Before it was a film that stirred up controversy to such a degree it was pulled from British circulation by the director, Stanley Kubrick, himself, A Clockwork Orange was a novel by English writer Anthony Burgess. The classic sci-fi novel was published in 1962, set in the near-future where the youth of society engage in extremely violent acts, and reformation is no less extreme. Critical reception at the time in Britain was mixed, with the Spectator praising the novel as an “extraordinary technical feat,” while the New Statesman said it was a “great strain to read.” The reaction in the United States, however, was much more positive, with the Tulsa World‘s critic stating that the “story moves along rapidly and keeps you smiling even while heads are being bashed and stomachs kicked.” Only the critics on either side of the Atlantic weren’t reading the same version, with the original UK version containing Chapter 21, an ending that was cut from the U.S. edition when it was published state-side in 1963.
‘A Clockwork Orange’ Is a Dark and Violent Novel Prior to the Cut Ending
The first 20 chapters of the book focus on Alex DeLarge, a 15-year-old miscreant who, with his gang of “droogs” (Pete, Dim, and Georgie), roam a dystopian London committing acts of “ultraviolence.” These acts include unprovoked attacks on the street, robbery, and sexual assault, to name a few. But after a particularly heinous crime at the home of a wealthy woman, his droogs run away, leaving Alex behind to be captured by the police. He is subsequently convicted of murder, and sentenced to a 14-year prison term.
After two years, Alex is offered a proposition: he can serve out his sentence, or take part in a government-led experimental aversion therapy: the Ludovico Technique. He volunteers for the latter, which consists of hours and hours of being strapped to a chair with his eyes forced open, watching graphic films of extreme violence while under the influence of nausea-inducing drugs. The method induces a Pavlovian reflex, where even the thought of violence (or the sound of Beethoven’s music, which is, or at least was, a passion of his) brings on nausea, sickness, and paralysis.
Alex is cured, physically unable to perform his former acts of violence, and released. Unfortunately, karma has no such restrictions, and Alex finds himself beaten up by a homeless man he had abused before, and by Dim and Georgie, now policemen, who use their authority to beat him even further. The sound of Beethoven from another room is the final straw, and Alex attempts suicide by jumping out his window. He survives, but the attempt sparks a public outcry against the controversial aversion technique, prompting the government to reverse the effects. When Alex awakes, he smiles at the assembled collection of photographers and reporters, feigning reformation as he envisions returning to his old ultraviolent acts.
The Ending Cut From American Editions of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ Is More Hopeful
Image via Warner Bros.- Image via Warner Bros.
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Image via Warner Bros. PicturesThat is where both the American edition of the novel and Kubrick’s adaptation end, a nihilistic, ambiguous ending that suggests Alex could never truly be reformed. The 21st chapter of the British edition changes that completely. In it, Alex is now eighteen, and realizes that it’s time for him to settle down, get a job, a wife, and children. He’s outgrown his life of crime, and as Burgess explains (per Consequence):
“He grows bored with violence and recognizes that human energy is better expended on creation than destruction. My young hoodlum comes to the revelation of the need to get something done in life.”
“He grows bored with violence and recognizes that human energy is better expended on creation than destruction. My young hoodlum comes to the revelation of the need to get something done in life.”
It’s an undeniably more optimistic outcome, a happy Hollywood ending that leaves the reader hopeful. Ironically, it was American publishers W.W. Norton that opted to remove the Hollywood ending, a complete 180 from the norm that would see a Hollywood ending tacked on to such fare, believing that dropping the final chapter made the ending more convincing and powerful. And they did so with the approval of Burgess himself, although he would later claim he gave his approval under duress.
Contrary to popular belief, however, Burgess didn’t hate the U.S. edition or the film, but rather how the film overshadowed his novel, yet he was still the one being vilified (“Kubrick’s achievement swallowed mine whole, and yet I was responsible for what some called its malign influence on the young”). As for the ending, Burgess was largely ambivalent to either, protecting his original vision but acknowledging the “American” ending was stronger. It wasn’t until 1986 that Chapter 21 was added into American editions, with Burgess ultimately allowing readers to decide which ending they preferred, writing in his introduction to the new edition:
“Readers of the twenty-first chapter must decide for themselves whether it enhances the book they presumably know or is really a discardable limb. I meant the book to end in this way, but my aesthetic judgments may have been faulty.”
</blockquote>“Readers of the twenty-first chapter must decide for themselves whether it enhances the book they presumably know or is really a discardable limb. I meant the book to end in this way, but my aesthetic judgments may have been faulty.”
And that, dear reader, is where we will leave it too.
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