A CLOCKWORK ORANGE
ANTHONY BURGESS
PLOT SUMMARY
A Clockwork Orange follows the life of Alex DeLarge, a sadistic and deranged
fifteen year old boy living in an unspecified dystopian city in England. Alex and his gang of
“droogs” live their lives through criminal debauchery, stalking the streets of their gloomy
metropolis after dark, harassing and torturing any individual unfortunate enough to cross
their path. Alex’s views school, his parents, and the rules of society with scorn and allows
his responsibilities to slip easily by, unfulfilled. However, by night, Alex rules his entourage
of brawny bullies and, in many ways, his entire city, as he steals what he needs, drinks as
much as he feels like, and terrorizes anyone he feels like. Alex lives a notorious life of sex,
riches, and power. The only trouble that seems to nag Alex’s mind, however, is that he
realizes his half-witted accomplices are beginning to resent the apparent “authority” he
holds over them and are turning mutinous.
During one night of twisted “fun”, Alex breaks into a house inhabited by a
benign middle-aged couple and orders his droogs to restrain the husband while he violently
rapes the lady of the house in front of his eyes. Then, before leaving, Alex takes the pitiful
man’s half-complete manuscript for a story called “A Clockwork Orange” and tears it to
shreds. Later in the evening, as Alex torments an old woman in her home, his minions
betray him by calling the “millicents” (police) and abandoning him to face a harsh
retribution at the hands of the law.
PLOT (CONTINUED…)
Two years later, Alex is rotting in an overcrowded jail cell alongside “perverts and thieves” with little
hope of returning to his previous life. After brutally killing an aggravating cell-mate, Alex is brought
to the Governor’s office, where he expects a stiff reprimanding. Surprisingly, the Governor tells him
that he has been selected as the first criminal to undergo a special “treatment” process and that he
will be released from prison altogether in a fortnight. Though he is initially ecstatic, Alex is soon
extremely sobered when his appalling treatment begins: Alex is given a shot of a powerful nauseainducing psychoactive drug and is securely restrained and forced to watch disgusting and horrifically
violent films with his eyes held open by two metal claws;
“And then, O my brothers, the film-show started off with some very gromky atmosphere music coming from the speakers, very fierce
and full of discord…And then on the screen the picture came on…What came on was a street, as it might have been any street in any
town, and it was a real dark nochy and the lamps were lit. And then you could viddy an old man coming down the street, very starry,
and then there leaped out on this starry veck two malchicks dressed in the height of fashion, as it was at this time, and then they
started to filly with him. You could sloshy his screams and moans, very realistic, and you could even get the like heavy breathing and
panting of the two tolchocking malchicks. They made a real pudding out of this veck, going crack crack crack at him with their fisty
rookers, tearing his platties off and then finishing up by booting his nagoy plot and then running very skorry…Then we shot straight
into another lmotick of film, and this time it was of just a human litso, a very like pale human face held still and having different nasty
veshches done to it. I was sweating a malenky bit with the pain in my guts and a horrible thirst and my Gulliver going throb throb
throb and it seemed to me that if I could not viddy this bit of film I would perhaps be not so sick. But I could not shut my
glazzies…So I had to go on viddying what was being done and hearing the most ghastly creechings coming from this litso… I was
heaving away but could not sick, viddying first a britva cut out an eye, then slice down the cheek, then go rip rip rip all over, while red
krovvy shot on to the camera lens. Then all the teeth were wrenched out with a pair of pliers, and the creeching and the blood were
terrific!” (Pages 115-117)
PLOT (CONTINUED…)
When Alex is done with his exhausting and terrible “therapy” he is released, as promised. However, the
world he returns to is grim indeed as his parents and friends have abandoned him. In addition, Alex’s treatment
rendered him incapable of behaving violently, or even thinking about violence without feeling unbearably sick and
weak. Thus, Alex goes through a pitiful phase of trying earnestly to fit into the lawful society that he rejected earlier.
Unluckily, Alex continually finds himself encountering the poor souls he tortured previously and, unable to fight
back, is beaten to a bloody pulp, first by a group of old men in a library, and then by his old droog, Dim, who ended
up as a merciless and corrupt police officer.
After being left to die on the outskirts of his metropolis, Alex, again by miserable luck, drags himself
onto the doorstep of the house of the man whose wife he raped and whose manuscript he destroyed. This man, F.
