Is Alex Really Reliable?

In ‘Type of Narration’, Booth made his own definition for ‘narrator reliable’ after explaining several ‘aesthetic distance’. It is a narrator in the novel who speaks for or acts in accordance with the norm of the work, which is implied author’s norm. Under the author’s intention, we can say, specific literal strategy is made by narrator. Hence, it is necessary to focus on how messages are sent to reader with narrator’s reliability. Again, I brought three parts from ‘Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess, to see how narrator’s reliability is designed under the Burge’s philosophy, and what strategy makes reader rely on narrator.

Billyboy had a nozh, a long flick-type, but he was a malenky bit too slow and heavy in his movements to vred anyone really bad. And, my brothers, it was real satisfaction to me to waltz – left two three, right two three – and carve left cheeky and right cheeky, so that like two curtains of blood seemed to pour out at the same time, one on either side of his fat filthy oily snout in the winter you could viddy Billyboy felt not a thing, and he went lumbering on like a filthy fatty bear, poking at me with his nozh.
(Part One Ch1 p16 Heinemann: London)

In this part, Alex fights against Billyboy. When he cut his enemy’s cheek, he sees blood on cheeks as red curtains. In his mind, violence is his satisfaction that he doesn’t feel guilty at all and doesn’t want to stop. He simply regards his evil behavior as artistic performance. Readers might feel distance from his mind because it is not only forbidden in a society but also harmful action to readers themselves. However, he doesn’t know how to explain his cruel desire clearly.

And I was patronizing the other shop. More, badness is of the self, the one, the you or me on our oddy knockies, and that self is made by old Bog or God and is his great pride and radosty. But the not-self cannot have the bad, meaning they of the government and the judges and the schools cannot allow the bad because they cannot allow the self. And is not our modern history, my brothers, the story of brave malenky selves fighting these big machines? I am serious with you, brothers, over this. But what I do I do because I like to do.
(Part One Ch4 p40 Heinemann: London)

As story goes on, he starts to relate his bad behavior (does he really know those criminals he did was evil?) into the concept of self. One thing is clear that Alex can’t accept society’s rule and its limit, because it literally limits his own instinct which is his ecstasy and innate rapture. In this dilemma, Burgess naturally asks a question to his reader, like Alex, “Is that what you want and is it where you belong to?” Old question, however, Burgess induced to make moral difference between Alex and readers that he pointed out most people are not doing their instinctive job that is what they really feel excited and satisfied. At the same time, he provided its danger ‘If people in society do what society forbade, they go jail and get brainwashed’.

‘All right,’ I said, standing up in all like tears still. ‘I know how things are now. No body wants or loves me. I’ve suffered and suffered and suffered and everybody wants me to go on suffering. I know.’
‘You’ve made others suffer,’ said this Joe. ‘It’s only right you should suffer proper. I’ve been told everything that you’ve done, sitting here at night round the family table, and pretty shocking it was listen to. Made me real sick a lot of it did.’
‘I wish,’ I said, ‘I was back in the prison. Dear old Staja as it was. I’m ittying off now,’ I said. ‘You won’t ever viddy me no more. I’ll make my own way, thank you very much. Let it lie heavy on your consciences.’
My dad said: ‘Don’t take it like that, son,’ and my mum just went boo hoo hoo, her listo all screwed up real ugly, and this Joe put his rooker round her again, patting her and going there there there like bezoomny. And so I just sort of staggered to the door and went out, leaving them to their horrible guilt, O my brothers.
( Part Three Ch1 p142 Heinemann: London)

What he cost for his innate happiness was long distance with his family, basic form of society. After getting out from jail, the world became against him. First of all, in his family, uninvited guest occupied his room and even parents couldn’t make his room.

The violence in the narrator’s voice, readers come to believe they are far from Alex-type and ask about their own innate pleasure which is against the social norm. In addition, the reason why the novel is curious is that it shows possible danger if we pursue our own work for instinctive pleasure. In this novel, the narrator’s character and statement in his mind helps us to think about the novel’s theme effectively.