Christianity Symbol Analysis

Christianity encapsulates the ethical dilemma at the core of the novel. The book’s only religious figure, the prison chaplain, is particularly bothered by the way that Reclamation Treatment deprives Alex’s capacity for moral choice. The chaplain worries about the theological implications of this lack of free will: “What does God want?” he asks. “Does God want woodness 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?” In contrast to the chaplain’s skepticism about the therapy, Dr. Brodsky asserts that Reclamation Treatment has turned Alex into the “perfect Christian.” Alex even inadvertently compares himself to Jesus, when, after his treatment, he is unable to resist violent treatment from an orderly: “If that veck had stayed I might even have like presented the other cheek.” Thus, the debate about whether or not Alex is truly a Christian extends to the debate about Reclamation Treatment as a whole: is a clockwork man a moral one, or a will-less machine?