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The Great Gatsby Free Will Analysis

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supports the theme of free will trumping mandatory good choices. The speech patters of the teenagers, "nashat" combined Russian, cockney English, and some Shakespearean phrases, suggesting that the Russian and American customs and government policies may have influenced the society of the novel. The first scene introduces Alex and his "droogs," or friends, as they drink milk laced with drugs in a bar. The scene repeats the phrase "so what's it going to be then, eh?" several times, supporting the theme of free will (see important quotations on previous page). This scene reveals the violence of the younger generation in the novel, with emphasis on Alex's on sadistic nature as he plans what his gang will do later in the evening. Burgess satirizes …show more content…

This positive association with the moon shows Alex's preference for nighttime and the freedom it grants him to do what he wants, without interference from adults like his parents, police officers, or reformation …show more content…

Dim and Billyboy even become police officers because they are so desperate to gain power over the other citizens, and Bully seems to have similar actions in his future. The government attempts to control all its citizens, eventually going to drastic measures like the Ludovico Technique. Free will is more important than good choices: The Ludovico Technique causes Alex to reform and become better in society's eyes, but it also removes all of Alex's free will, which in some ways makes him less than human. The over-controlling nature of the government begins to take freedoms away from the people as police brutality increases throughout the novel. According to Alex, the violent nature of youth in his society took away his free will - he had no choice but to conform and become just as violent as the rest (or so Alex claims). The wrongness of manipulation: Several people throughout the novel attempt to manipulate Alex's behavior – Dr. Brodsky and Dr. Branom manipulate Alex through the psychological conditioning of the Ludovico method, F. Alexander, Z. Dolin, Rubinstein, and D.B. da Silva try to use Alex as a piece of propaganda against the government's regime, and the Minister of the Interior attempts to show himself and Alex shaking hands as friends in order to undermine F. Alexander's

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