A "clockwork orange" can be described as something that has a convincing outer appearance yet in the inside is merely controlled by outer influences, such as a clock set in motion by its owner. In A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess takes us into the future where violent criminals are forced to be "good," and introduces us to Alex, a young teen who engages in a life of rape, ultra-violence, and Beethoven with his "droogs," or friends, and talks in the slang language of "nadsat." He goes through various phases in his life, evolving into a more mature level of thinking; each of these phases can be seen as clockwork orange. What makes this novel so realistic however, is how real Alex really is and how each of his phases into maturity represents a part of us.

His youth is characterized as that of a rapist, practitioner of extremely violent acts, and a lover of Beethoven. These three adjectives point out what drives Alex's actions: emotion. He follows no moral code nor does he even have one. However, he does follow his natural desire to sin, and can thus b

Chapter 20 ends with Alex saying "I was cured all right." These are the last words of the book in the American version. There is no indication that Alex will change from the evil life it appears he will soon resume. It is implied to the reader that Alex is destined for a life of evil and there is nothing he can do to change it. Alex has no free will or moral choice. The theme of the 20 chapter version is that there is no such thing as free will or moral choice. Alex is evil and he has no ability to change that. The story also ends without Alex evolving at all from the beginning of the book.

Alex goes on to apply this condition to his own hypothetical son and says that even if he explained this condition to him, he wouldn't understand or want to understand. He would probably end up killing somebody and Alex wouldn't be able to stop him any more than he would be able to stop his own son. And this repetition of youthful, clockwork aggression would continue until the end of the world. This repetition is compared to someone, like God, continuously turning an orange in his hands. Also, for the perceptive reader, it is compared to the repetition of the phrase "what's it going to be then, eh?" which begins the first chapter of each part until Alex states his intention of finding a wife to mother his son which is "like a new chapter beginning". He then concludes, "That's what it's going to be then, brothers, as I come to the like end of this tale." Therefore the last chapter shows that Alex has grown up and become morally responsible. He is no longer a human clockwork or!

Eventually, Alex's friends betray him and set him up to be imprisoned, where he is conditioned to hate evil and to become sick at the mention or thought of evil, as well as the music he so used to enjoy. Alex walks out as a new person: one who is totally "good," yet has no choice to be bad. He is a walking robot conditioned by the government - a clockwork orange. After much turmoil and anxiety, Alex is "fixed," and once more has free will. In the final chapter, we see how Alex finally matures and frees himself from outside control. He decides to find a wife to take care of his son. In doing so, he realizes how his youth was that of a clockwork orange and we see how this realization breaks him from the control it had over him. This can be seen in our lives in that we eventually become morally responsible and take steps toward fulfilling our obligations in life.

The readjustment into society's values seems to be the main question. Was the implementation of conditioning a person to strictly good morals proper and humane? As the title suggests one can not be purely good or evil to be a man. One must have both in order to create humanistic choice. If not, the creation would be that of a robot like person incapable of feeling or self awareness. As Alex is released into the world as the states' example of a "healthy" person, he is tested by all extremes. One test was the incapability to defend himself against the smallest attacks on his character. Another error the state had provided is the use of music in the treatment of Alex. Not only does he feel physically sick when he thinks or looks at violence but also when he hears classical music. "It was that these doctors bratchnies had so fixed things that any music that was like for the emotions would make me just sick like viddying or wanting to do violence"(Burgess 161). Within the conditioning techniques of repulsing him to violence, the state had also forced him to hate music. The use of this correctional treatment failed due to the implementations on morality of human choice. Is it better to have a criminal make human choices, good or bad, or a purely good person not capable of making any choices. As most opinions state, criminals should all be locked up or dealt with in some harsh manner. There are also those who believe that offenders are diseased by some element and can and/or should

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Approximate Word count = 7283
Approximate Pages = 29 (250 words per page double spaced)