Choice and free will are necessary to maintain humanity, both individually and communally; without them, man is no longer human but a "clockwork orange," a deterministic mechanism, as demonstrated in Anthony Burgess' novel, A Clockwork Orange. The choice between good and evil is a decision every man must make throughout his life to guide his actions and control his future. This element of choice, no matter what the outcome, displays man's power as an individual. Any efforts to control or influence this choice between good and evil will in turn govern man's free will and no longer may he be called a man.
             Burgess himself has suggested that the basic issue of A Clockwork Orange deals with the idea of free will or choice. Critic Samuel Coale documents that Anthony Burgess declared: "Choice, choice is all that matters, and to impose the good is evil, to act evil is better than to have good imposed (92)." He adds, "I was merely trying to point out the very real danger, an imminent danger, that is, the State is taking on more and more control (92)." Finally he says that, "I lean toward anarchy; I hate the State (92)." This absolutist doctrine, which urges, "the defense of self, no matter how twisted it may be, and the condemnation of the state, no matter how benevolent it tends to be (92)," seems to be a central idea in A Clockwork Orange, and is greatly supported by the text.
             Burgess's definition of moral freedom as the ability to perform both good and evil is presented in his discussion of what is a "clockwork orange". In the introduction to the novel, Burgess states that if one, "can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange... he has the appearance of an organism lovely with color and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil or... the Almighty State (Burgess 4)." Burgess goes on to say, "It is as inhuman to be totally good as it is to be totally evil. The import...