.
Alex takes time to read it "The attempt to impose upon man, a creature of growth and capable of sweetness, to ooze juicily at the last round the bearded lips of God, to attempt to impose, I say, laws and conditions appropriate to a mechanical creation, against this I raise my sword-pen--- Alex doesn't really fathom this, for he lives in a young physical world, not in the world of ideas (Mathews, 37). .
This is when the reader needs to take a step back and think, Alex is a youth and in being this he has innocence. This is missed usually in the midst of all this ultra-violence being committed. He is still young and nave to the effect that his actions have on others. This leaves us to ponder whether or not he truly has free choice to commit good or evil. In Alex's statement below we see his view of the choice he has between good and evil. We learn that in his innocence he simply cannot see what is so bad about choosing evil over good. Further more why should anyone care, no one has ever told him what causes goodness therefore; how can we know if he has it in him. He goes on to say that lewdies are good because they like it and he would not interfere with their pleasures so why must they (the government and the police) interfere with his. Alex states that badness is of the self; that is created by God and is a part of us. Everyone has this badness when they are born and it is called original sin. In his world the government and schools don't allow God so therefore they don't allow the self. He chooses to be bad on his own because he likes to be and that is his only reason. .
With the introduction of original sin there comes the debate of Augustinian and the Pelagian views that Burgess mixes in this novel. Burgess shows Alex as a misguided corrupt teen that is being shaped by his environment. He may be born with original sin but he can change that he does have the choice to overcome the odds and live a good life.
