Line #115 Literature/AClockworkOrange


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3
4	->"''A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man."''
5	-->-- '''F. Alexander''', Part 3, Chapter 4
6
7	''[[ArcWords What's it gonna be then, eh?]]''
8
9	''A Clockwork Orange'' is a 1962 novella by Creator/AnthonyBurgess. In a {{dystopi\|a}}c future where [[TeenageWasteland street crime is rampant and youths are uncontrollable]], teenage sociopath Alex and his friends [[TeensAreMonsters prowl the night spreading terror and destruction wherever they go]]. By daybreak, Alex returns home to his [[AdultsAreUseless vapid parents]], who turn a blind eye to his activities, and enjoys his second favorite thing in the world: [[ClassicalMusic classical music]].
10
11	Things are going swimmingly for Alex until his 'droogs' begin to chafe under his leadership. Alex is still content with pointless violence, but the gang is starting to grow up and think about making a profit. After a fight for supremacy, he reasserts himself as leader, but bows to the gang's interest in robbing a wealthy widow's house. Alex takes the lead in the robbery, but the widow discovers him, leading to a fight. As the gang flees, they betray Alex and leave him for the police to apprehend. At the station, the police inform Alex that the widow died of her injuries, making him a murderer. He is quickly convicted and sentenced to a lengthy prison term.
12
13	In prison, Alex settles into his old habits, pretending to be a model prisoner while plotting his return to violence. When he discovers that the government is planning to test an experimental treatment on a prisoner in exchange for freedom, Alex soon inadvertently kills an inmate, making him the first patient to be subjected. The prison chaplain warns him not to think of this as freedom, claiming that no external force can turn a man good, but Alex is only interested in getting free and returning to his murderous ways.
14
15	The treatment turns out to be a nightmare. Alex is continuously injected with drugs that make him sick while watching scenes of violence in a theater. His mind soon associates violence with the sickness, causing a Pavlovian response. Particularly abhorrent to him is the classical music on the soundtrack, which he inadvertently relates with the sickness as well. When the procedure is complete, Alex cannot even think about violence or rape without suffering from [[RestrainingBolt crippling illness]], rendering him harmless to society. He also can't listen to his favorite music without intense pain.
16
17	Alex's case is controversial. His own prison chaplain argues against the procedure, and other critics agree that removing Alex's capacity for moral choice has not turned him good, but reduced him into a programmable machine. The government, however, is only interested in the bottom line of cutting down crime. They release Alex into the world, still evil to his core, but without the ability to defend himself against all his enemies and former victims. His fate ultimately proves the self-defeating nature of the government's program.
18
19	It was adapted into a 1971 film by Creator/StanleyKubrick. For tropes specific to the movie, see [[Film/AClockworkOrange here]].
20	----
21	!!Tropes:
22
23	* AdultsAreUseless: Alex's parents are either clueless about his nightly excursions or in complete denial. They abandon him once he gets out of prison. Almost every other adult Alex meets wants to use him to further their political agenda or pound the living daylights out of him for his ruthless acts. Even the prison chaplain, the closest thing in the book to a character who cares about Alex as a person, just wants to bugger him. [[SubvertedTrope Not that Alex exactly invites compassion]].
24	* AnAesop: Human goodness must come from free will; as such it is intrinsically wrong to deny even the [[TheSociopath vilest of individuals]] their capacity for moral choice.
25	* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: The Ludovico Technique is really nothing more than giving the subject a Pavlovian Association between evil acts and sickness. However, one of the aspects of Pavlovian conditioning that Burgess and many other writers seem to ignore is that if the two things being associated with each other ''stop'' occurring together for long enough, then the association will go away.
26	* AllThereInTheManual: Some editions of the book have a glossary for the Nadsat slang.
27	* ArcWords: "What's it gonna be then, eh?" is stated a number of times in the book by various characters. It seems to relate to the theme of moral choice. Each of the three parts of the novel have this as their opening sentence.
