A Clockwork Orange
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A Clockwork Orange

by Anthony Burgess

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Characters

  • Alex: The novel's anti-hero and leader among his droogs. He often refers to himself as "Your Humble Narrator". (Having seduced two girls in a music shop, Alex refers to himself as "Alexander the Large" while ravishing them; this was later the basis for Alex's claimed surname DeLarge in the 1971 film.)
  • George or Georgie: Effectively Alex's greedy second-in-command. Georgie attempts to undermine Alex's status as leader of the gang. He later dies from a botched robbery attempt during Alex's stay in prison.
  • Pete: The most rational and least violent member of the gang. He is the only one who doesn't take particular sides when the droogs fight among themselves. He later meets a girl, reunites with Alex, causing Alex to consider joining society.
  • Dim: An idiotic and thoroughly gormless member of the gang, persistently condescended to by Alex, but respected to some extent by his droogs for his formidable fighting abilities, his weapon of choice being a length of bike chain. He later becomes a police officer, exacting his revenge on Alex for the abuse he once suffered under his command.
  • P. R. Deltoid: An anally retentive social worker assigned the task of keeping Alex on the straight and narrow. He seemingly has no clue about dealing with young people, and is devoid of empathy or understanding for his troublesome charge. Indeed, when Alex is arrested for murdering an old woman, and then ferociously beaten by several police officers, Deltoid simply spits on him.
  • The prison chaplain: The character who first questions whether or not forced goodness is really better than chosen wickedness. The only character who is truly concerned about Alex's welfare; he is not taken seriously by Alex, though. (He is nicknamed by Alex "prison charlie" or "chaplin", a nod to Charlie Chaplin.)
  • Billyboy: A rival of Alex's. Early on in the story, Alex and his droogs battle Billyboy and his droogs, which ends abruptly when the police arrive. Later, after Alex is released from prison, Billyboy (along with Dim) rescue Alex from a mob then subsequently beat him.
  • The governor: The man who decides to let Alex "choose" to be the first reformed by the Ludovico Technique.
  • Dr. Brodsky: A malevolent scientist and co-founder of the Ludovico Technique. He appears friendly and almost paternal towards Alex at first, before forcing him into the theatre to be psychologically tortured.
  • Dr. Branom: Brodsky's colleague and co-founder of the Ludovico Technique. He seems much more passive than Brodsky, and says considerably less.
  • F. Alexander: An author who was in the process of typing his magnum opus A Clockwork Orange, when Alex and his droogs broke into his house, beat him and then brutally gang raped his wife, which caused her subsequent death. He is left deeply scarred by these events, and when he encounters Alex two years later he uses him as a guinea pig in a sadistic experiment intended to prove the inefficiency of the Ludovico Technique.
  • Otto Skadelig: a fictional Danish composer. The first movement of his third symphony is violent in style. It prompts Alex to attempt suicide. His surname means "harmful" in Danish and Norwegian.[3]

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