I have to admit, up until our discussions with my group about A Clockwork Orange written by Anthony Burgess, the relationship between the narrator and the addressee was difficult for me to begin to address. Prior to group discussions, I sat in the chair. Sometimes I’d describe my reading as a fly on the way, observing, and taking it all in.
When it came time to get into who is the narrator Alex is addressing, I first viewed this as he is now older talking to his younger self. Diving deeper, reading the words on the pages, “my brothers” “my son” changed my view. The addressee seems to be his former friends, his future family and possibly young children that may seem to be beginning to go down a “bad path” like Alex did. Towards the end of this book in the last chapter, he becomes reflective. “My son, my son. When I had my son I would explain all that to him when he was starry enough to like understand.” (page 211) Alex begins to speak about goals. He wants to use what he knows from his personal experiences to explain to his son, the horrible things he used to do. Explain to him that he was in prison and grew from his experiences. By teaching and giving life lessons, he can begin to not only retell his own story but by teaching history we can begin to move forward, in hopes to not repeat those same mistakes. “That was something I would have to get started on, a new like chapter beginning.” (page 212) When Alex envisions his future, he sees a wife and a son- this shows Alex’s maturity, a bit of self-growth. As he reflects, he knows his past was violent, and when he looks into the future he sees a new beginning. Alex also refers to himself as “The Humble Narrator.” Having that feeling of being humble, usually comes with age and experience. While playing the roll and living inside the text, I was able to view Alex as a “troubled friend.” He wasn’t this violent child that didn’t want to follow the rules, I viewed him as the friend finding his own way. I feel like I have lived this, (maybe not as violently of course) but I have watched that friend who won’t listen to my advice, who needs to go through some bad or even dangerous situations for themselves, simply because they need to learn from their own mistakes.
KKJM Reads 
How are we the reader’s able to learn from this book? Is Alex’s experiences throughout the novel a failure or a triumph? Is he actually good or bad ? This novel is very interesting because it is something that changes the way a reader analyzes text. It is also very inviting to question not only Alex’s morals, but also our own personal morals following the conclusion. How did it affect your own? Did it have any impact on you?
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I personally felt like this novel affected me a lot more than I originally expected it to. With Professor Kopp’s advice in mind, I placed myself in the chair of being a willing reader and was able to get much more out of the novel. For the first few chapters of the novel I was a very passive participant in the story, but around part two I became much more willing to follow Alex along on his journey. Once I did this, I began to think a lot about who exactly Alex was addressing throughout the novel. It seemed like someone he was on good terms with, since he referred to himself multiple times as “your humble narrator.” Furthermore, he spoke in such a way that it seemed like he was recounting his story many years later, much like Sinclair was in Demian. I didn’t feel like Alex was speaking to his son, since on pg. 211 he says, “When I had my son, I would explain all that to him when he was starry enough to like understand.” Since he is referencing the idea of having a son, rather than speaking to him outright, I felt like the people he was speaking to had to be different. I also had the thought that he could have been speaking to his new droogs and trying to show them that they would one day grow out of their tendencies of violence and wish to find a more fulfilling role in life. I’m not sure what you think about that idea, Jake, but I thought it could be an interesting angle to explore in your annotated bibliography.
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