28	* AssholeVictim: The rival gang Alex and his droogs fight. Also, Alex himself deserved every second of suffering he endured and more for his deeds; see KarmaHoudini.
29	* AsskickingLeadsToLeadership: Subverted. Alex outfights his whole gang to reestablish himself as their leader, but they betray him at their first opportunity.
30	* AuthorAvatar: The author. In the book, his name is given as Frank Alexander (his book is called ''A Clockwork Orange''), and the rape scene is based on a vaguely similar incident that occurred to Burgess' wife during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
31	* AxCrazy: Alex, who throughout the book causes chaos, mayhem and wanton violence simply because it's amusing to him.
32	* BadBoss: Alex treats his droogs this way, lashing out at them if they step out of line, saying that they need to learn their "place". This ends up [[TheDogBitesBack coming back to bite him]].
33	* BadGuyBar: The Korova Milk Bar. Alex says that the drug-laced milk served there really sharpens you up for some ultraviolence. In the beginning and end, he describes the fashion of his gang as fitting in completely with the bar's patrons.
34	* TheBadGuyWins: The repressive government persuades a still dazed post-treatment-reversal Alex to do a deal with them to make his story positive publicity for them.
35	* BehavioralConditioning: Alex is a fan of "ultraviolence", the act of engaging in gratuitous and extreme acts of sexual and physical violence for fun. When he is taken in for rehabilitation during prison, he undergoes this as part of the Ludovico Technique for early release. For this, he is forced to watch videos of violence while being injected with drugs that induce nausea. As a result, just thinking of violence makes him sick to the core. The story explores the moral ramifications of this kind of conditioning, even when accepted voluntarily.
36	* BilingualBonus:
37	** Alex's nadsat slang is partially based on crudely anglicized Russian, so Russian speakers might better understand it from the onset. However, part of the fun for some readers is learning the argot as they go along.
38	** The Polish translation actually came in two versions: one with the [[{{ConLang}} argot]] based on English, and the other one based on Russian (appropriating both languages into Polish). This comes from the fact that, at the time, more people would be familiar with Russian than with English. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponglish#In_popular_culture The Other Wiki]] has more on that.
39	* BlackAndGrayMorality: Alex himself is one hell of a bastard, but there aren't really many better people in the novel. There are some "good" people (Alex's parents, the chaplain, etc.) but they never actually ''do'' anything, whether out of fear or weakness.
40	* BlackComedy: In the book, Alex narrates with a level of smug self-satisfaction that might count.
41	* BlowingARaspberry: Occurs with a handful of characters, including Alex and his droogs, or as Alex calls "lip music".
42	* BookEnds: The 21st chapter, where present, begins by mirroring the first chapter.
43	* BoredWithInsanity: In the 21st chapter, [[spoiler:Alex discovers that raping and murdering aren't that interesting for him anymore. He wants to settle down and have kids. His former droog Pete feels the same. It's implied that this trope was the cause for the internal strife within Alex's gang at the beginning: Alex was still amused by random violence, while the other three -- all older than he was -- were getting bored and wanted to go after bigger targets]].
44	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Subverted. Alex already was crazy ''before'' he was brainwashed. Afterwards, Alex's mental state could be considered [[NiceJobBreakingItHero even worse]].
45	* BrainwashingForTheGreaterGood: Deconstructed.
46	* BrownNote: After Alex's psychological conditioning, he is unable to listen to classical music without feeling sick and weak. When one of his past victims finds out about this, he uses this knowledge to drive Alex insane.
47	* CaneFu: When Alex breaks into the mansion of the cat lady and attempts to attack her, he is distracted by a bust of Beethoven's head. As he goes toward it, the lady sneaks up behind him and hits him repeatedly in the head with her cane, before he pulls it off her and sends her tumbling to the floor.
48	* ChainPain: Dim uses a chain as a weapon rather than the knives and razor used by his fellow droogs.
