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The novel, written in the first person, is narrated by the fifteen year old anti-hero figure of Alex - rapist, tormentor and, eventually, victim. Initially the leader of a gang that roamed the streets at night committing violent crimes (ultraviolence) for entertainment, the main protagonist of the work is a self-proclaimed menace and is guilty of many terrible acts. Despite this, however, the reader is compelled to, if not identify with, at least sympathise almost against their will with Alex, due partially to the confiding manner in which they are addressed by him throughout the novel but more importantly due to what he's put through after being imprisoned for his crimes.
Alex is imprisoned and subjected to an experimental rehabilitation programme.
Betrayed by his gang of friends, or "droogs" in Nadsat, the futuristic, Russian-sounding slang that the book is written in and that is universally employed by the youth of the novel, Alex is imprisoned and subjected to an experimental rehabilitation programme known as the Ludovico Technique. This treatment promises that participants will be released upon completion after curing them of all violent tendencies, thus making them fit once more for society. This extreme form of aversion therapy - involving being given a nausea-inducing drug whilst being forced to watch graphically violent films - makes Alex completely unable to commit, or even to contemplate, violent acts without being crippled by nausea.
The events that follow this horrifying behaviour modification, including his release from prison - now entirely unable to defend himself due to his extreme, enforced aversion to violence, his goodness involuntary and mechanical - his manipulation by a group attempting to undermine the government and his attempted suicide, all drive home the question brought to light by the Reclamation Treatment: whether or not enforced goodness is better than voluntary wickedness and whether those in power have the right to take away the free will of individuals for the good of society.
Ultimately this is a novel of inestimable value as a work of shock impact and harsh social satire, bringing to light issues such as the nature of goodness, corruption and violence in a police state, the negation of liberty and dehumanisation. Shocking, brilliant and controversial, A Clockwork Orange marks a milestone in the history of English literature and is an exceptional work of moral debate and psychological impact.
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