The Programming of Free Will in Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange

Abstract

In Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (1962), the term “clockwork” refers to the moral programming of delinquents. Drawing on Nadsat’s deconstructive moves, this paper uncovers a hitherto overlooked meaning of “clockwork,” one that foregrounds how our temporal condition constrains our ability to choose freely. Courtesy of the argot, the mortality that conditions choice emerges as a form of programming. As a result, free will acquires a “clockwork” dimension. The temporal meaning of “clockwork” not only does a great deal of justice to deconstruction’s grounding in cybernetics but, more importantly, offers new insights into the dystopian novella’s problematizing of free will.