Comparison of Alex from Clockwork Orange to jack From Lord of the Flies
The thoughts and actions of Alex in the novel, A Clockwork Orange are both alike and different from the character Jack in Lord of he Flies. Alex a young man at the age of fifteen is a bane on society. Rape, violence, and Beethoven are his main joys. Jack is a choirboy on a deserted island. Jack's world, before arrival on the island, consisted of a " voluntary adherence to a pragmatic pact of nonagression...which passes for civilization, but maintained only through fear"(Whissen 140). Once the fear of objection from society is taken away so is the pact of nonviolence and the civilized being reverts to savage barbarism. This evil only takes place when all his restrictions were removed. Alex is the hoodlum that has a love for violence and rape. He wages rampages in the night throughout his city. Once apprehended Alex is subjected to a series of treatments that make him incapable of violence, and rape. Alex and Jack are both sadistic leaders of there own groups. Jack is the head of the hunters. Alex has a band of "droogs" which are friends and enemies. Society plays an important part in both of their lives. It is ironic that Alex starts as a savage and Jack as a civilized human being, B
"Alex is a leader in a bad place, of bad people doing bad things"(Alex's Adventure). Alex's droogs betrayed him and turned him into the authorities. Learning of the possibility to shorten his sentence, Alex volunteers for the "Ludovico Technique, a treatment for curing violence. The Technique involves injecting Alex with a serum that makes him sick to his stomach while forcing him to watch films of ultra-violence. It conditions him against anything morally repugnant"(url http://wwwmembers). Now Alex is forced to refrain from his evil ways. Whenever he attempts to view of commit an act, which the doctors have programmed to think is wrong he feels intense sickness. The feeling of illness is so intense it is paralyzing. Now he is unable to do evil. "...Alex also loses his one redeeming feature, a fondness for Beethoven. Jack's change begins in the heat of the hunt. Jack and his some of his fellow choirboys, armed with spears, set off into the interior jungle. Searching for wild pigs, the boys tap into their savage instincts. Jack enters savagery with the bloodshed of a hog. "Jack makes the psychological break when he baptizes himself with the blood of a slaughtered pig"(Cliff Notes 65). This moment is when Jack is reborn as a brutal monster. An insurrection soon ensues. Jack and his hunters form their own party on castle rock. Their actions now include sacrifice and barbaric rituals. One for example occurred around the campfire. " A great log had been dragged into the center of the lawn and Jack, painted and garlanded sat there like an idol"(Golding 149). Jack then started a war dance around the fire. Recreating the hunt, they chased one of the boys around the fire. All of them were brandishing their spears as they screamed " Kill the Beast! Cut his Throat! Spill his Blood"(Golding 153). As one can see both of them experience a through a change. Alex is changed into a helpless being unable to commit violence, and Jack is changed into a sadistic beast. The transformation of Alex begins after his capture. Jack's begins with his slaughter of a pig. When these metamorphoses occur their characters types change. ut when their society's and surroundings affect them each of them becomes what the other was. Alex becomes unable to commit evil and Jack assumes leadership of a savage group that commits acts of brutality. Whissen, Thomas Reed.Classic Cult Fiction.Greenwood Publishing Group.1992 Golding, William.Lord of the Flies.New York.The Putnman Publishing Group, 1954. Grunn, James.The New Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.W
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Approximate Word count = 1734
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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