49	* ConLang: Nadsat is slang Burgess constructed for the teens of the novel, mostly from Russian but also German, BritishEnglish/CockneyRhymingSlang, and Literature/TheBible. See the Trivia page for a list of the more common nadsat words.
50	* ContrivedCoincidence: Right after Alex is released from prison, he runs into one ex-victim of his to another as part of a HumiliationConga.
51	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Alex is forced to watch, with his eyes peeled open to prevent from looking away, films about gangsters, Japanese, and Nazis commiting major acts of violence as part of aversion therapy. Keep in mind, Alex has commited crimes of murder, rape, torture, statutory rape, and drug-taking via milk. Not only can he not enjoy committing those crimes after he is rehabilitated, he is also cannot enjoy listening to classical music without getting sick.
52	* CostumeEvolution: This occurs as part of [[CostumePorn "the height of fashion"]] that teenagers in this Britain society wear, which meant gangs such as the ones Alex had. When Alex is released from prison, he was given back his clothing which he was wearing when he got arrested, and out in public passersby stared at his now-outdated clothing - even though it has been only two years.
53	* CostumePorn: Alex goes in-depth on the outfits that he and his droogs wore as part of ongoing fashion trends.
54	** At the beginning of the book, they wore black [[PaintedOnPants tights]] with [[BallsOfSteel codpieces to protect themselves]] which included emblems (Alex's had a spider, Pete's had a hand, Georgie's had a fancy flower, and Dim's had the face of a clown). They also wore jackets without lapels, which included [[ShouldersOfDoom big shoulder pads]], and also off-white [[ClassyCravat cravats that were scruffed up]]. In addition, they had big boots for kicking.
55	** In the 21st chapter, he and his new droogs wore very wide trousers, loose black shiny leather jerkins, and open-necked shirts with scarves tucked in. Yet they still wore big boots for kicking.
56	* CrapsackWorld: Big time. Rampant teenage violence is quite commonplace in this society, and there is so much of it that the adults are having trouble controlling it.
57	** Not only that, but when the police are finally able to intervene they are [[PoliceBrutality allowed to use sheer force to take down these criminals]]. Even if they are innocent, citizens in lockup still have to undergo strict authority.
58	** In addition, prisons are overflowing with many prisoners. In Alex's prison cell, which is meant for two prisoners each, it contains six prisoners and manages to squeeze in a seventh briefly.
59	** And when prisoners get ''out'' of prison, their possessions have ended up being confiscated and sold by the government as compensation for the victims of their crimes, meaning that they need to find new belongings fast. Alex finds this out the hard way when he comes home after he is released.
60	** As if that wasn't enough, the government has forbidden adults from being unemployed during the daytime, which means they are forced to get jobs.
61	* CrazyCatLady: The rich widow's house is filled with cats. This turns out to be a surprising equalizer against the younger, stronger Alex, as the milk saucers she leaves all over the house keep tripping him up.
62	* CultOfPersonality: Alex idolizes Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach.
63	* DeathOfTheAuthor:[[invoked]] Publishers disliked the final chapter of the book and simply left it off of initial American publications. Many critics prefer the edited version, which significantly changes Burgess's central message. He [[CreatorBacklash disowned both versions]], but his criticisms are generally ignored, and it continues to be his most popular work.
64	* DefeatByModesty: At one point of Alex and his droogs' gang fight, Alex uses his razor to slice down one of Billyboy's droog's clothes, leaving his testicles exposed to the winter night air. This causes him to shriek in humiliation and lose his guard, leaving him susceptible to Dim's chain.
65	* DelinquentHair: As part of current fashion, most delinquent teenagers in this society had one, depending on brushing trends. At the beginning of the book, Alex and his droogs had not too long hair. By the final chapter, he and his new gang had the tops of their heads shaved almost bald, leaving most of their hair on the sides, likely a variation of a mullet.
