Entry 5

Alex is set to be stuck in that "vonny mesto" (stinky place in Nadsat) for about a fortnight. Every day he is subjected to the Ludovico technique (being drugged and then forced to watch violent movies), after a while his body becomes physically sick at even the slightest thought of violence. This is demonstrated several times as Alex tries to fight his authorities but ends up getting severely nauseous. Finally, after the fortnight's passed, Alex is set to get out and back to life - except for one last thing. He goes back into the screening room, not to watch a movie but to be watched himself. An auditorium full of other scientists is seated to watch Alex, Dr. Brodsky's latest experiment. A big bolsterous fellow is sent out on to the stage to fight Alex. While Alex does want to fight back, he can't as he gets too nauseous. The only way to surpress this nausea is to do the opposite of violence - kindness. He starts offering things desperately, starting out with offering presents and then offering to clean the bolsterous fellow's boots with his tongue. Then, the bolsterous fellow is told to leave and a substitute in the form of a curvacious female is placed on the stage. Alex wants to do inappropriate things with her, but when the feelings of nausea come back he instead talks to her like a real gentlemen. The reaction to these demonstrations from the audience is loud. Some are agreeing that this new method of reform works, but other more ethical people are raising that question once again: is it really okay to force someone to be good? Shouldn't it be the person's choice, and that is truly what makes it good?
After the demonstrations, Alex is sent out into the world again with some pocket money. He comes to his pee and em's (papa and mum) apartment only to find that they've rented out the room to a lodger.(his stuff was sold as compensation for his crimes) Upset at this, we see Alex cry for the first time as he leaves the apartment. He then goes to the record store, MELODIA, which he went to in part 1 of the book. He finds that also completely changed, disappointed in everything thus far, Alex goes to another old haunt - only to find it a bit changed too. The old barman isn't there, instead there's some new guy; the building itself has also been repainted and refurnished. Alex takes comfort in finding that ordering a "milk plus, large" is still the same - drugged drinks. A few hours of being high later, Alex decides he wants to kill himself. Not knowing how to do this, he stumbles into the local library to find a book on suicide. As fate would have it, he meets the old man whom he beat up 2 years ago. The old man gets all the other old men in the library to gang up on Alex and beat him down. Funnily, Alex isn't really fazed by this as much as he's annoyed. The faculty at the library calls the police to stop the the ruckus and Alex is arrested. In another twist, Dim (Alex's former droog) and Billyboy (Alex's former enemy) are part of the police force now.
These new happenings really leave me wondering what's going to happen. Is Alex going back to jail? Is he going to kill himself?
I'll just have to read on to find out what happens.

Page I left off on:168
Burgess, Anthony. A Clockwork Orange. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1962