Alexander, fortunately, does not recognize Alex and nurses him back to good health, all the while using him to fuel
his own political agenda against the authoritarian government. F. Alexander and his own comrades paint a pitiable
picture of Alex, a criminal “reformed” through mind-control, for the public, comparing Alex to a “clockwork orange”
manufactured by the government. Though these men promise him riches if he goes along with their scheme, Alex is
none-too-pleased to be made an example of, especially since he senses that F. Alexander’s foggy memory of his wife’s
attacker is beginning to clear up. Alex finally decides he is too miserable to live when he finds himself locked in a
room by F. Alexander and his political friends, and cannot escape the sound of classical music, which, while once his
greatest love, now drives him to near insanity. Alex jumps from the window of his room in an attempted suicide, but
survives the fall.
When he awakes in a hospital, Alex finds that his mind has been returned to its original state, and that
thoughts of ultra-violence once again give him pleasure instead of extreme discomfort. Alex leaves the hospital and
when we meet him again, he has recreated his old life, complete with a new set of goons at his service. However, Alex
feels a sense of boredom and loneliness and, after running into his old droog, Georgie, who has grown up and
married, Alex realizes that he no longer feels the need to cause mayhem. Instead, Alex makes the clear and altruistic
decision to abandon ultra-violence and focus his energy on finding a wife who will give him a baby.
ANTHONY BURGESS
Anthony Burgess, or John Burgess Wilson, was born on February 25th, 1917 in Manchester,
England. Burgess’ parents were Catholics and his mother died when he was one year old of
the Spanish flu pandemic. Four days after his mother’s death, Burgess’ sister Muriel also died
from the flu. Throughout his childhood, Burgess was given little attention or affection from
his father, a bookkeeper, whom Burgess believed resented him for living while his mother
died. The parental figure in young Burgess’ life was thus his aunt, Ann Bromley until his
father remarried to Margaret Dwyer in 1922. Burgess was bullied in his Catholic elementary
school because of his elegant, expensive clothes. Burgess had a strong love for classical
music in his youth, a quality shared with Alex, the protagonist of A Clockwork Orange. In
1940, Burgess joined a military recruit camp in Eskbank, but eventually transferred to a
Nursing Order in the “Royal Army Medical Corps” after pulling several pranks.
In January of 1942, Burgess married Llewela Isherwood Jones whom he met while studying
English Language and Literature at the Victoria University of Manchester. Soon after his
honeymoon, Burgess transferred Army services to the “Army Education Corps” and was
promoted to a sergeant, despite his lack of respect for authority. During this time, Burgess’
pregnant life lost her child, but Burgess was not allowed leave to go see her and care for her.
In 1946, Burgess left the army as a sergeant-major and became a lecturer at the Mid-West
School of Education, teaching English literature. In 1954, Burgess joined the “British
Colonial Service” as a teacher in Malaya at the Malay College. During his stay, Burgess wrote
the fictious trilogy The Long Day Wanes.
Later, Burgess published several works focusing on the themes of death, which included
the comic series, Enderby, and the novel, The Right to an Answer (1960). In 1962, Burgess
published his most famous work, A Clockwork Orange, which was inspired partly by the
incident during WWII in which his wife lost her child in an accident involving US Army
deserters. A Clockwork Orange, which is an exposé on free will and a satire of violence in
society, eventually earned him international fame, recognition, and tribute, including a
best-picture nominated film adaptation directed by Stanley Kubrick. Throughout his life,
Burgess held and enjoyed many hobbies including screenwriting, lecturing as a literary
critic, composing, and broadcasting in partnership with the BBC. Burgess died on
November 22nd, 1993 from lung cancer, as a multi-millionaire, and leaving an impressive
legacy behind.
25 February 1917 –
22 November 1993
LITERARY PERIOD/COUNTRY
A Clockwork Orange was published in 1962. English literature in the 1960’s was defined by
“Kitchen Sink Realism” which characteristically featured an “Angry Young Man” as its
protagonist. In addition, “Kitchen Sink Realism” characteristically focused on the lives of the
middle/working-class and the domestic turbulence that resulted from two working parents and
a youth left alone to brood. “Kitchen Sink Realism” plays a significant role, not only in Burgess’
A Clockwork Orange, in which Alex DeLarge is the symbolically moody protagonist, but also in
other famous works such as John Osborne’s play, Look Back in Anger. A Clockwork Orange fits
snugly under the umbrella of “Kitchen Sink Realism” seeing as Alex and his droogs spend
much of their time in bars, and because the novel explores many relevant social issues and
political controversies.
