Anthony Burgess’ most famous work is better known for it’s film adaptation by the now legendary director Stanley Kubrick. A classic in it’s own right, it should be acknowledged that a purposeful edit took place for the cinema, as well as the American release of the novel. In fact, it wasn’t until 1986 that the original was released globally ( more than twenty years past it’s original publication).
British Release
Burgess intentionally wrote twenty one chapters in the original novella in order to portray the theme of maturity. As 21 is a synonymous number with becoming an adult. The final chapter proved to not only be a turning point in the story, but changes the actual premise.
Alex (the main character) demonstrates his ability to be as cruel and violent as society allows throughout the vast majority of the book. Only when he is tortured and supposedly “cured” by the institution and a previous victim do we receive a glimpse of his condition.
In chapter 21 Alex actually admits that he no longer wants to commit acts of vanity and pointless destruction. He sees that the ability to create life is just as valuable as the actions of crushing it.
American and Cinema Adaptation
This elusive chapter was cut for the American release by the request of Burgess’ publisher. We are left with the impression that Alex is not only not “cured”, but that his very nature is in fact drawn to evil. Thus, not only will he continue to raise havoc, this constitutes the idea that human beings are in born to this identity of negligent cruelty. Why this was thought to appeal to an American audience has not been explained.
Disparity between Versions
While the twenty first chapter appears as a departure from the main themes of the story, it actually works in a way to balance them out. The title of the book is actually quite telling in it’s message. The orange being the living organism, and the clockwork playing out as time and fate.
So then the audience is left with two plausible messages from this classic. Man being hopelessly lost and blind to all good, or the opposite in which we are born to find the good in life. Either way is an exaggeration, as Burgess explains his attempt was to show the flaws in both senses of logic.
W. W. Norton & Company
192 pages
Additional Reading: "A Clockwork Orange Resucked" by Anthony Burgess. Available in most new publcations of novel.
