Suicide Attempt
Alex's suicide attempt is the desperate culmination of his suffering under the Ludovico Technique, a moment when the conditioning imposed on him becomes utterly intolerable and he sees no other escape. The event marks the lowest point of his journey, a direct consequence of the state's attempt to forcibly 'cure' him, and it paradoxically sets the stage for his eventual 'recovery' and reconciliation with the government.
The Immediate Trigger and the Act
Waking in the flat of the political group that intends to use him as a propaganda weapon against the government, Alex is alone. He hears loud music—the Symphony Number Three by Otto Skadelig—blasting through the wall. The sound immediately triggers the conditioned sickness: pain in his guts, a terrible thirst, and a pounding head. He crawls off the bed, groaning, and bangs on the wall, screaming for them to stop, but the music only seems to grow louder. He tries to escape the flat, but the front door is locked from the outside. In his agony, he sticks his fingers deep in his ears, but the trombones and kettledrums blast through. Wandering the flat in pain, he sees on a table a pamphlet with the word "DEATH" on its cover, and another booklet with an open window on its cover and the slogan "Open the window to fresh air, fresh ideas, a new way of living." Interpreting these as a sign, he goes to the open window in the bedroom, sees the drop to the street below, and cries out, "Good-bye, good-bye, may Bog forgive you for a ruined life." He gets onto the sill, feels the cold wind on his face, and jumps.
The Immediate Aftermath and Hospitalization
Alex does not die. The fall is not from a great enough height to kill, but he cracks his back, wrists, and legs, feeling immense pain before passing out. As he loses consciousness, he sees astonished faces looking down at him and realizes that the music was deliberately arranged by those who were supposed to be his new friends, for their own selfish political purposes. He wakes in a hospital, his body bound in bandages and wire cages, with a nurse sitting by his bed. He is unable to speak clearly at first, his mouth stiff and some teeth missing. He drifts in and out of consciousness, visited by the prison chaplain, the three political men who exploited him, and eventually his parents. The suicide attempt becomes a public event, with his picture in the newspapers under headlines like "BOY VICTIM OF CRIMINAL REFORM SCHEME" and "GOVERNMENT AS MURDERER," fueling the opposition's campaign against the government.
Consequences and the Path to 'Cure'
In the hospital, Alex undergoes further treatment. Two young doctors show him a picture book, asking what he would like to do to the images. He responds with violent desires—to smash a bird's nest, to pull out a peacock's feathers, to give the old in-out-in-out with ultra-violence to beautiful girls, to hammer nails into the figure carrying a cross. The doctors pronounce him "cured" through "deep hypnopaedia." The Minister of the Interior visits, presenting Alex with a new stereo as a gift and promising a good job. When Alex asks to hear the Ninth Symphony, it is played. As the music swells, he envisions himself running on light and mysterious legs, carving the face of the creeching world with his cut-throat britva. He is cured all right. The suicide attempt, rather than ending his life, has been the catalyst for the state to reverse the conditioning, restoring his capacity for violence and his love of music, but only to make him a tool for their own political ends.
