To accomplish this, Burgess uses Alex, an antagonistic youth who could be described as the poster child of unrestricted human freedom; he does as he pleases, acts however he wants to, and even talks in his own “nadsat” dialect. Despite this seemingly limitless freedom, Alex as the story recounts, has very little true control over his own fate when one considers the grand spectrum of intermingling actions and reactions. What little Alex learns throughout the course of the novel is the odd relationship between actions and outcome that creates reality and the concept of fate.
In the introduction of the book, Burgess writes, “…by definition, a human being is endowed with free will. He can use this to choose between good and evil.”(ix) Alex, in accordance with existentialist ideas, creates his own existence, based solely upon his own actions, yet he also chooses to use his free will for what world considers to be evil. During the first part of the story, Alex, fifteen at the time, goes around with his droogs*, George, Pete, and Dim, beating up the old and poor, robbing houses and businesses, and even shamelessly raping women, all without consideration of any wrongdoing. This shows Alex to be somewhat of a neo-stoic. He cares not for the emotions and opinions of others, and disregards the effects of his actions on the realities of others, including those of his pee and em* and his fellow droogmates. Overall, Alex is dangerously abusive of his free will and his personal influence on the world.
As the book progresses, Alex receives a rude awakening from his carefree lifestyle, catalyzed by his droogs betraying him during one of their insidious acts. Alex is trapped by his partners in a house he is attempting to rob, then arrested by the millicents* and imprisoned for killing the owner of the house. In a matter of days, Alex goes from being a man whose complete freedom is seemingly impermeable to outside influences, to living an existence where every aspect of life is restricted in some way. Yet even in this situation, Alex can distinguish between black and white, and act in accordance to either good or evil, thus he can still influence himself and the rest of the world.
Later in the story, after accidentally killing one of his cellmates in a fight, our protagonist is subjected to a fate that some would consider to be worse than death, described by one character, the prison chaplain, as, “…a region where you will be beyond the reach of the power of prayer. A terrible thing to consider.”(97) What he means by this is that our little Alex, after special treatment that will subliminally affect his mind, will no longer be able to decide between good and evil, but instead be mechanically driven to do right. In doing this, Alex's ability to engage in free thought and decide his own actions is destroyed, leaving him with only minuscule control over his life and surroundings. When he goes out into society in this state, partly because of his new mind and partly due to his old evil ways, Alex simply cannot function, and is beaten within an inch of his life by the people he hurt in his past. This models both the general concept of karma and the necessity of freedom of choice in humanity.
In the final chapter of the book, after Alex is cured of his horrible mental malady, Burgess goes on to compare the concepts of human freedom and human nature, but that is an entirely different topic with no place in this analysis, of which I only bring up for conclusive purposes.
Throughout the course of the book, the effects of Alex's actions constantly come back around to affect him at a later time. This in turn, influences what kind of actions he may take in the future. When Alex does wrong, he finds himself in worse and worse situations, until right is the only thing he has the ability to do. This all goes to show how actions and reaction are constantly affecting the world and everybody who lives in it, and that while human freedom is a true concept, it only has as much power as fate cares to give it.
