A Clockwork Orange Part 3, Chapter 5 Summary

  • After a really nice night's sleep, Alex walks around in the room trying to figure out the writer's name.
  • He has the fantastic idea of looking for the writer's name on a manuscript of A Clockwork Orange.
  • It turns out to be F. Alexander. Great. Another Alex.
  • He leafs through the book, wondering if F. Alexander has gone crazy because of his wife's death.
  • F. Alexander calls him from downstairs and hands him some boiled eggs and black toast.
  • He informs Alex that he's been making phone calls all morning to people who might be interested in his case, him being a "very potent weapon" against the Government in this sensitive time just before the election.
  • He characterizes the Government as a brutal totalitarian regime.
  • Alex wonders out loud why F. Alexander is so hot and strong against the Government.
  • The thoughtful writer says that he's defending liberty, or at least the tradition of it. Whatever that means.
  • And what does Alex get out of this, he wonders? Can he return to his enjoyment of classical music?
  • Well, F. Alexander ducks the question, and instead shows Alex an article he's written for him, soon to be published in The Weekly Trumpet.
  • It was a long, weepy piece, but Alex is kind enough to call it "real horrorshow" to F. Alexander.
  • Come again?
  • Horrorshow is nadsat speak for all modern youth, Alex explains. F. Alexander hurries off to do the dishes.
  • The doorbell rings. Three men, Z. Dolin, Rubinstein, and D. B. da Silva stand there looking at Alex.
  • The four of them converse.
  • F. Alexander becomes suspicious because Alex's speech reminds him of the speech pattern of someone else...
  • Uh oh.
  • Alex starts to argue with the three folks, but primarily Z. Dolin, who apparently wants him to be a martyr to the cause of liberty.
  • Alex objects, crying that he doesn't want to be a plaything, an idiot that anyone could just use. After all, he's not dim.
  • Dim? F. Alexander raises an eyebrow.
  • What's Dim got to do with it? Alex retorts, without thinking.
  • F. Alexander goes mad, shouting. He realizes that Alex and his droogs were responsible for raping and killing his wife.
  • D. B. da Silva tries to calm F. Alexander down.
  • Alex tries to leave.
  • Z. Dolin grabs a hold of him.
  • F. Alexander looks like a lunatic at this point, and keeps chanting dim…dim dim dim.
  • Alex is dragged into town by F. Alexander's associates.
  • They arrive at an apartment, plop Alex in, and tells him that this is his new home.
  • Before they leave, however, they ask Alex whether he's the person F. Alexander thinks he is.
  • Alex responds that he's paid for his sins.
  • The associates leave to go about their political business. Alex is left feeling a bit sick with the thought of his previous crime and lies down to sleep.
  • When he wakes up, he hears Symphony Number Three of the Danish composer, Otto Skadelig, through the wall. A particularly somber and violent piece.
  • For two seconds, Alex manages to enjoy it; until, of course, the pain and sickness overcome him.
  • He bangs on the wall for it to be turned off.
  • He crashes against the wall until his knuckles bleed.
  • He plugs his ears with his fingers – no luck!
  • He bangs against the door – it is locked!
  • He looks at the pamphlet that lies on the table in his room, but it reads only DEATH TO THE GOVERNMENT. He sees another that reads, "Open the window to fresh air, fresh ideas, a new way of living."
  • From these, he knows what he has to do.
  • As he leaps from the window several stories above ground, he bids farewell to the world, "May God forgive you for a ruined life."