Alex and Pinkie are both evil and have been Since birth. Discuss.
Alex admits to himself of his innate evil nature. He says he commit his acts because he enjoyed them. This is shown in the quote: “I am serious with you, brothers, over this. But what I do I do because I like to do.” This quote displays to the reader how Alex has an almost psychopathic love for violence and power over others. The whole quote of which I have taken an extract can be seen to reflect how good and evil, or morality can be inherently natural to different people. People can be born good or bad, and the book “A Clockwork Orange is trying to present to us how trying to find explanations for the reasons behind this is pointless, at least from the perspective of Alex. “A Clockwork Orange” is seeming to try to insinuate that what is truly important is that men have free will to act upon their inherent nature, even if it is in Alex’s case, depravity and evil. The words of his counsellor also reflect this early in part one as he states ““We study the problem and we’ve been studying it for damn well near a century, yes, but we get no further with our studies. You’ve got a good home here, good loving parents. You’ve got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside of you?”. Alex seems to, albeit unknowingly, have his evil enforced by the world around him and his violence can be seen as him acting out and attempting to assert his authority in the world which is suppressing him due to his young age and also the oppressive system, which Alex seems to care little about. Alex seems convinced of himself that his evil comes from within yet we can see slight suggestions that this evil may have been fostered by an oppressive totalitarian system and a world of war which is suggested throughout the novel..
Evil is also presented as part of Pinkie's nature in Greene’s novel Brighton Rock, This is presented through numerous references to hell throughout the book, as seen in the quote: “It didn't matter anyway...he wasn't made for peace, he couldn't believe in it. Heaven was a word: hell was something he could trust.” The reference to hell being something that Pinkie can trust is somewhat shocking for the reader as hell is definitely not something that is commonly associated with trust or infact anything with positive connotations. Trust is built up over a long time, as the famous quote states: “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break,and forever to repair. If its lost it's not easily found and if it is found its never the same again” This suggests that Pinkie has always been familiar with Hell and therefore Evil, this is further supported through the quote: “This was hell then; it wasn't anything to worry about: it was just his own familiar room.” highlighting to the reader the strange relationship that Pinkie has with Evil. Despite the fact that Evil is often referred to as a part of Pinkies nature, It seems that his upbringing also plays a role as a catalyst in the way that he speaks and acts. This is reinforced by his association between his room and Hell hinting at a childhood of deprivation and unhappiness. Nature and Nurture clearly both play a significant role in the Evil that is a part of Pinkie. Tom and Jack
Throughout the novel of A Clockwork Orange, Alex is seen as an extremely troubled teen that finds pleasure in harming and tormenting others, however there are glimpses of Alex's’ underlying maturity and almost secret desire to grow up and take more responsibility in his life. This is shown greatly in the controversial final chapter which was removed by American publishers and also does not feature in the film version of A Clockwork Orange. In this chapter we see Alex wonder as to what it would be like when/ if he was to have a son, we see him explain how his own son will likely make the same mistakes he has and act in the same manner; however Alex presents the idea that this is how it is, an endless cycle of the young generation not being able to control the urge to commit violent acts. This is shown in the quote “and so it would itty on to like the end of the world, round and round and round like some bolshy gigantic like chelloveck, like old bog himself.” As well as this, throughout the book Anthony Burgess explores the idea of Nature Vs Nurture, in the sense that Burgess hints towards his own beliefs that evil is not predisposed, and as humans, we are given the choice to decide if we commit evil or good acts. Burgess uses the quote “Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.” To enforce the idea that if there is such a being as ‘God’ then this being allowed us to have free will, and therefore can any action really be defined as being inherently evil, if ‘God’ is not only allowing us to think of it, but also carry out said act.
