gang. He feels that he is deprived the freedom to choose his own moral choice even though depraved. Alex is also a lover of classical music which when he listens feels the same kind of ecstasy as he does when he is committing the crimes. In fact, he loves violence and prefers his depraved notion on freedom to choose ones morality as a result; he is in constant fights with civilization. Hence, based on his struggles with civilization, as Freud asserts it is clearly not easy for [man] to give up the satisfaction of this inclination to aggression. (Freud, 72).
The book starts with Alex and his cohorts at a milk bar drinking milk laced with stimulants criticizing milk laced with hallucinogens as he watches on another patron. Well, what they sold there was milk plus something else (Burgess, 4). Soon after, the gang walks out to find an old man coming from the library; whom they beat up and rips his books, clothes and his dentures. They then head to a corner store where they put on their masks and goes back to steal from the cash register, beating up the shopkeeper and his wife severely. The rest of the book is followed with similar episodes of depravation and violent robberies against other people from the gang. The characters of the gang are best manifested through Alex their leader.
Burgess, when he was writing “A Clockwork Orange”, believed that the freedom to have a moral choice is one attribute that distinguishes humans from animals and machines. This is the central theme in the book brought out through Alex. His (Alex) consuming desire to follow own choices does not augur well with civilization. As a result, what is termed as civilization, to Alex, is no more than a violation of his freedom to choose his own moral principles albeit depraved. As we come to learn in the novel, Alex is inclined to brutality and derives a lot of pleasure from it. He is uninterested to explain his inclination towards the vices. When listening to classical music, he experiences the delight and ecstasy akin to the numerous times he commits the crimes. His emphasis for the connection between music and violence is seen by saving some of his favorite pieces to describe his most vicious crimes.
I felt the britva go just deep enough in the meat of old Dim's wrist and he dropped his snaking oozy yelping like a little child. Then he tried to drink in all the blood from his wrist and howl at the same time, and there was too much krovvy to drink and he went bubble bubble bubble (Burgess, 39)
Freud in his book “Civilization and its Discontents” explores the connection between ego and civilization. According to Freud, man has a strong tendency towards aggression and civilization is only a set of code to suppress this tendency.
He represents the sense of guilt as the most important problem in the development of civilization and to show that the price we pay for our advance in the development of civilization and to show that the price we pay for our advance is a loss of happiness. (Freud 81).
In other words, we sublimate our desires with more acceptable activities that are merely defined by the code as acceptable.
The development of civilization imposes restrictions on it, and justice demands that no one shall escape those restrictions. What makes itself felt in a human activity as a desire for freedom may be either revolt against some existing injustice, and may prove favorable to a further development of civilization… (Freud, 42)
Focusing at Alex through Freud’s perspective, it is apparent that he is fighting with civilization because it does not allow him to choose aggression, which in turn leads to his violent behavior, as a moral choice. Instinctively, Alex protects anything he loves aggressively. This is evident in the way he punches Dim (a member of his gang) on the face for mocking a classical that he loves. Music plays an important role to building Alex’s character because it feeds his ego. His actions are however very outrageous as he reacts excessively to anything he does as long as it involves violence. For instance when he and his gang go to the cottage outside the city, they beat up an old woman and rape her. Alex later learns that she had died as a result.
Freud’s explanation to the kind of perverted behavior is based on the notion that civilization is born out of egoism; where each of us are living in a hostile world and would try to avoid pain as much as possible. In order for us to live in close connection with other people, we form a standardized system of civilization that we call culture. Going against any of what is agreed upon society’s behavior puts you in odd positions with the rest. Civilization thus does not offer autonomy of choice but the choice has to be oriented towards a certain direction. Alex’s choice in comparison is however oriented toward the opposite direction with the society’s values.
Alex’s determination to follow his own choice is not the only conflict that puts him in odds with civilization. He has a problem with balancing his ego and his super-ego. According to Freud, ego is the pleasure principle while the super-ego is the reality principle. Civilization in this aspect therefore is explained as a relationship among individuals in which as an individual, one give up some certain aspects of their ego interests. This kind of assimilation of the system thus demands a limit on each individual wants. Super-ego on the other hand rationalizes the choices and adapts to the social systems put in place.
For Alex, he seems completely overwhelmed by his ego interests. For example, all he knows is that he loves violence. He cannot give an explanation as to why he does it and more so when he knows that it is morally wrong. The biggest impact of his condition is on parental guidance for Alex. As we learn from the novel, he refers to them as “pee” and “me”; probably because to him, they do not play any of their parental roles. His parents are law abiding and are on the contrary soft...