Hospital

The Hospital is the medical institution where Alex is taken after jumping from the window of the political group's flat in a failed suicide attempt. It is the setting for the final reversal of his story: the place where his broken body is mended, where the Ludovico Technique's effects are undone, and where he is reclaimed by the state as a symbol of its own success.

Suicide Attempt and Admission

Alex jumps from the window of the flat where the opposition political group had installed him, landing on the sidewalk below. He does not die, but the fall is severe enough to crack his back, his wrists, and his legs, and he loses consciousness before he can see the faces of the astonished people staring down at him. He is carried off on a stretcher, and photographers capture the image of his bloody, broken body, which is later used in newspapers under headlines like "BOY VICTIM OF CRIMINAL REFORM SCHEME" and "GOVERNMENT AS MURDERER." When he regains consciousness in the hospital, he finds himself in a small private room, not a long ward, and his body is heavily bandaged: his head is wrapped, his hands are in bandages with sticks fixed to his fingers to make them grow straight, his legs are straightened out, and a jar of blood is dripping into his right arm near the shoulder. He cannot feel anything in his body at first.

Physical Recovery and the Undoing of Conditioning

During his recovery, Alex is visited by the prison chaplain from Staja 84F, who has left his post and now preaches sermons against the Ludovico Technique. Later, two young doctors come to his bedside with a picture book. They show him images of a bird's nest, a peacock, beautiful girls, and a man carrying a cross, and Alex responds to each with a desire for violence: he wants to smash the eggs, pull out the peacock's feathers, rape the girls, and hammer nails into the man on the cross. The doctors call this "deep hypnopaedia" and declare him cured. The treatment has reversed the conditioning: Alex now feels no sickness at the thought of violence, and his old violent impulses have returned.

Government Reconciliation and the Restoration of Music

The Minister of the Interior visits Alex in the hospital, accompanied by photographers and journalists. The Minister presents himself as a friend, claiming that the government has put Alex right and that the opposition figures who tried to use him—specifically F. Alexander—have been "put away." The Minister promises Alex a good job and a good salary in exchange for his cooperation. As a gift, the Minister has a new stereo brought to Alex's bedside. When asked what music he wants to hear, Alex chooses the Ninth Symphony. As the music plays, the Minister pats him on the shoulder and leaves. Alex, alone with the symphony, experiences the full return of his old self: during the Scherzo, he envisions himself running on light and mysterious feet, carving the face of the creeching world with his cut-throat britva. He is cured all right.