66	* DistractedByTheSexy: While busy lecturing Alex in his apartment, P. R. Deltoid suddenly notices an excerpt on the table of a woman advertising Yugoslavian beaches, with her breasts out for display. He briefly stares at it for several seconds before continuing on with his discussion.
67	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: In the American version, no one learns anything, and Alex is given free rein to exercise his violent tastes with government protection. In the English version, Alex never feels regret for his actions, but finally matures, loses his interest in ultraviolence, and even looks forward to starting a family of his own; while this isn't really a downer ending for ''him'', the implication remains that sociopathic tendencies are a natural part of youth (and by extension, the natural state of humanity)]].
68	* DramaticReading: An in-universe example. Prior to the droogs' attack on F. Alexander and his wife, Alex mocks the writer by reading his work-in-progress in this manner.
69	* DreamingOfThingsToCome: Happens frequently. They are symbolic and are used for foreshadowing.
70	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:The treatment's sickness is so bad that Alex is driven to suicide if subjected to its triggers for too long. He attempts to do so after being locked in a room with the Third Symphony by the fictional composer Otto Skadelig. Wonderfully symbolic in that 'Skadelig' means 'Harmful' in Danish and Norwegian]].
71	* DumbMuscle: The gang's strongest member [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname is referred to only by his nickname]], "Dim." In the opening lines of the book and film, Alex explains that Dim is, in fact, "very dim."
72	* {{Dystopia}}
73	* EvenEvilHasStandards: The gangs may be brutal rapists and robbers, but they have a strict prohibition on having more than five members in each gang; Billy Boy has six, which is the main reason Alex holds him in such low regard. Also, it's implied they completely refuse to [[ThouShaltNotKill kill anyone]]; at any rate, Alex is [[VillainousBreakdown horrified]] when he learns [[spoiler:he accidentally killed the old woman he robbed]].
74	* EvilVersusEvil: The "[[VillainProtagonist hero]]" is a violent, sadistic sociopath; the government that apprehends him is a corrupt regime that's halfway down the road to becoming a totalitarian police state, and the revolutionaries are [[spoiler:willing to drive a man to suicide for their own political agenda]]. Also, the gangs in his world often fight one another, and the book features a fight between Alex gang and a rival one led by Billy Boy.
75	* ExcrementStatement: While the gang is terrorizing the home of F. Alexander and his wife, Dim urinates in the fireplace to put out the fire burning there. He's about to defecate on the carpet as well before Alex tells him to knock it off and get everyone out of there.
76	* EyeScream:
77	** As revenge for picking on him, Dim betrays Alex by hitting him in the face with his chain, then flees with Georgie and Pete just as the police arrive. Alex sees he has the chain out and closes his eyes just in time but is still temporarily blinded as the cops arrest him.
78	** There is also the infamous part in which Alex is forced to watch films with his eyes plied open.
79	* FakeBoobs: The two 10-year-old girls whom Alex picks up in the record shop have these. Also, in the 21st chapter, the current fashion is for teenage girls to have pairs that extend a meter or more from their chests.
80	* FantasticDrug: The Korova Milkbar sells milk laced with various drugs, one of which is simply called "knives" and described as good at helping the drinker get ready for a night of violent mayhem.
81	* FascistButInefficient: The government is portrayed as this.
82	* FauxAffablyEvil: Alex may be one of the ultimate examples of this.
83	* FireForgedFriends: As adults, Dim and Billyboy put aside their youthful rivalry and become partners on the police force.
84	* FootballHooligans: Among the content that Alex reads in the morning newspapers, besides the usual ultra-violence, bank robberies, and strikes, he reads about footballers making people paralytic with fright by threatening to not play next Saturday if they did not get higher wages. Alex even calls them "naughty malchickiwicks."
85	* ForTheEvulz: The whole reason for the old ultraviolence.
86	* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Alex is melancholic, Georgie is choleric, Pete is phlegmatic, and Dim is Sanguine.
