"What's it going to be then, eh?" This question, which the narrator repeatedly asks throughout the novel, sets up the thematic frame of the book. This subject of free choice, which is the main topic of Anthony Burgesss' A Clockwork Orange (1962), is a significant problem that Alex, the protagonist, must deal with. He is robbed of his capacity for free choice and condemned to be mild, whether he wants it or not. Although Alex and his "droogs" rebel against the conventions of society, his choice to do evil is better than the forcing of goodness because having the freedom of choice one of the most important aspects that makes one human and not a clockwork orange.
             Burgess' definition of moral freedom is the ability to perform both good and evil, for evil must exist along with good in order for there to be a choice involved. In his introduction, he states that if one "can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange – meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or the Almighty State" (ix). Good beings may cause evil, and moral freedom only requires that one knows a possibility is evil before one chooses it. It is only then that moral guilt is valid. However, if one can only choose good or only choose evil, then there is no freedom involved and the concepts of reward and punishment do not apply. Burgess calls such beings 'clockwork oranges' and further says that they are 'inhuman.'
             Alex is the finest example of a clockwork orange and remains one until he reaches
             maturity at the end of the book. The immature Alex was a mixture of good and evil possibilities with evil taking the upper hand. He does evil because he likes, it just as some people do good because they like it. This shows his lack of a moral sense of obligation – he ...