clockwork

Group Meeting 9/30/10

Group Leader- Adam Morrow Quotation Finder- Pat Herlihy Key Questioner- Joe Arnold Group Summarizer- Josh Shulman

Questions:

Why do you think Alex enjoys hurting people?

Where do you think their slang came from?

What year do you think it is?

How do you feel about the fact that he's only 15?

Do you think his parents know what he's doing?

Quotations: "I couldn't help a bit of disappointment at things as they were those days. Nothing to fight against really. Everything as easy as kiss-my-sharries"(15)

"It used to interest me sometimes to slooshy what some of these starry decreps had to say about life and about the world"(17)

"The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, to attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation, against this I raise my sword-pen."

"I am serious with you, brothers, over this. But what I do I do because I like to do."

" how Modern Youth would be better off if A Lively Appreciation Of The Arts could be like encouraged. Great Music, it said, and Great Poetry would like quieted Modern Youth down and make Modern Youth more Civilized." (46)

Characters:

Alex- We know that he is the 15 year old narrator and that he is the leader of his vicious gang. He loves classical music. He is interesting because we do not know why he wants to do so many violent things to people, and why he enjoys it.

Pete- He is just a member of Alex's gang, and he has not said much yet.

Georgie- He is another member of Alex's gang.

Dim- Another member of Alex's gang and he is the biggest, strongest, and the stupidest of the group. He fights with a chain.

Billyboy- He is the leader of Alex's rival gang, he is fat and fights with a knife

All of the characters are interesting because we do not know much about them yet. They are about the same age as us, but represent a different lifestyle that we will hopefully never get to experience. There are no characters that we can not stand, but we hate the fact that they go around raping and hurting innocent civilians.

Summary:

Week one of book club for //A Clockwork Orange// went well. We read the first three chapters and are just getting a good understanding of the book. We were introduced to five important characters. They are Alex, Pete, Georgie, Dim, and Billyboy. Their lifestyle is as far from ours as it could possibly be. These boys roam around England sometime in the future wreaking havoc on innocent people. We were all pretty stunned by their seemingly immunity to guilt or remorse. We went over five questions as a group. We discussed why Alex and his friends enjoy hurting people. We came to the early conclusion that something in his early childhood messed with his head and we also thought he could have been abused. No normal person could cause harm to innocent people. They speak their own language almost in the book. It is a type of slang that we weren’t familiar with. We decided like us, they have their own words that they like. It was tough to tell when this book is supposed to take place because it should be in the future. We think the book takes place some time in the late 1980’s or early 1990’s. We also got into the fact that Alex and his posse are younger than us and are already committing horrible crimes. We had no explanation to this. We don’t understand how they could do such things. His parents seem to be a minimal part to his life. We’re not sure why they aren’t involved with him. This book seems to have a lot of twists and turns that are yet to be uncovered. Hopefully the next part of the book will answer some of our questions.

Group Meeting 10/8/10

Group Leader- Joe Arnold Quotation Finder- Adam Morrow Key Questioner- Josh Shulman Group Summarizer- Pat Herlihy

Language:

The language that is used in the book is modern day english but Anthony Burgess has incorporated slang into his book that is very hard to understand at first. The made up slang makes the book hard to read because they are words and expressions that our group has never heard of. I think that the book was written at a higher level, maybe someone who does it professionally because of the made up words and how well the book was written.

Questions:

What state do you think the government is in because of the government-ran supermarkets.

Do you find it odd that someone so "rough around the edges" as Alex loves to listen to Beethoven?

He cuts school, gets high and rapes two drunken little girls. What is his motivation?

Even with the earlier fight, Alex didn't seem like he saw betrayal coming. Why would they betray him?

Alex was betrayed by his Droogs and hung out to dry by Deltoid. At this point, what characters might come in to play in part 2 to side with Alex?

Quotations:

Now we're back to where we were, yes? Just like before and all forgotten, right?" 55

It was vivd, I saw you lying on the street and you had been beaten by other boys. These boys were like the boys you used to go around with before you were sent to that last Corrective School. 49

Boy, thou uproarious shark of heaven, Slaughter of Elysium, Hearts on fire, aroused, enraptured, We will tolchock you on the rot and kick your grahzny vonny bum. 73

I'm blind, Bog bust and cleed you, you grahzny bastards." 65

"I won't say one single solitary slovo unless I have my lawyer here. I know the law you bastards.' 69

__Summary__

For week two of the book club our group read chapters 4-7 of A Clockwork Orange. The book is becoming easier to read now that the language they use is beginning to make sense. We discussed the language of the book and how they use their own language. We discussed how is is not an easy read because the characters use their own language making it complex to understand. We then moved on to discuss the quotations and the meaning behind each of them. Such as the quote "Now we're back to where we were, yes? Just like before and all forgotten, right?" (55) by Alex, shows that despite how evil he is he is still a good friend and is very forgiving. We found it odd that someone like Alex listens to Beethoven, because Beethoven is very peaceful music. We determined that his motivation to do evil is hard to tell because he has loving parents, and he has a mentor who looks out for him he just seems to enjoy committing crimes. His friends betrayed him because he believes that he is the leader, even though they all wish to have equal power over the group. After Alex was betrayed by his Droogs and Deltoid, we believe that his parents will step in and try to support him.We then finished the discussion by discussing what we each thought of the book so far and what we think will happen in part II.