In the novel Brighton Rock we are also presented with protagonist character of Pinkie, who much like Alex, has a very warped view of what is desirable and pleasurable. Nature vs Nurture, is a theme seen very strongly in Brighton Rock,and is suggested in A clockwork orange, as the character of Pinkie, had a very troubled upbringing,and was exposed to very dark things at an early age,which may explain his corrupt mind. Also Alex is described to be living in a run down area, and his parents are never really ‘there for him,this raises questions such as; is it truly their fault for their actions? Pinkie however unlike Alex, never shows this change of moral beliefs, as he believes that everything is predetermined,and he will never get the chance to change, nor does he seem to seek one. The quote “’It’s not what you think.’ the Boy said,’it’s what you think.’ He boasted. It’s in the blood. Perhaps when they christened me the holy water didn’t take. I never howled the devil out.” This quote shows Pinkie believes evil is an innate force, so is he accountable for his actions? As he lacks the free will, to be good. The word ‘boasted’ however tells us, he relishes in the world of evil, and religion is merely a good excuse for him. Pinkie and Alex both carry out very evil acts, and have very evil thoughts, and in many ways are similar, but there is one key difference, between these two characters; Pinkie does not want to change, and then is not given the option when he falls to his death. Alex, on the other hand does show this idea of change, and morally correcting himself, we do not see this happen, but the idea is there, we never even get a glimpse of this in Pinkie, as when the idea of him having a child is mentioned, he is repulsed.
Throughout the novels, “Brighton Rock,” and “A Clockwork Orange,” both characters of Pinkie and Alex are similar with the innate evil nature they depict. The authors alluding to the characters inner psychotic and violent thoughts, this is seen within their traits and actions towards characters of innocence from the start of both novels. Firstly, Burgess highlights Alex’s innate evil nature throughout, “A Clockwork Orange,” by using the cyclic nature of the novel to shine a light on his need and desire for power. This is conveyed through Alex’s first of all struggle for power with his ‘Droogs’ at the beginning of the novel, to this struggle being highlighted on again at the end of the book with his next set of ‘Droogs.’ This desire for power is accompanied by his evil and violent thoughts being used to prey on the innocent and weak to make him seem more threatening and powerful in front of his Droogs. For instance, “…there we had found what we were pretty well looking for…There was a doddery starry schoolmaster type veck, glasses on and his rot open to the cold nochy air.” Burgess emphasises the innocence of the boys ‘victim’ by comparing him to that of a school teacher - the phrase ‘schoolmaster type,’ implying that the man cannot defend himself as alike to teachers, students try to overthrow the power they have. The Droogs using his innocent and incapable looks to intimidate him by exaggerating theirs – them being much younger than him. The fact that Burgess uses the phrase ‘looking for,’ influences the reader to feel as though the Droogs were out ‘hunting’ giving almost animalistic and barbaric imagery as they had set out meaning to harm. The structure of the sentence using the comma before describing the teacher with glasses emphasises the man’s weakness. By depicting the man with glasses, Burgess’s intentions being to highlight the contrast of natures – Alex and his gang’s being evil and consumed with violence and that of the man’s being vulnerable and not in control. The first person perspective here showing how Alex’s inner feelings are that of rage and determination, the fact that he has to harm to feel better about himself and impose power giving the reader a villainous outlook on his character. This relating to the ongoing theme of manipulation as Alex uses his innate evil nature through manipulation to engage his violent and aggressive thoughts. Therefore, proving Alex to be innately evil and not having it forced out of him, wanting to be hateful. AMY&TASHA PART1
Pinkie is presented as a character that had a tough upbringing, lacking love and nurture. Pinkie has carried forward this neglect-ment as a child to date, rejecting all emotion that was headed his way as a coping mechanism. The only emotion he savored was hate, which he manipulated for his own self empowerment. "The word murder conveyed no more to him than the word, 'box,''collar,''giraffe'...". This asyndetic list of simple nouns is illustrative of how Pinkie is still a ‘boy’ with their childish connotations. This is strongly juxtaposed with the symbolism of murder, sin and evil in the primary part of the sentence. The normality familiarised with the dark sinister language enables the reader to have an insight towards Pinkie’s twisted and abnormal mindset. This sense of normality is iridescent of the evil that lurks within his character. Many misunderstand him, even perhaps by himself, which only enhances his own confusion giving evil the only thing to result to. “Hell was something he could trust”. His lack of role model and structure to his early days of life make him vulnerable and faithful to the easiest thing he can find trust within. In this case it is hell and evil. Despite the again ironic idea of putting trust into a symbolism of the devil, gives a insight to Pinkie’s twisted, evil worshipping mind. Pinkie dilutes the idea of evil in his own mindset, visualising it as a moral thing to go by, explaining his reasons for staying with religion. This outlook of Pinkies obvious harsh childhood due to his neutral feelings on murder has caused him to turn in to a sinister and dark young adult. Pinkie’s lust for a union to compensate for the un-requirement, inferiority and imbalance of his childhood, is emblematic of the evil Pinkie carries with him to date. His union with evil has allowed him to use his past to envelop him in unique ways. AMY&TASHA PART 2
"Alex and Pinkie are both the same, evil innately and have been this way since birth."
