My first contact with A Clockwork Orange occurred when my then-boyfriend and I were in a Blockbuster with a friend of his. After an hour of indecisiveness, we were open to the closest movie to us. That is when his friend selected A Clockwork Orange, praising its artistic value in today’s society. I was seventeen and had never heard of it.
The movie amazed me; I was engulfed in its sea of sexuality and violence from which I will probably never escape. Yet, would I even want to leave? The fascination with the movie led to my reading of the novella in the summer of 1997. I had just lost two friends in an automobile accident, and my need for intellectual stimulation was massive. It took all of a day to complete and is taking a lifetime to unlock. Yet that is exactly the place where Anthony Burgess starts to roll in his grave.
I believe that Burgess wrote the novella as a prophetic view of warning to future societies. He was a peaceful person who didn’t want the stark consequences of the fictional Alex to become a grim reality. His novella is aimed at the intellectuals who are willing to decipher the complex Alex and tie the work’s meaning to their own lives and societies. Yet, a startling realization occurs when one looks at those most acquainted with the novella and its movie spouse. Many are teenagers who see Alex as a sexually liberated hero who wins in the end over good. To them, it is a prime example of evil overcoming good. Gee, I guess they all own the 20 chapter version. One only has to view the guestbooks of WebPages dedicated to A Clockwork Orange to understand my point. Many of the comments are written in dribs and drabs of nadsat, focusing primarily on the violent and sexual themes of the novella and movie; some of the “authors” have never even read the novella! How can one intellectually comment on a work without absorbing all of its components? One cannot. This comment is in NO WAY directed toward the individuals living in England and in other foreign countries where the novella is banned. That situation is sad in itself; The Story of O is illegally typed on a WebPages, why couldn’t someone do that for A Clockwork Orange? Book banning is another intellectual tragedy for another time.
If Burgess wanted this work, which ironically was his least favorite, to be a violent sex novel, he would have submitted it directly to Penthouse. This is not the case, although both the novella and the movie received favorable criticisms in Playboy. The message is clear; the A Clockwork Orange movie/novella package is meant to be discussed for its mental value, not for its exciting rapes. Those who can appreciate it as such should feel free to write about it. Those who cannot appreciate it should shut up and rent a porn the next time they want sexual violence in their lives. The immaturity of its viewers is the reason that this novella is no longer read in American English classes. (Yes, at one time it was an assigned book for reading and discussing in the classroom!) The WebPages is a remarkable technology that allows for immeasurable freedom of speech that can be put to better use then some of what I have seen.

Kris N. Burgess is Rolling