A Clockwork Orange

Article written by Emma Baldwin

B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.

It tells the story of Alex, who begins the novel as a fifteen-year-old delinquent. He’s initially incredibly unlikeable and prone to extreme violence against anyone he meets. He’s forced to undergo a transformation that has wide-reaching implications for society. Through his story, Burgess explores themes of free will and the necessity of both good and evil in humanity.

Readers may be struck by the cast of characters in ‘A Clockwork Orange.’ This includes a protagonist who is more like a villain and moralizing characters who are deeply flawed. The book is also filled with Nadsat, a slang language Burgess created for the novel that uses words, as quoted in the book, as “chepooka,” meaning nonsense, “choodessny,” meaning wonderful, and “britva,” meaning razor.

Key Facts about A Clockwork Orange

• Title: A Clockwork Orange
• When/where written: 1962, England
• Published: 1962, England
• Literary Period: Postmodern science-fiction
• Genre: Science-fiction
• Point-of-View: First-person
• Setting: England in the future
• Climax: Alex’s attempted suicide at F. Alexander’s
• Antagonist: The government

Anthony Burgess and A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess grew up in England and experienced loss from a young age. Both his mother and sister died during the 1918 influenza pandemic. He later also lost his father. He published his first novels in the late 1950s before he was misdiagnosed with a brain tumor. His desire to make a name for himself before his death forced him to work even harder, creating what is now Burgess’ best-known works.

One of the primary influences in his personal life, scholars believe, on ‘A Clockwork Orange’ was the assault his first wife, Lynne, underwent while he was deployed in the military. He was unable to help her, much in the same way that F. Alexander was unable to help his wife when she was assaulted by Alex and his gang. Burgess was also likely considering the effect of the Second World War and the Cold War while writing the novel. Interestingly, the book was released the same year as the Cuban Missile Crisis took place, 1962. Despite the fact that it was very much a novel of its time, the book is as widely read and as important today as it was when it was first released.

Readers of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ will already be aware of how important music is to the protagonist and to the treatment he undergoes. Burgess was himself an avid creator, having apparently written a symphony when he was only 18 years old.

Books Related to A Clockwork Orange

‘A Clockwork Orange’ is a unique novel. But that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to draw comparisons between it and other literary works. It’s connected through its genre, dystopian fiction, to novels like ‘1984‘ by George Orwell and ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley. Both of these novels investigate the morality of government policy and the importance of free will while doing so through a dystopian lens. ‘A Clockwork Orange’ also helped to inspire other authors, like Philip K. Dick and Margaret Atwood, in the conception of their dystopian futures. The best examples are ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?’ and A Handmaid’s Tale. Readers may also find themselves interested in the futures presented in ‘World War Z’ by Max Brooks and the complex realities in ‘Cloud Atlas’ by David Mitchell.

The Lasting Impact of A Clockwork Orange