87	* FutureSlang: Burgess was a language expert. He invented the "Nadsat" slang partially based on the Russian language. Part of the intention was to distance the reader from the horrific acts being described.
88	* GenreBusting: According to Website/TheOtherWiki: "A Clockwork Orange is most frequently described as political satire, dystopian science-fiction, black comedy, and crime drama, although its crossover appeal to the horror fan community is unmistakable."
89	* GotMeDoingIt: Alex is displeased when he notices he caught his parole officer's VerbalTic, yes?
90	* GroinAttack: Among the violence dealt onto him at the police station for hitting a cop, Alex gets fisted in the balls.
91	* HeelFaceBrainwashing: The point of the Ludovico treatment is to turn bad men "good," but the novel ultimately shows that this is impossible.
92	* HighTimesFuture: It's perfectly legal to sell and drink milk laced with assorted mind-altering drugs, and the Korova Milkbar dues a lively business most nights.
93	* HumiliationConga: The second half is one big one for Alex.
94	* HurtFootHop: While in jail with several police officers, one of them punches Alex in the stomach. And when the cop looked away, Alex retaliated by kicking him on the shin. This caused him to do this trope while the rest of the officers laid a heavy beatdown.
95	* IKissYourFoot: A man forces Alex to lick his shoe to prove that he is completely incapable of defending himself as a result of the treatment.
96	* IdiotBall: Alex allowing his former victim, F. Alexander, to identify him. He says several things to trigger the writer's suspicion, each time making a mental note to be careful about this. This comes to a head when, after he uses "dim" as an adjective, the writer recalls the name of his droog Dim. Instead of keeping quiet, Alex blurts out "What do ''you'' know about Dim?"
97	* KarmaHoudini: Alex receives a lot of punishment through the second and third acts, but ultimately gets away with his freedom. In the American edition and film he smugly celebrates his return to violence, while in the British book he settles down with a cushy government job.
98	* KnightTemplar: The government when pushing the Ludovico treatment, being more concerned with reigning in crime than the moral costs.
99	* LifesWorkRuined: When Alex and his droogs break into F. Alexander, he shreds the author's manuscript of ''A Clockwork Orange''. Alexander goes ballistic, screaming and crying that it was his life's work ruined. Two years later, the manuscript had been rewritten from scratch and published.
100	* LikeIsLikeAComma: Teens using Nadsat speak have this trope as a common dialect. It's not quite the same as how modern teens use it.
101	* ListOfTransgressions: When arrested by the police, Alex thinks to himself that if he is on the side of evil and the police are on the side of good, he might as well confess and express his villainy. So they give him a lawyer to type up a list of all the crimes he did in the past two days. It gets so long to the point that when he is finished, the lawyer looks quite queasy.
102	* LoopholeAbuse: Alex and his droogs are underage, so they can't drink alcohol. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero They drink milk with drugs that make them super-violent instead]].
103	* LoudOfWar: The fact Alex finds classical music unbearable after being subjected to the brainwash is exploited by [[spoiler:the writer whom Alex and his gang attacked and forced to watch his wife be raped]].
104	* TheLudovicoTechnique: Used on Alex to "cure" his violent tendencies. TropeNamer.
105	* MeaningfulName:
106	** The name Alex can be interpreted in Latin as "without law", and in Greek as "without words".
107	** It's probably no coincidence that the writer and his wife are Mr. and Mrs. ''Alexander''.
108	** The "Ludovico" Treatment - Latin for Music/{{Ludwig\|VanBeethoven}}.
109	* MindRape: The Ludovico treatment, which is an extremely creepy version of the Real-Life [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aversion_therapy aversion therapy]] taken up to eleven beyond any actual (known) examples.
110	* {{Neologism}}: Some of Alex's nadsat FutureSlang has trickled into common usage, most notably "horrorshow" and "ultraviolence." "Droog" is widely understood as well, though not very widely ''used''. A former name for the trope was Grokking the Horrorshow after all.
