Previous
Mood
Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Part 2, Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Classical Music:
Classical music figures heavily in the novel as a motif, reflecting themes of free will and personal agency. Alex initially derives a similar pleasure from classical music as he does from violence until he receives the Ludovico Technique. During treatment, his favorite pieces serve as the soundtrack to deeply traumatic and violent images, much to his chagrin.
In Part 2, Chapter 6, he is frustrated after the doctors use Beethoven, one of his favorite artists:
Stop you grahzny disgusting sods. It's a sin, that's what it is, a filthy unforgivable sin, you bratchnies [...] Using Ludwig van like that. He did no harm to anyone. Beethoven just wrote music.
Here, Drs. Brodsky and Branom are taking away Alex's free will to listen to the music he loves by forcing that music to accompany the most disturbing scenes possible. Because violence makes Alex feel sick after the treatment, so does classical music, and for a time he cannot listen at all.
By Part 3, Chapter 7, though, he regains some control over himself and turns to a more subdued classical music that reflects that inner calm:
I was slooshying more like malenky romantic songs, what they call Lieder, just a gloss and a piano, very quiet and like yearny [...] There was something happening inside me, and I wondered if it was like some disease of it was what they had done to me that time upsetting my gulliver and perhaps going to make me real bezoomny.
Alex sometimes worries that the music will still have a negative association, even though this tranquil piano music contrasts so sharply with the boisterous orchestral music he had once preferred. In large part, though, he succeeds in decoupling violence and classical music, refusing to allow the state to dictate how he thinks.
Related Themes:
Part 3, Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Classical Music:
Classical music figures heavily in the novel as a motif, reflecting themes of free will and personal agency. Alex initially derives a similar pleasure from classical music as he does from violence until he receives the Ludovico Technique. During treatment, his favorite pieces serve as the soundtrack to deeply traumatic and violent images, much to his chagrin.
In Part 2, Chapter 6, he is frustrated after the doctors use Beethoven, one of his favorite artists:
Stop you grahzny disgusting sods. It's a sin, that's what it is, a filthy unforgivable sin, you bratchnies [...] Using Ludwig van like that. He did no harm to anyone. Beethoven just wrote music.
Here, Drs. Brodsky and Branom are taking away Alex's free will to listen to the music he loves by forcing that music to accompany the most disturbing scenes possible. Because violence makes Alex feel sick after the treatment, so does classical music, and for a time he cannot listen at all.
By Part 3, Chapter 7, though, he regains some control over himself and turns to a more subdued classical music that reflects that inner calm:
I was slooshying more like malenky romantic songs, what they call Lieder, just a gloss and a piano, very quiet and like yearny [...] There was something happening inside me, and I wondered if it was like some disease of it was what they had done to me that time upsetting my gulliver and perhaps going to make me real bezoomny.
Alex sometimes worries that the music will still have a negative association, even though this tranquil piano music contrasts so sharply with the boisterous orchestral music he had once preferred. In large part, though, he succeeds in decoupling violence and classical music, refusing to allow the state to dictate how he thinks.
Related Themes:
