Free Will And Duality In Anthony Burgess A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange is a novel about free will and duality in society. One of the first themes that the novel addresses is that every individual in a society should be allowed to choose their own moral path. Burgess believed that choice was a morality issue and that each individual’s choices lead to a moral decision. Alex’s decision led him to a life of violence and a habitat of raping and stealing. Alex states, “ ‘A man who cannot choose ceases to be a man.’ ” (part 3, ch. 4, pg. 175). Alex believes that it is in human nature to be violent and that is why he chooses to be a delinquent. He truly believes that he cannot change the way he is even with the torture, he still believed that his inner destructive self was still inside of him. By saying that a man cease to be a man, Burgess point out that even if the choices that people make are wrong, they are still choices that separate civilized species from uncivilized species.

The title of the book supports this theme because humans are the orange, from nature and organic but in this society the humans are part of a clockwork that does whatever their government orders them to, a clockwork orange. The second theme addressed in the novel is that the world works on duality. For example, in the novel good v. evil or immaturity v. maturity. This concept is important because it gives a small insight on how the world works. Good v. evil is represented in the novel with the idea that people are forced to be good citizens or that they choose to be evil. One quote to support that is, “ ‘The question is whether such a technique can really make a man good. Goodness comes from within, 6655321, Goodness is something chosen.’ ”(part 2, ch.1, pg.