Isolation

• Engels
• Further Education (Key Stage 5)

Goals for today 

Exploration of the concept of Isolation 

Find examples in part 1 and 2 and discuss

Paper 2 question analysis 

Questioning the question and mind mapping the question 

What's it going to be then, eh? 

Homework for Monday 3rd March 

Read the article in MB files:

"A Prophetic and Violent Masterpiece" 

In your own words, explain what this author thinks about the violence in the novel, using short quotations to back up your ideas.

Then explain whether you agree with his view or not and explain why.

Isolation 

Alex is isolated in all 3 parts of the novel, but only shows real awareness of this fact in part 3, as a result of maturity.

In your group explain how each bullet point, on the following slide contributes to the theme of isolation. Find a quotation to support your view.

Part one 

• Alex is set apart because of how his appearance contrasts with that of his ‘droogs’

• Alex’s preoccupation with clothes and being smartly dressed

• Alex’s belief that he is more intellectual than his peers; his aggressive assertion of his leadership.

• Family – Pee and Em

• Nadsat - Alex’s use of language sets him apart from normal society.

• Relationships with girls

• School - Alex has separated himself from attending school.

• His personal passions

Part one 

•• ‘dirty and untidy’ (Dim) We see an obvious contrast between Alex’s appearance compared to his ‘droogs’

• ‘heighth of fashion’ reveals Alex’s preoccupation with clothes and being smartly dressed

• ‘poor old Dim the dim didn’t pony all that’ Alex is also set apart as a result of his own arrogance; his belief that he is more intellectual than his peers. Alex’s strong sense of individuality causes problems. It leads to tension within his gang and he aggressively asserts his leadership. He is in danger of isolating himself within the group.

Part one 

 Family – Pee and Em: ‘Pee and Em in their bedroom next door had learned now not to knock…’ Here we see Alex (essentially the child in the family) has asserted his authority to such an extent that he controls his own parents. They are portrayed as being afraid of him and this suggests his own desire to behave in an unusual way; to separate himself from the conventional childhood. The fact that he refuses to refer to them as mum and dad emphasises his arrogance again. He has no respect for them. He sneers at the idea that they conform to society by working long hours in dull jobs. Again, this shows his desire to separate himself from that kind of existence.

Part one 

 Nadsat - Alex enjoys using Nadsat as it allows him to express himself in an individual way and inhibits communication with those people he has little time for.  He enjoys using it to make himself sound superior: ‘How art thou, thy globby bottle of cheap stinking chip oil?’ His graphic use of similes ‘like two curtains of blood’ also convey his own excitement and enjoyment of violence – setting him apart from normal society.

Relationships- Alex is incapable of having a normal, equal, loving relationship with girls. He has to assert his power and use violence in all his relationships. Consider the 10 year-old girls he picks up at the record shop. 

Part one 

School-.The meeting in Alex’s home with P.R.Deltoid, the post-corrective advisor, tells us that Alex has separated himself from attending school. Deltoid finds Alex in bed, having convinced his mother he’s suffering from a headache. We get the impression this is a regular occurrence for Alex.

His own passions are unusual and separate him from his peers. E.g. classical music: ‘ Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh’. His anger is evident in the milkbar when his ‘droogs’ cannot appreciate the woman singing classical music. It isolates Alex from the gang – he thumps Dim for laughing at the woman singing classical music. 

Part two find information about 

How is Alex shown as isolated in part 2? 

Discuss and write down any relevant quotations. 

Part two find information about 

• Alex believes himself to be better than the ‘ordinary’ criminals he is incarcerated with.

• His desire for reclamation therapy. Alex cannot see the danger in isolating himself from normal human behaviour.

• Becomes isolated from everything he loves, in particular his passion for classical music

Part two find information about 

they were all very criminal’- quite ironic as Alex believes himself to be better than the ‘ordinary’ criminals he is incarcerated with. In actual fact his crimes are likely to be more serious. But he sets himself apart from them, and is outraged at having to share a cell with these ‘prestoopnicks’(degenerates).

Part two find information about 

 ‘does God want woodness or goodness?’ This warning from the chaplain falls on deaf ears. He is trying to make Alex realise that if he goes ahead with the treatment he will become like a robot. But Alex cannot see the danger in isolating himself from normal human behaviour. He is isolated through his complete lack of awareness of the implications of the Ludovico technique.

Part two find information about 

Becomes isolated from everything he loves, in particular his passion for classical music: ‘I noticed, in all my pain and sickness… it was Ludwig van…Stop!...It’s a sin.’

• The treatment - Alex is the first prisoner to undergo this treatment and isolates himself from the prisoners who are serving their time. His behaviour is controlled and in his isolation he can no longer make choices using free will. 

Part three 

• Suicide attempt

• The ending of the novel sees Alex becoming aware of his isolation.

• He becomes extremely reflective: understanding why he used to behave as he did