clockwork orange

A Clockwork Orange To leave out the final chapter of A Clockwork Orange is to change the entire meaning of the novel; as Burgess says in the introduction, his story is transformed into a fable. Without the last chapter the reader is left with a dark and pessimistic theme, that absolute good and evil exist in this world and it is possible for a man to be pure evil. Alex is conditioned and unconditioned, and …

…with seven chapters each. Seven multiplied by three equals twenty one. Burgess felt that this was significant because twenty one is considered to be the age of maturity and adulthood. The complete version of A Clockwork Orange with twenty one chapters is a wonderfully written book with a powerful theme of one young man’s free will to be whomever he chooses, prevailing over attempts by outside organizations to determine the nature of his life.