Literature Circle Post II

Book: A Clockwork Orange

Author: Anthony Burgess

Page: 1-130

Section A:
What I found striking about the book, was the fact that the main character was pushed to his extremities by being put into a rehabilitation facility. Usually you wouldn't see the main character who is supposed to prevail all things thrown at him, is being treated this way under these harsh conditions. I also find the book interesting because I don't know what's going to happen next and whether he will escape this mental torture house.

I like that the book contains a lot of violence and topics of the sort because in my opinion it really spices up the book. In most books the description of such actions would not be so vivid as they were in this book, therefore this book is in my top 5 favs.

Section B:
"What's your interpretation of the word clockwork orange?"
"How would you react in the situation the main character, Alex, is in?
"What connections can you make to the real word from the government in "A Clockwork Orange"?

Section C:
"And those hard slovos, brothers, were like the beginning of my freedom"
I chose this because it was repeated through out his time in jail but he didn't really get what he had expected. I liked it because it says you can't anticipate many situations in life such like this one, and he learns this the hard way. It was important to the book because it told them that he would be nice, fine and back to the way he was when the book first started but he doesn't, this part acts as a pivot point where the book turn from bad to worse, which you'll notice close to the end of the book.

Literature Circle Post I

For the past two weeks, I have been assigned to read a book called "A Clockwork Orange" by Anthony Burgess from the start to page 130. It's about a kid gone wrong, named Alex who is fifteen years old and has a team of "droogies" which in their language of nadsat means friends. They go out at night time and cause mischief like there is no tomorrow. Although, during the day he acts as any other high school student and he has a taste for classical music. Others like millicents (police), his parents and others see Alex's flaws and want to have them corrected, and Alex himself was the one to make sure of that. After trying to rob a starry (old) woman's house, he was betrayed by his droogs due to bad leadership and egoism, so he was turned into the millicents. They planned to have him corrected by a secret program that hasn't been released to the public...

At first, I was really confused about the wording of the book, since half of it was practically in a different language, but as my teacher expressed, it did become really clear after getting through to about half the book. I can picture in the end of the book, Alex turning into a perfectly good person, because currently they are strongly emphasizing that this new program will permanently correct Alex of all mal-doing. Then again, books always have twists...

I noticed that a part in the book connected to a topic live in today's society, police brutality. There is a scene in the book where Alex is being beaten by whomever wanted to, with acceptance of the police. I'm not sure if it would directly happen in the police station in real life, like it did in the book, but still it's the same rational treatment.