111	* TheNewRockAndRoll: Subverted. Music really does inspire Alex to commit horrible acts, but it's ''classical'' music that he listens to. He speaks of "Ludwig Van" as an icon. The trope is emphasised when Alex reads a newspaper article that suggests a keener interest in the arts might stop teenagers from committing crimes. He laughs at it.
112	* NonindicativeName: The name of the novel itself has very little to do with the plot; it's the title of the manuscript Alex's victim's husband is working on when the crime is committed; Alex reads a paragraph of it (the story appearing to be similar to the plot of the movie) before tearing it up. (And even ''this'' is omitted in the film version.)
113	* NoWomansLand: This dystopic Britain world does not seem to be a good place for girls to live in. Teenage gangs roam about the place looking for any girls to rape, whether they be women or young girls as little as ten. Additionally, Alex makes no mention of female gang members joining ranks, so girls here seem to be on their own. Even women living alone and in houses are not safe, being broken into and raped by gang members.
114	* OhCrap:
115	** After Alex's release from prison he has many, but a truly epic one for him is when he gets rescued from an attack by two coppers. Said coppers [[spoiler: are one of his old gang members... and the leader of the enemy gang]].
116	** After being carried into the writer's home by the bodyguard, and explaining to him what had happened, the writer suddenly exclaimed "I know you!" But it's because he recognized Alex's picture in the papers that morning, rather than recognizing him as the rapist of his wife.
117	* OnlyOneName: Alex's last name is never given in the book.
118	* PayEvilUntoEvil: The Writer, upon realizing who Alex is, proceeds to torture Alex with the same kind of sadistic glee that Alex had previously shown him.
119	* PreAsskickingOneLiner: "Ho, ho, ho! Well, if it isn't fat stinking billy goat Billy Boy in poison! How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap, stinking chip oil? Come and get one in the yarbles, if ya have any yarbles, ya eunuch jelly thou!"
120	* PreferableImpersonator: When Alex is released, he returns to his parents' home only to find they've taken in a lodger, a young man they treat like the good son Alex never was.
121	* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: Alex and his father dream events that eventually come true, albeit in a roundabout way in Alex's case.
122	* PsychoKnifeNut: Alex favors a "cut-throat britva" (straight razor) in close combat and is very handy with it.
123	* RapeDiscretionShot: When Dim and Billy take Alex out in the middle of nowhere for a beatdown, what apparently happens during the attack is so graphic that Alex refuses to describe it to the readers. The attackers put their clothes back on afterward, suggesting a rape.[[note]]The other possibility is that the beating was very bloody and they didn't want to soil their uniforms.[[/note]]
124	* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Anthony Burgess' wife was gang-raped at some point, although it was not a case of him being forced to watch. That incident, which occurred in 1944 or so (accounts vary) provided the inspiration for the rape scene of the writer's wife.
125	* ReformedButNotTamed: One of the Droogs became a policeman after Alex is released from prison and he proceeds to abuse him when he encounters him.
126	* RestrainingBolt: The Ludovico treatment is an aversion therapy that causes Alex to suffer intense physical pain whenever he thinks about committing acts of violence, with the unintended inclusion of certain types of music.
127	* RetiredMonster: [[spoiler:Pete and Alex become this in the book's 21st chapter]].
128	* RevisedEnding: The original British edition had 21 chapters, but the initial American edition left out the 21st chapter, which was more of an epilogue, and the film adaptation is based on this edition. Later American editions restored the missing chapter. The [[MoodWhiplash relatively bright]] ending that was removed caused a strange inversion of HappilyEverBefore.
129	* RightForTheWrongReasons: When Alex tries to break into the Cat Lady's house with the same ruse he used for the cottage, the lady tells him behind the door that she's not opening for him, thinking that it's a ploy. She is right that this is a trick to get something out of her, she thinks that this is an advertising strategy to force her to buy things she doesn't want, when in reality this is to break into her home and steal her valuables.
130	* ShapedLikeItself: "Dim being really dim..."
