His father Clem Hammond is a carpenter who has been struggling to find a job ever since the Great Depression hit the US.

As a result, he attempts to have outside intervention in supporting Alex such as enrolling him into military school and placing him into foster homes.

His bursts of rage cause authorities and fellow inmates in various institutions to believe that he is crazy, specifically displaying the early traits of psychopathy, such as what is deemed to be "criminal versatility".

One night, one of the members of the staff nicknamed “The Jabber” beats Alex for a minor infraction that he did not commit.

He finally decides to escape with a friend named Joe Altabella (also credited as "JoJo").

One of them wants to send Alex to San Quentin State Prison, but he is too young at the age of 13 so he is put into solitary confinement.

However, after having walked out one day, this superficially placid exterior is shattered by the unjustly great indignance towards his lengthy absence from both relatives, his uncle threatening to attack him.

The older teen has become a heroin addict and must commit robbery in order to support his drug habit.

Alex gets hit, in a literary reprise of the event that brought him into the prison system to begin with, and he gives up.

This book is an example of many aspects of the study of criminology since many of the events demonstrate how a criminal will behave under certain conditions.

Alex has problems with authorities because he sees them and the institutions they represent as ultimately unfair and biased.

The idea of anomie is also expressed in the way that Alex acts as a result of various conditions that he strives for but cannot attain.

He is treated and labeled as a criminal and as a mentally feeble individual due to his willingness to participate in violence, even though he is a very intelligent boy and he does enjoy learning (contrary to the other juvenile delinquents).

Therefore, it is apparent proof that society is indeed greatly responsible for much of its considered "undesirables", through pegging individuals by amplifying their supposed problems and having a collective expectation of them to follow through it.