Both Alex and Pinkie are inherently evil in life and their actions in society and the way in which they think. This is shown in how they will willingly murder someone be it their enemy or their friend. Aswell as this they both have no emotion or very limited emotion at all. Due to this it is reasonable to say that they are both psychopaths. However there are some differences in the way in which they act and behave, and whether or not they have been like this since birth.
Pinkie is inherently evil, he acts this way from birth having been born corrupted and being unaltered by society or his peers on his path to damnation. Pinkie however is fully aware of this leading him to almost embrace it using religion as a reason for this. With his catholic ideologies and religious ideologies giving him apparent reason to his nature and behaviour and cementing it in his brain that his evil is past the point of return, as he has committed the mortal sin of murder and showing no regret in doing so, infact quite the opposite he embraces it. Pinkie also believes that humans are evil and born with sin this is shown within the quote “it was like the dreadful appeal of innocence, but there was not innocence; you had to go back a long way further before you got innocence; innocence was the slobbering mouth, a toothless gum pulling at the teats, perhaps not even that, innocence was the ugly cry of birth” this shows that Pinkie was evil from birth and that in Brighton Rock children are born evil and with sin in the eyes of God. Due to this Alex and Pinkie are not the same Pinkie is born evil and acts this way, as it is his nature to.
Alex on the other hand wasn’t born evil like Pinkie, he was shaped by the society in which he lives and the environment that he finds himself in. This is as Alex finds joy and sees his murder as an art. He is more corrupt and evil then Pinkie is and shows no remorse in anything that he does. Alex has a choice to be evil or not, whether to conform to society or fight against it, the corruption and dystopian setting forces him to be evil. Alex’s family life is a lot better then Pinkies in that it actually exists and that he still lives with his parents, this is shown in the quote “We study the problem and we’ve been studying it for damn well near a century, yes, but we get no further with our studies. You’ve got a good home here, good loving parents. You’ve got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside of you?” This shows how Alex chooses to be evil, how society tempts him into corruption and allows him to conform these unholy acts. Due to this Alex has not been evil since birth society has allowed him to become corrupt and evil.
"Alex and Pinkie are both the same, evil innately and have been this way since birth."
Within the novel, Brighton Rock, Graham Greene presents the character of Pinkie, a character with a likeness to that of Anthony Burgess’s Alex, presented within the novella A Clockwork Orange. Pinkie is described as the protagonist of the novel, as throughout, is able to contemplate insensitive actions, whilst showing or feeling no concern for others’ feelings, and is unable to sympathise with the victims of these actions. And, a reoccurring theme within Brighton Rock is the dichotomy of nature against nurture. Greene presents a justification as to the behaviours of Pinkie, suggesting the much troubled adolescences of impoverishment, and exposure to misbehaviours is an explanation as to the evil state of mind. Burgess’s character, Alex, is of comparison, whereby a troubled adolescences, and an absents of parental guidance contribute as to the state of mind, and consequently, actions of the character. The concluding chapter of the novella describes Alex’s change of this state of mind, and the ability to understand these misbehaviours, whereas Pinkie demonstrates a negligence, with no want to change this, expressing an acceptance of inevitability; Pinkie does acknowledge that he cannot avoid the judgement, and the eventual retribution of God. Though Pinkie, and Alex enact behaviours to be considered evil, and possess similar characteristics, have a fundamental difference, within each character. The character of Pinkie will not change his state of mind, and does reject any possibility of this. Alex presents the ability to change this, and though it is not literally described, it is satisfying for a reader to understand that a transformation has occurred.
Due to Alex’s change in ways it depicts a character that was most likely evil due to nurture, rather than nature. On the other hand, Pinkie’s disregard for change illustrates that he is evil by nature. Although for the duration of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ we see Alex as a disturbed, hard-boiled adolescent, toughened and driven psychopathic by his lack of parental guidance, through the final chapter of the book, we grasp an aspect of maturity within his character. Alex presents to the reader the cyclical structure of life and never-ending crime, whilst describing how his son will make similar mistakes to his. A quote that can depict this is “what’s it going to be then, eh?”. The cyclical structure is further exemplified as this quote is repeated at the beginning of each part, as well as the final chapter. This phrase used by Alex strengthens some key themes in ‘A Clockwork Orange’, one being free will. One choice that Alex is forced to make, is whether to be good, or evil at the beginning of the novel. However later on in the novel, Alex’s choice of what to do next is taken from him by the state. Similarly to ‘Brighton Rock’ Alex is battling for his free will against society, presenting another theme of individual against society which is key within ‘Brighton Rock’ as well.
