Context

What are some fundamental characteristics of human beings? What makes us different from machines, robots or other animals?

In what sense is evil part of Alex`s nature and fate? Is the ability to perform evil deeds, freely and openly, an important part of being human?

People are born innocent, only to be corrupted by society and its ills. Societal corruption, though, is neither necessary nor irreversible. Alex, the protagonist narrator of A Clockwork Orange, is the perfect case in point. The central message of A Clockwork Orange seems to be that the freedom to choose (good or evil) is fundamental to mankind. Indeed, this element of moral choice distinguishes humans from machine and robots.

Alex is forced to endure Ludovico`s Technique, which employs the principles of associative learning, whereby a persons behaviour is modified through prolonged manipulation of her normal responses to select stimuli. In this day and age Ludovico`s Technique would be considered torture, or at least the unethical treatment of criminals.

The battle between good and evil gets complicated in A Clockwork Orange, because the novel really presents the battle between forced good and chosen evil.

Alex does, in fact, hurl himself out of an attic window, but the fall doesn't kill him. While he lies in the hospital, unconscious, a political struggle ensues, but the current administration survives. State doctors undo Ludovico`s Technique and restore Alex`s old vicious self in exchange for Alex`s endorsement. Back to normal!