131	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: At the far, FAR cynical end of the scale. [[spoiler:At least until the 21st chapter]].
132	* SlippingAMickey: When three girls are eyeing Alex and his droogs at the beginning of the book, Alex considers this trope for Dim to leave him behind while the rest have sex because Dim is very ugly and stupid. But Alex decides against it because they need him for fights.
133	* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: {{Averted}} insofar as Alex is assigned to regular meetings with one (P.R. Deltoid). On the other hand, Deltoid has a severe case of AdultsAreUseless, and later turns on Alex, who enjoyed jerking him around a little too obviously when he was a client.
134	* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: In Alex's second visit to the writer, he avoids blatantly identifying himself, but inadvertently does so while saying several of his common phrases that he also uttered while raping the writer's wife.
135	* TheStarscream: Georgie to Alex.
136	* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Nadsat involves eccentric word order in addition to new words.
137	* TeenageWasteland: Adults still try to run society, but gangs of teens have become uncontrollable.
138	* TeensAreMonsters: The dystopic world is based around this, and the 21st chapter of the book highlights this. Much of Alex's friction between him and his old gang is based on Alex being the youngest and therefore the last to mature.
139	* TemptingFate: When leaving the Duke of New York to commit a break-in at a mansion, Alex tells the ladies that are covering for him and his droogs that they will be back in 10 minutes, just like they did at Slouse's Shop. But when he actually breaks in there, his droogs knock him out and leave him to be caught by the police.
140	* TitleDrop:
141	** A brief paragraph of singing that doubles as [[AnAesop The Aesop]]
142	---> ''Do not be a clockwork orange,\
143	Freedom has a lovely voice.\
144	Here is good, and there is badness; \
145	Look on both, then take your choice.\
146	Sweet in juice and hue and aroma,\
147	Let's not be changed to fruit machines\
148	Choice is free but seldom easy - \
149	That's what human freedom means!''
150	** The title of the author's book is "A Clockwork Orange", and states that rules can not be ''enforced'' on man, or he becomes a "clockwork orange", a {{Foreshadow}}ing of Alex's conditioning.
151	* TotallyRadical: Averted; Burgess knew that the current slang would become obsolete in a few years, so invented his own set based on Russian. ''Khorosho'' (good) becomes "horrowshow", ''druhg'' (friend) is "droog", etc.
152	* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: The setting is UsefulNotes/{{London}} in the near future as viewed from TheSixties.
153	** According to the original manuscript of the book, the author was planning on having it take place around 1980, which is not too far off from 1962 but not too close as well. In fact, London during 1980 was a bit bizarre but not at all outdated with the actual events of the book. Whether or not he changed his mind for the final version and put it in some other nearby year or he kept it in the year 1980 and kept it ambiguous is never addressed.
154	* UncannyValleyMakeup: Most teenage girls of this society do this as part of fashion trends. Along with long black dresses with badges on their chests, girls at the beginning of the book have colored wigs, rainbows painted around the eyes, and massive lipstick around their mouths.
155	* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: When Alex starts a fight with Georgie and Dim on the sidewalk, all the people walking by see this but continue going by because this sort of activity seems to be a common street sight.
156	* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Classic free will vs. know-it-all society conflict.
157	* VerbalTic:
158	** Mr. Deltoid, yes?
159	** To a subtler degree, Alex's "brother", "O my brothers," "little brother," etc. can come off like this.
160	* VillainHasAPoint: While Georgie is a vicious, amoral hoodlum, he's perfectly correct that it's stupid for the gang to be running the risks they run for what amounts to chump change, when they could be making a lot more money by going after more valuable targets.
161	* VillainProtagonist: Alex. He is a sadistic psychopath who commits various heinous acts throughout the book and feels no remorse for any of it. [[spoiler: Even at the end of the book, in which he reforms himself, he only does it because he has grown bored with crime and wants to be a civilian, not because he feels bad about any of it]].