SETTING
A Clockwork Orange takes place in an unidentified, possibly
invented English city. The world of A Clockwork Orange is dystopian;
the youth of society runs in vicious, violent gangs that rule the streets
after nightfall. The police are sluggish and inefficient, but ruthless and
unfair when dealing with criminals, and the tension between the two
forces often ignites shocking violence; “It was dark and there was a wind
sharp as a nosh getting up, and there were very few patrol cars with
brutal rozzes inside them like cruising about, and now and then on the
corner you would viddy a couple of very young millicents stamping
against the bitchy cold and letting out steam breath on the winter air, O
my brothers. I suppose really a lot of the old ultra—violence and crasting
was dying out now, the rozzes being so brutal with who they caught,
though it had become like a fight between naughty nadstas and the
rozzes who could be more skorry with the nosh and the britva and the
stick and even the gun.” (Page 206)
Because of the danger of “nadsats” and “millicents” that
stalk the streets of the metropolis, citizens live in fear and paranoia; “You
never really saw many of the older bourgeois type out after nightfall
those days, what with the shortage of police and we fine young
malchickiwicks about, and this prof type chelloveck was the only one
walking in the whole of the street.” (Page 7) The dark, eerie city setting,
overrun by malevolent youths, provides the perfect atmosphere of
instability and lunacy for Alex’s malignant narrative.
NARRATIVE STYLE
The narrator of A Clockwork Orange is Alex DeLarge, the
troubled anti-hero at the heart of the story. The language in A Clockwork
Orange is dominated by the iconic use of “Nadsat” speech, which is a
made-up “teenage” language that incorporates many neologisms or
substitute words. The strange use of language within the narrative is
instantly noticeable and is, in fact, quite jarring at first. When I began
reading, I had a very difficult time understanding the story and found the
use of made-up words quite confusing. In fact, the first couple pages of A
Clockwork Orange are more jam-packed with “Nadsat” than any other
part of the novel, almost as if Burgess’ intention was to test the readers;
“There was me, that it Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie,
and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making
up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a dark flip chill winter
bastard though dry… Our pockets were full of deng, so there was no real
need from the point of view of crasting any more pretty polly to tolchock
some old veck in an alley and viddy him swim in his blood while we
counted the takings and divided by four…” (Pages 1 & 4)
However, as I read on, I began picking up the words very
quickly and I ultimately found that this unique literary style added to the
believability of Alex’s character and made the book much more
immersive.
A FEW “NADSAT” TERMS
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Droog = friend
Cancer = cigarette
Devotchka = girl
Cutter = money
Glazz = eye
Litso = face
Gulliver = head
Rooker = hand
Smeck = laugh
Horrorshow = great
Smeck = laugh
Rot = mouth
Millicent =
policeman
• Peet = drink
CHARACTERS
Alex DeLarge
Alex, being the anti-hero of the story, is
essentially the only substantial character in A Clockwork
Orange. Alex, as mentioned before, is a maniacal and devious
gangster at heart. He finds extreme pleasure and satisfaction
in causing others pain and being in control of someone else’s
life. Despite his extreme passion for ultra-violence, Alex is also
incredibly fond of classical music. Alex, interestingly, feels
equally euphoric when listening to the great works of
composers such as Beethoven and Mozart as when he is
beating another human being to death, showing the perversion
of his character; “The little speakers of my stereo were all
arranged round the room, on ceiling, walls, floor, so, lying on
my bed slooshying the music, I was like netted and meshed in
the orchestra…Then, brothers, it came. Oh bliss, bliss and
heaven. I lay all nagoy to the ceiling, my Gulliver on my
rookers on the pillow, glazzies closed, rot open in bliss,
slooshying the sluice of lovely sounds. Oh, it was gorgeousness
and gorgeosity made flesh.” (Page 37)
Alex also has an incredibly unconventional sense of morality;
he sees no fault in raping a wife in front of her husband, or
date-raping two ten-year-old girls. However, when he sense his
droogs are questioning his authority, he is indignant and
somewhat hurt. The irritation that Alex feels at his friends is
based upon his belief that he is the only one in their group that
contributes ideas. Alex’s guiding leadership and his annoyance
when his friends resist suggest that he feels a strong sense of
direction for his life, and has little respect for those who don’t.