Alex throughout the novel is depicted as a troubled and violent teen that takes pleasure from the violence he issues in the victims of his actions. The quote “but I for my own part had a fine and starry horrorshow cut-throat britva which, at the time, I could flash and shine artistic.” Shows the clear recklessness of the teen, referring to his weapon as something of art. He depicts his act of violence as “fine” emphasising he takes a form of pride in his work of violence, which further developed the idea that Alex is of true evil nature. Artistic is traditionally seen as a pure form of expression but in this case Burgees contradicts this by using it when describing the way in which Alex attacks his victims, also highlighting that Alex takes a form of pride and enjoyment in the violence that he deals to random citizens that he chooses to recklessly attack. The way in which Alex is depicted it enjoy the attack and takes pleasure in other peoples pain reflects the evil nature he has and the detachment from society Burgees is trying to create is being emphasised more. Greene also depicts Pinkie to enjoy the violence he forces upon his victims, thus detaching him too from the society he is a part of. The quote “The word murder conveyed no more to him than the word ‘box’, ‘collar’, ‘giraffe” insinuates to the reader that Pinkie has a different attitude to murder than to the average citizen. However, it could be argued that Pinkie is not innately evil due to the reality of his childhood. Pinkie is shown to have grown up in a poor area and was not raised like some more privileged children might be. This would dispute the statements claim that they have been evil since birth. The use of the word “murder”, a word that has significant importance in society due to the violent attachments to it, is used in a calm way, which shows the lack of development Pinkie has surrounding violence. Greene does this to show the complexity of the human mind and to prevent us from ever truly knowing whether Pinkie was born evil or not.
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ReplyDeleteAlex and Pinkie are both evil and have been Since birth. Discuss.
ReplyDeleteAlex admits to himself of his innate evil nature. He says he commit his acts because he enjoyed them. This is shown in the quote: “I am serious with you, brothers, over this. But what I do I do because I like to do.” This quote displays to the reader how Alex has an almost psychopathic love for violence and power over others. The whole quote of which I have taken an extract can be seen to reflect how good and evil, or morality can be inherently natural to different people. People can be born good or bad, and the book “A Clockwork Orange is trying to present to us how trying to find explanations for the reasons behind this is pointless, at least from the perspective of Alex. “A Clockwork Orange” is seeming to try to insinuate that what is truly important is that men have free will to act upon their inherent nature, even if it is in Alex’s case, depravity and evil. The words of his counsellor also reflect this early in part one as he states ““We study the problem and we’ve been studying it for damn well near a century, yes, but we get no further with our studies. You’ve got a good home here, good loving parents. You’ve got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside of you?”. Alex seems to, albeit unknowingly, have his evil enforced by the world around him and his violence can be seen as him acting out and attempting to assert his authority in the world which is suppressing him due to his young age and also the oppressive system, which Alex seems to care little about. Alex seems convinced of himself that his evil comes from within yet we can see slight suggestions that this evil may have been fostered by an oppressive totalitarian system and a world of war which is suggested throughout the novel..
Evil is also presented as part of Pinkie's nature in Greene’s novel Brighton Rock, This is presented through numerous references to hell throughout the book, as seen in the quote:
“It didn't matter anyway...he wasn't made for peace, he couldn't believe in it. Heaven was a word: hell was something he could trust.” The reference to hell being something that Pinkie can trust is somewhat shocking for the reader as hell is definitely not something that is commonly associated with trust or infact anything with positive connotations. Trust is built up over a long time, as the famous quote states: “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break,and forever to repair. If its lost it's not easily found and if it is found its never the same again” This suggests that Pinkie has always been familiar with Hell and therefore Evil, this is further supported through the quote: “This was hell then; it wasn't anything to worry about: it was just his own familiar room.” highlighting to the reader the strange relationship that Pinkie has with Evil. Despite the fact that Evil is often referred to as a part of Pinkies nature, It seems that his upbringing also plays a role as a catalyst in the way that he speaks and acts. This is reinforced by his association between his room and Hell hinting at a childhood of deprivation and unhappiness. Nature and Nurture clearly both play a significant role in the Evil that is a part of Pinkie.