Group Meeting 10/15/10

Group Leader- Josh Shulmen Quotation Finder- Joey Arnold Key Questioner- Pat Herlihey Group Summarizer- Adom Mauro

Quotations: "You are passing now to a region where you will be beyond the reach of the power of prayer. A terrible terrible thing to consider. And yet, in a sense, in choosing to be deprive of the ability to make an ethical choice, you have in a sense really chosen the good. So I shall like to think. So, God help us all…" (95) "Common criminals like this unsavoury crowd"--(that meant me, brothers, as well as the others, who were real prestoopnicks and treacherous with it)--"can best be dealt with on a purely curative basis. Kill the criminal reflex, that's all. Full implementation in a year's time. Punishment means nothing to them, you can see that. They enjoy their so-called punishment. They start murdering each other." (91)

"It may not be nice to be good, little 6655321. It may be horrible to be good. And when I say that to you I realize how self-contradictory that sounds. I know I shall have many sleepless nights about this. What does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses the bad perhaps in some ways better than a man who has the good imposed upon him? Deep and hard questions…" (95) "Very hard ethical questions are involved," he went on. "You are to be made into a good boy, 6655321. Never again will you have the desire to commit acts of violence or to offend in any way whatsoever against the State's Peace. I hope you take all that in. I hope you are absolutely clear in your own mind about that." (94) "I gave him one real horrorshow kick on the gulliver and he went ohhhh, then he sort of snorted off to like sleep…" (89)

Group Leader:

//A Clockwork Orange// is a book that leaves you with emotions that are difficult to describe. Early in the book you are left with a confused and bewildered state of mind. The boys are out on a violent crime spree speaking their own language. As the book goes on, the leader Alex, is betrayed by his friends or droogs as they are referred to. Although this teenager is nothing more than a criminal, you cannot help but feel sadness and sorrow for him. This leads to him getting arrested and thrown right back in jail. As he was headed back to jail I felt as if I no longer felt bad for Alex. I thought back to his crimes and a feeling of seriousness as if he got what he deserved came over me. The emotions I felt changed frequently as seen. There are no other emotions that are easily describable but the rest of the book will surely uncover them.

Questions Why do you think the chaplain suggests Alex doesn't do the Ludovico’s Technique, even though it will shorten his sentence to two weeks?

Why do you think that they let him go into the 2 week program after he killed someone?

Why do all of Alex's friends turn on him?

How do you think the program will change Alex?

Why do you think Alex feels sick after each time he thinks of something evil?

Summary

Week 3 of Book Club went off to a sensational start when we instantly began discussing what has transpired between the start of Part 2 and Chapter 5. We talked about how we were all feeling while reading the book and all the different disturbing things that happened. The slang has become easier to read now that we are adjusted to it, and the book is really starting to develop. We talked a lot about this quote "You are passing now to a region where you will be beyond the reach of the power of prayer. A terrible terrible thing to consider. And yet, in a sense, in choosing to be deprive of the ability to make an ethical choice, you have in a sense really chosen the good. So I shall like to think. So, God help us all…" (95). We discussed how significant it was to the story and how much it told. As for the questions here are some of the answers we have. Why do all of Alex’s friends leave him? Alex’s friends leave him because he hit Dim when they were at a bar, and there was no reason for him to hit Dim. This lead to a huge fight they got into the next day. How will the program change Alex? The program isn’t going to change his thought process, but whenever he attempts to do something bad he gets a pain in his stomach that will stop him from doing this. When all is said and done this was one of our more successful group discussion, and we are looking forward to getting closer to the end of the book.

Book Club Week 4 10/22/10

Group Leader- Pat Herlihey Quotation Finder- Adom Mauro Key Questioner- Josh Shulmen Group Summarizer- Joey Arnold

Themes and Images: Order in Society vs. Freedom of Choice- Although the Ludovico’s Technique eliminates the evil in Alex and makes the world safer. He no longer has the choice to do what he wants, or to defend himself leaving him defenseless. It also removes what makes him human being able to make choices on his own.

When the cops beat up Alex. This shows how corrupt the world is and even when Alex is no longer evil it shows how everyone is against him. The author does this to show that even though Alex has changed his old enemies are still against him.

After the cops drop Alex off he walks to a farm where he asks the owner if he can stay for the night. The man realizes that Alex and his gang were the ones who had put his wife into shock causing her to die still allows Alex to stay. This shows a possible turning point in Alex’s life. Someone is finally giving him a chance and forgiving him for what he has done.

Questions

1) Why does Alex not want to hear Beethoven's 5th Symphony when he is being tortured?

2) What is the significance of Alex not being able to kill the older man who steps on stage?