ALEX (CONTINUED)
Though he is mature in some ways; his natural leadership,
his smooth and charming manner (“goloss”), and his ability
to manipulate a system, Alex is ultimately naïve and
immature. However independent and free-thinking Alex is,
he is juvenile in that he has no respect for the authorities
that ultimately control his life. In addition, Alex has no solid
sense of responsibility. Though he is quick to come up with
ideas and look down upon those who cannot do so
themselves, he cannot stay in school or take other simple
steps to better his life. This lack of responsibility is also
demonstrated by his attitude towards “cutter” (money).
Alex, unlike his droogs, has little interest in actually
accumulating wealth. Instead, he is perfectly content to take
what he needs at the moment by making a victim out of
someone. In the end of the novel, after all of his trials and
tribulations, Alex comes to the realization that he is bored
with his life because he lacks responsibility. Alex
demonstrates his immaturity, again, by jumping to the
conclusion that acquiring a baby is the next logical step to
filling this hole in his life, but, nonetheless, his clear selfactualization shows admirably stout-hearted idealism,
which is arguably his most praiseworthy characteristic.
FREE WILL V. OPRESSION
In the beginning of the novel, Alex is living his life with the most drastic degree of freedom possible; like many
of the youths in this dystopian society, Alex’s actions are based entirely on violent and destructive impulses. Because Alex’s
actions are detrimental to society, the government feels it is their duty and right to snatch him up and
brainwash/program/torture him into submission. However, in the process, they completely eradicate his ability to act on his
own free will. Though Alex’s lifestyle was inarguably barbaric and unacceptable, A Clockwork Orange begs the question of
whether this sort of government mind-control is ever appropriate, even in the extreme case of Alex. “A Clockwork Orange”
the book within the story, serves as a motif for this theme, suggesting that a person who is “programmed” is not really a
person at all (“A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man.” – Page 175) When Alex examines this book, within the novel,
he deciphers the message that each person raised within the dystopian society is meant to be grown like a fruit and is more
like a product than a person; “F. Alexander seemed to think that we all like grow on what he called the world-tree in the world-
orchard that like Bog or God planted, and we were there because Bog or God had need of us to quench his thirsty love, or
some such cal.” (Page 178)
Both sides of the argument are presented for free will. F. Alexander supports the sympathetic view that each
person is an individual who should not be controlled by the government no matter how appalling their behavior is. On the
other hand, the government, headed by the “Minister of the Interior”, acts to control the malignant members of society, who
threaten the overall organization and structure of civilization. Burgess indicates, however, that his ultimate opinion is on the
side of Alex. First of all, Alex’s transformation is presented grotesquely and with exaggerated detail in order to disgust the
reader. In addition, Burgess portrays the authoritative figures in the novel, such as the police and the heads of state as corrupt
and equally as violent as the ruffians who stand against them. Finally, Burgess ends the novel with free-will triumphing and
leading to peace and conformity, suggesting that individuals must find their own path to personal salvation.
PERSONAL REVIEW
A Clockwork Orange is definitely not a book for everyone. The
story contains many disturbing scenes including graphic and gory
violence, sex, and even rape. What is more shocking is that the
story does not condemn these actions, but rather makes light of
them. Some readers may be turned off by the graphic nature of
this book. However, with that being said, the story itself and the
character Alex make A Clockwork Orange a very interesting and
absorbing read. I found this book to be a real page turner and had
trouble putting it down. The themes of dystopia, free will, and
ultra-violence within society are explored thoroughly and give
the book an emotional punch.
I would definitely recommend A Clockwork Orange to any high
school student with a strong stomach. Even if someone doesn’t
particularly care for horror as a genre (which Clockwork Orange
isn’t necessarily), there are enough good things in this book to
keep pretty much anyone engaged. Some of the lessons that can
be derived from this book can be learned through Alex. Alex is
certainly a dynamic character who develops fully throughout the
novel. His transformation deals a great deal with issues such as
personal identity and responsibility, which are relevant themes
for any high school student.