162	* VillainousRescue: As Alex and his Droogs are walking by a municipal power plant, they come across Billyboy and five of his gang members about to rape a ten-year old girl. When they catch sight of them, they decide to let the girl go running away crying in the night. Alex and his Droogs were not exactly rescuing her (in fact, it's implied that if they got to her first, they would have wanted to rape her as well). they were denying the rival gang to enjoy their prize by fighting them instead.
163	* VomitIndiscretionShot:
164	** When Alex and his droogs come across the drunken tramp, they beat so hard that he starts vomiting. They continue to kick him until he starts vomiting ''blood'', to which they finally stop and move along.
165	** And at the police station, Alex gets punched in the belly, and he feels the remains of a slice of pie that he ate back at his apartment about to go back up, but he manages to hold it in. But when he retaliates by kicking the one who punched him, he gets beaten by a whole team of cops to which he had to vomit on the floor. The police hand him bits of newspaper and made him clean it up.
166	* WhatIsEvil: "Come now, you know that's just a matter of words."
167	* WickedCultured: Alex's speech and gang attire are sarcastically genteel, and he's an absolute freak for classical music.
168	* WithDueRespect: Alex gives this to the Minister of the Interior before correcting him on his brutal murder of a cell mate.
169	* WordSaladTitle: The "clockwork" part clearly has something to do with the way the treatment makes Alex programmable, but Burgess has given several different explanations for what the title is supposed to mean:
170	** The phrase comes from "as queer as a clockwork orange," a Cockney phrase Burgess claimed to have heard, but of which there is no record of ever being used before he wrote the book.
171	** "Orange" is a pun on the Malay word for man, ''orang'', though there are no other Malay words used in the novel.
172	** "Orange" refers to the human capacity for "color and sweetness."
173	** Within the book itself, it is used as a metaphor for the brainwashing procedure: a criminal who is conditioned to be sickened by violence is as unnatural as a clockwork orange... a machine imitating life, but not alive itself. A clockwork orange would be an utterly useless contraption (you can't eat it, but oranges are only worth anything if they can be eaten). So too would the human robbed of free will be useless as a human being.
174	* WouldHurtAChild: In a particularly disturbing chapter in Part I, Alex lures two ten-year-old girls back to his flat and proceeds to drug and rape them. Earlier, before Alex and his droogs interrupt, Billy Boy and his gang are fixing to gang-rape a ten-year-old girl.
175	* WriterOnBoard:
176	** The 21st chapter shows Alex [[spoiler:matured to the point where he wants to end his violent ways and have a family]]. This after displaying all the signs of a psychopath--deriving joy from causing pain, total disregard for the consequences of his actions, and a complete lack of empathy for others--for the previous 20 chapters.
177	** Burgess adapted it into a play for the express purpose of making sure that no-one else would, as they would surely take the film version as their source. To distance it as far as possible, he actually made it a musical, much of the dialogue taking its metre from the works of Beethoven, and the play has its definite end where the author intended, Alex growing up and getting bored with youthful madness. It even includes a fantastic summation to the play's intended message to the tune of the fifth symphony (which you'll find in the quotes section). The script even suggests that a man dressed as Stanley Kubrick should come onstage trying to sing "Singing in the Rain" as a counterpoint, [[TakeThat and get lynched by the rest of the cast]].
178	* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Alex often mixes this with his nadsat slang.
179	* YouAreNumberSix: Alex is referred to with his prison number "6655321" in the book.
180	* YouMonster: After Alex lures two ten-year old girls to his apartment room, he intoxicates them with Scotch, and then he beats and rapes them. When they wake up to find him doing this to them, they became horrified and furious at him. They started punching him while calling him a wild animal and hateful beast. After getting their clothes back on and their things, they leave the apartment while telling Alex that the cops while be on him soon.
181	* {{Zeerust}}: The book's setting is the near future as viewed from the Sixties.

Context Literature / AClockworkOrange