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A Clockwork Orange Essay Assignment The Ludovico Treatment

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A Clockwork Orange Essay Assignment The Ludovico Treatment
Alexandra Martinez
EL3510 :Literature Across Cultures II: Theory
4/26/13
amarti67@oldwestbury.edu
A Clockwork Orange Essay Assignment
The Ludovico Treatment

The psychological conditioning treatment used in A Clockwork Orange , the Ludovico treatment , raises many moral issues. Is it justly to take a persons “free will” to make the world a safer place? In this paper I will discuss different perspectives from the novel, including my own reflection on the treatments moral effect on the novels protagonist, Alex. After spending two years in jail , Alex our youthful narrator sees an opportunity and is given a choice that can change his life forever. He can spend the rest of his life in jail or he can undergo the Ludovico treatment offered by the government. The Ludovico treatment is a psychological experiment designed to hopefully cure a criminals mind. That is to take away the hunger for any wrong doing towards anyone else or oneself. This treatment is a mind conditioning experiment designed to modify behavior . It consists of a type of injection that takes away a persons ability to harm. It also consists of viewing violent films that conditioned the mind to want to reject crime and violence. Given the horrid life Alex had chosen to live previously, with acts of violence and hatred , this contingency did not seem to be a bad idea for anyone who knew him. There are a few concepts that that can be viewed through different lenses to determine whether the Ludovico treatment is morally correct. When it comes to a psychological treatment such as the Ludovico treatment , is it morally acceptable to take away a persons ability of choice? Alex 's human rights are taken away from him to make him an acceptable person in society ,preventing Alex of making a decision that would be of a negative consequence. Another way to view this treatment is in a way of revenge or karma. Alex hurt many people in this novel. Should he be treated with pity after this Ludovico treatment,


Cited: Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. New York &London:W.W. Norton & Company , Inc, 1962 Print.
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