Tom and Jack
Throughout the novel of A Clockwork Orange, Alex is seen as an extremely troubled teen that finds pleasure in harming and tormenting others, however there are glimpses of Alex's’ underlying maturity and almost secret desire to grow up and take more responsibility in his life. This is shown greatly in the controversial final chapter which was removed by American publishers and also does not feature in the film version of A Clockwork Orange. In this chapter we see Alex wonder as to what it would be like when/ if he was to have a son, we see him explain how his own son will likely make the same mistakes he has and act in the same manner; however Alex presents the idea that this is how it is, an endless cycle of the young generation not being able to control the urge to commit violent acts. This is shown in the quote “and so it would itty on to like the end of the world, round and round and round like some bolshy gigantic like chelloveck, like old bog himself.” As well as this, throughout the book Anthony Burgess explores the idea of Nature Vs Nurture, in the sense that Burgess hints towards his own beliefs that evil is not predisposed, and as humans, we are given the choice to decide if we commit evil or good acts. Burgess uses the quote “Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man.” To enforce the idea that if there is such a being as ‘God’ then this being allowed us to have free will, and therefore can any action really be defined as being inherently evil, if ‘God’ is not only allowing us to think of it, but also carry out said act.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel Brighton Rock we are also presented with protagonist character of Pinkie, who much like Alex, has a very warped view of what is desirable and pleasurable. Nature vs Nurture, is a theme seen very strongly in Brighton Rock,and is suggested in A clockwork orange, as the character of Pinkie, had a very troubled upbringing,and was exposed to very dark things at an early age,which may explain his corrupt mind. Also Alex is described to be living in a run down area, and his parents are never really ‘there for him,this raises questions such as; is it truly their fault for their actions? Pinkie however unlike Alex, never shows this change of moral beliefs, as he believes that everything is predetermined,and he will never get the chance to change, nor does he seem to seek one. The quote “’It’s not what you think.’ the Boy said,’it’s what you think.’ He boasted. It’s in the blood. Perhaps when they christened me the holy water didn’t take. I never howled the devil out.” This quote shows Pinkie believes evil is an innate force, so is he accountable for his actions? As he lacks the free will, to be good. The word ‘boasted’ however tells us, he relishes in the world of evil, and religion is merely a good excuse for him. Pinkie and Alex both carry out very evil acts, and have very evil thoughts, and in many ways are similar, but there is one key difference, between these two characters; Pinkie does not want to change, and then is not given the option when he falls to his death. Alex, on the other hand does show this idea of change, and morally correcting himself, we do not see this happen, but the idea is there, we never even get a glimpse of this in Pinkie, as when the idea of him having a child is mentioned, he is repulsed.
Eleanor and Tom
Throughout the novels, “Brighton Rock,” and “A Clockwork Orange,” both characters of Pinkie and Alex are similar with the innate evil nature they depict. The authors alluding to the characters inner psychotic and violent thoughts, this is seen within their traits and actions towards characters of innocence from the start of both novels.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, Burgess highlights Alex’s innate evil nature throughout, “A Clockwork Orange,” by using the cyclic nature of the novel to shine a light on his need and desire for power. This is conveyed through Alex’s first of all struggle for power with his ‘Droogs’ at the beginning of the novel, to this struggle being highlighted on again at the end of the book with his next set of ‘Droogs.’ This desire for power is accompanied by his evil and violent thoughts being used to prey on the innocent and weak to make him seem more threatening and powerful in front of his Droogs. For instance, “…there we had found what we were pretty well looking for…There was a doddery starry schoolmaster type veck, glasses on and his rot open to the cold nochy air.” Burgess emphasises the innocence of the boys ‘victim’ by comparing him to that of a school teacher - the phrase ‘schoolmaster type,’ implying that the man cannot defend himself as alike to teachers, students try to overthrow the power they have. The Droogs using his innocent and incapable looks to intimidate him by exaggerating theirs – them being much younger than him. The fact that Burgess uses the phrase ‘looking for,’ influences the reader to feel as though the Droogs were out ‘hunting’ giving almost animalistic and barbaric imagery as they had set out meaning to harm. The structure of the sentence using the comma before describing the teacher with glasses emphasises the man’s weakness. By depicting the man with glasses, Burgess’s intentions being to highlight the contrast of natures – Alex and his gang’s being evil and consumed with violence and that of the man’s being vulnerable and not in control. The first person perspective here showing how Alex’s inner feelings are that of rage and determination, the fact that he has to harm to feel better about himself and impose power giving the reader a villainous outlook on his character. This relating to the ongoing theme of manipulation as Alex uses his innate evil nature through manipulation to engage his violent and aggressive thoughts. Therefore, proving Alex to be innately evil and not having it forced out of him, wanting to be hateful.
