A Clockwork Orange Lesson Plan

On Brainwashing

Kind of Activity:

Classwide Discussion

Objective:

Students will read secondary material to learn more about the context in which Burgess was writing

Structure:

With your students, read this article from Smithsonian.

Begin by asking your students to discuss what relationship they see between the article and the chapters of A Clockwork Orange they have just read. What is Ludovico's Technique? What are Dr. Brodsky and his staff doing to Alex? Why did they choose to do it? How might it link to the presumed intentions of the Chinese government, or the US's plans for MK Ultra?

Remind students of when A Clockwork Orange was first published: 1962, in the middle of...