Triumph of free will in A Clockwork OrangeIn the midst of a population made up of perfectly conditioned automatons, there is the image of a society that is slowly rotting away. interior. Alex, the Faustian protagonist of A Clockwork Orange and sadistic and depraved gang leader, preys on the weak and innocent. Although perhaps misguided, his awareness of his evil nature indicates his ability to understand morality and deny its practice. When society tries to impose kindness on Alex, he becomes the victim. Through his innovative style, manifested both in the use of original language and satirical structure, British author Anthony Burgess presents in his short story A Clockwork Orange, the moral triumph of free will in the controlling hands of a totalitarian society. Intending to establish order and justice to protect human rights, society instead threatens human life with its own harmful impositions. This societal satire depicts the author's opposition to the prominent behaviorist movement, led by B.F. Skinner. Ironically, Clockwork seems to ridicule the utopian society depicted in Skinner's Walden Two (Aggeler 70). Proponents of behaviorism advocated the human conditioning described in Skinner's work. Burgess's imaginatively crafted language found in Clockwork, known as Nadsat, conveys this theme to the reader. At first reading, this manufactured jargon seems absurd and difficult to understand, but in the end, the onomatopoeic phrasing flows naturally and thus "Nadsat's effect on the reader functions as an ironic commentary on the novel itself" ( Foote, 87). Burgess conditions readers themselves to understand Nadsat, but they are completely unaware of this imposition. The language itself captivates...... middle of paper ....... A clockwork orange. 1986. Norton and Company, Inc. New York Evans, Robert O. "The 'New Novel,' Russian Dystopias, and Anthony Burgess." British Novelists Since 1900. AMS Press, 1987. pp253-66. Reprinted in CLC. vol 62. pp130-132.Foote, Timothy. “Wolf of God.” Time, the weekly news magazine. March 17, 1975, pp.84-86. reprinted in CLC. vol 10. pp87-90.Mazour, Anatole G., ed. History of the world. 1993. Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. pp423Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. "Packaging." Encyclopedia of utopian literature. 1995. ABC-CLIO Inc. Santa Barbara, California. pp143Tilton, John W. "'A Clockwork Orange': Consciousness is Everything." Cosmic Satire in the Contemporary Novel. 1997. Associated University Press, Inc. p.21-42. reprinted in CLC. vol 15. p.104- 107Wade, Carol, ed. Psychology 5th addition. 1998. Addison-Wesley Education Publishers Inc. pp..257.