AMY&TASHA PART1
Pinkie is presented as a character that had a tough upbringing, lacking love and nurture. Pinkie has carried forward this neglect-ment as a child to date, rejecting all emotion that was headed his way as a coping mechanism. The only emotion he savored was hate, which he manipulated for his own self empowerment. "The word murder conveyed no more to him than the word, 'box,''collar,''giraffe'...". This asyndetic list of simple nouns is illustrative of how Pinkie is still a ‘boy’ with their childish connotations. This is strongly juxtaposed with the symbolism of murder, sin and evil in the primary part of the sentence. The normality familiarised with the dark sinister language enables the reader to have an insight towards Pinkie’s twisted and abnormal mindset. This sense of normality is iridescent of the evil that lurks within his character. Many misunderstand him, even perhaps by himself, which only enhances his own confusion giving evil the only thing to result to. “Hell was something he could trust”. His lack of role model and structure to his early days of life make him vulnerable and faithful to the easiest thing he can find trust within. In this case it is hell and evil. Despite the again ironic idea of putting trust into a symbolism of the devil, gives a insight to Pinkie’s twisted, evil worshipping mind. Pinkie dilutes the idea of evil in his own mindset, visualising it as a moral thing to go by, explaining his reasons for staying with religion. This outlook of Pinkies obvious harsh childhood due to his neutral feelings on murder has caused him to turn in to a sinister and dark young adult. Pinkie’s lust for a union to compensate for the un-requirement, inferiority and imbalance of his childhood, is emblematic of the evil Pinkie carries with him to date. His union with evil has allowed him to use his past to envelop him in unique ways.
ReplyDeleteAMY&TASHA PART 2
"Alex and Pinkie are both the same, evil innately and have been this way since birth."
ReplyDeleteBoth Alex and Pinkie are inherently evil in life and their actions in society and the way in which they think. This is shown in how they will willingly murder someone be it their enemy or their friend. Aswell as this they both have no emotion or very limited emotion at all. Due to this it is reasonable to say that they are both psychopaths. However there are some differences in the way in which they act and behave, and whether or not they have been like this since birth.
Pinkie is inherently evil, he acts this way from birth having been born corrupted and being unaltered by society or his peers on his path to damnation. Pinkie however is fully aware of this leading him to almost embrace it using religion as a reason for this. With his catholic ideologies and religious ideologies giving him apparent reason to his nature and behaviour and cementing it in his brain that his evil is past the point of return, as he has committed the mortal sin of murder and showing no regret in doing so, infact quite the opposite he embraces it. Pinkie also believes that humans are evil and born with sin this is shown within the quote “it was like the dreadful appeal of innocence, but there was not innocence; you had to go back a long way further before you got innocence; innocence was the slobbering mouth, a toothless gum pulling at the teats, perhaps not even that, innocence was the ugly cry of birth” this shows that Pinkie was evil from birth and that in Brighton Rock children are born evil and with sin in the eyes of God. Due to this Alex and Pinkie are not the same Pinkie is born evil and acts this way, as it is his nature to.
Alex on the other hand wasn’t born evil like Pinkie, he was shaped by the society in which he lives and the environment that he finds himself in. This is as Alex finds joy and sees his murder as an art. He is more corrupt and evil then Pinkie is and shows no remorse in anything that he does. Alex has a choice to be evil or not, whether to conform to society or fight against it, the corruption and dystopian setting forces him to be evil. Alex’s family life is a lot better then Pinkies in that it actually exists and that he still lives with his parents, this is shown in the quote “We study the problem and we’ve been studying it for damn well near a century, yes, but we get no further with our studies. You’ve got a good home here, good loving parents. You’ve got not too bad of a brain. Is it some devil that crawls inside of you?” This shows how Alex chooses to be evil, how society tempts him into corruption and allows him to conform these unholy acts. Due to this Alex has not been evil since birth society has allowed him to become corrupt and evil.