3) Why do Alex's parents kick him out?

4) What does the Farmer want Alex to help him out with?

5) Who do you think the Farmer is?

Quotations

Part 2, Chapter 5, Pg. 121

"Life is a very wonderful thing," said Dr. Branom in ... a like very holy goloss. "The processes of life, the make-up of the human organism, who can fully understand these miracles…"

Part 2, Chapter 6, Pg. 135

And what, brothers, I had to escape into sleep from ... then was the horrible and wrong feeling that it was better to get the hit than give it. If that veck had stayed I might even have like presented the other cheek.

Part 2, Chapter 7, Pg. 140-141;

"Choice," rumbled a rich deep goloss. I viddied it belonged ... to the prison charlie. "He has no real choice, has he? Self-interest, fear of physical pain, drove him to that grotesque act of self-abasement. Its insincerity was clearly to be seen. He ceases to be a wrongdoer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice."

"These are subtleties," like smiled Dr. Brodsky. "We are not concerned with motive, with the higher ethics. We are concerned only with cutting down crime--"

Part 3, Chapter 1, Pg. 149

What it said underneath my picture was that here was ... the first graduate from the new State Institute for Reclamation of Criminal Types, cured of his criminal instincts in a fortnight only, now a good law-fearing citizen and all that cal. Then I viddied there was a very boastful article about this Ludovico's Technique and how clever the Government was and all that cal. Then there was another picture of some veck I thought I knew, and it was this Minister of the Inferior or Interior. It seemed that he had been doing a bit of boasting, looking forward to a nice crime-free era in which there would be no more fear of cowardly attacks from young hooligans and perverts and burglars and all that cal.

Part 3, Chapter 1, Pg. 153

"I think you can help dislodge this overbearing Government. To ... turn a decent young man into a piece of clockwork should not, surely, be seen as any triumph for any government, save one that boasts of its repressiveness."

Summary:

Week four of book club got off to an amazing start. We all started to talk in detail about the chapters that we read and we discussed the questions that Adam came up with. We figured out that Alex does not want to hear Beethoven's 5th Symphony because he knows that it will hurt him later on when he hears it, and that is his favorite type of music to listen to. We also came the the conclusion that the significance of Alex not being able to kill the older man is that the “treatment” actually worked and he would not be able to harm anyone. As a group we also thought that Alex's parents kicked him out of the house because they were not expecting him to be home so soon and that he gave them so much trouble in the past that they really did not want him around. Next we discussed some of the quotes and why they were important like, "I think you can help dislodge this overbearing Government. To ... turn a decent young man into a piece of clockwork should not, surely, be seen as any triumph for any government, save one that boasts of its repressiveness." this means that the people want to bring the government down and expose what they did to Alex. The book is coming to an end and we are dieing to find out what happens at the end!

Book Club Week 5 /29//10

Group Leader- Joe FArtnold Quotation Finder- Pat Herlihey Key Questioner- Adam Morrow Group Summarizer- Josh Shulman

Responding to the Text:

We thought that the book was very well written and all of us loved it even though it was kind of hard to get through the first couple chapters. We all would recommend the book because it was such an entertaining story that kept us interested. We though that there was not one part that was extremely boring and we think that most people would like it. Our group thinks that this book was mainly about asking at what cost did it take to reform Alex. We think that our book portrayed this the best that it possibly could and it has not really been talked about in other books that we read. I think that this book should definitely not be in the school’s curriculum because it has a lot of graphic parts in it and it talks about rape and murder several times. The book’s theme does not really relate to anything that we have learned in English class but we still think that everyone should read it.

Questions:

1) What do you think is the significance of Alex sharing a house with the author of the book. 2) How do you feel about Alex attempting to kill himself. 3) Why do you think Dolin, Rubinsten, and da Silva are calling Alex "friend" and tell him he served "liberty" 4) How do you think Alex was able to get back to his normal self? 5) Why do you think Alex stops killing people and turns over a new leaf?

Quotes: "It said they had done great wrong to you. It said how the Government drove you to try and do yourself in."

"He had this idea," said the Min. "He was a menace. We put him away for his own protection. And also," he said, "for yours."

"And what do I get out of this? Do I get cured of the way I am? Do I find myself able to slooshy the old Choral Symphony without being sick once more? Can I live like a normal jeezny again?"

"The tradition of liberty means all. The common people will let it go, oh yes. They will sell liberty for a quieter life. That is why they must be prodded"

But what was the matter with me these days was ... What I wanted these days I did not know.

Summary:

For our last week of book club, we finished reading the final three chapters of A Clockwork Orange and discussed them. We ran through the important quotes we found in the last section and reviewed our groups questions. Going over Alex's suicide attempt sparked an interesting discussion. It brought us to reflect on current events of suicide and other things. Alex's new friends made it seem like we were back at the beginning of the book. In the end, seeing how alex was able to physically and mentally grow up was interesting. It was in a way unexpected because the book was full of horrible acts and relapses. None of us really saw this coming.