William Morley & Oliver Tanner
"Alex and Pinkie are both the same, evil innately and have been this way since birth."
ReplyDeleteWithin the novel, Brighton Rock, Graham Greene presents the character of Pinkie, a character with a likeness to that of Anthony Burgess’s Alex, presented within the novella A Clockwork Orange. Pinkie is described as the protagonist of the novel, as throughout, is able to contemplate insensitive actions, whilst showing or feeling no concern for others’ feelings, and is unable to sympathise with the victims of these actions. And, a reoccurring theme within Brighton Rock is the dichotomy of nature against nurture. Greene presents a justification as to the behaviours of Pinkie, suggesting the much troubled adolescences of impoverishment, and exposure to misbehaviours is an explanation as to the evil state of mind. Burgess’s character, Alex, is of comparison, whereby a troubled adolescences, and an absents of parental guidance contribute as to the state of mind, and consequently, actions of the character. The concluding chapter of the novella describes Alex’s change of this state of mind, and the ability to understand these misbehaviours, whereas Pinkie demonstrates a negligence, with no want to change this, expressing an acceptance of inevitability; Pinkie does acknowledge that he cannot avoid the judgement, and the eventual retribution of God. Though Pinkie, and Alex enact behaviours to be considered evil, and possess similar characteristics, have a fundamental difference, within each character. The character of Pinkie will not change his state of mind, and does reject any possibility of this. Alex presents the ability to change this, and though it is not literally described, it is satisfying for a reader to understand that a transformation has occurred.
Due to Alex’s change in ways it depicts a character that was most likely evil due to nurture, rather than nature. On the other hand, Pinkie’s disregard for change illustrates that he is evil by nature. Although for the duration of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ we see Alex as a disturbed, hard-boiled adolescent, toughened and driven psychopathic by his lack of parental guidance, through the final chapter of the book, we grasp an aspect of maturity within his character. Alex presents to the reader the cyclical structure of life and never-ending crime, whilst describing how his son will make similar mistakes to his. A quote that can depict this is “what’s it going to be then, eh?”. The cyclical structure is further exemplified as this quote is repeated at the beginning of each part, as well as the final chapter. This phrase used by Alex strengthens some key themes in ‘A Clockwork Orange’, one being free will. One choice that Alex is forced to make, is whether to be good, or evil at the beginning of the novel. However later on in the novel, Alex’s choice of what to do next is taken from him by the state. Similarly to ‘Brighton Rock’ Alex is battling for his free will against society, presenting another theme of individual against society which is key within ‘Brighton Rock’ as well.
Ben Spicer and Alfie Narborough
Alex throughout the novel is depicted as a troubled and violent teen that takes pleasure from the violence he issues in the victims of his actions. The quote “but I for my own part had a fine and starry horrorshow cut-throat britva which, at the time, I could flash and shine artistic.” Shows the clear recklessness of the teen, referring to his weapon as something of art. He depicts his act of violence as “fine” emphasising he takes a form of pride in his work of violence, which further developed the idea that Alex is of true evil nature. Artistic is traditionally seen as a pure form of expression but in this case Burgees contradicts this by using it when describing the way in which Alex attacks his victims, also highlighting that Alex takes a form of pride and enjoyment in the violence that he deals to random citizens that he chooses to recklessly attack. The way in which Alex is depicted it enjoy the attack and takes pleasure in other peoples pain reflects the evil nature he has and the detachment from society Burgees is trying to create is being emphasised more. Greene also depicts Pinkie to enjoy the violence he forces upon his victims, thus detaching him too from the society he is a part of. The quote “The word murder conveyed no more to him than the word ‘box’, ‘collar’, ‘giraffe” insinuates to the reader that Pinkie has a different attitude to murder than to the average citizen. However, it could be argued that Pinkie is not innately evil due to the reality of his childhood. Pinkie is shown to have grown up in a poor area and was not raised like some more privileged children might be. This would dispute the statements claim that they have been evil since birth. The use of the word “murder”, a word that has significant importance in society due to the violent attachments to it, is used in a calm way, which shows the lack of development Pinkie has surrounding violence. Greene does this to show the complexity of the human mind and to prevent us from ever truly knowing whether Pinkie was born evil or not.
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