The title is a metaphor for a human being who has been conditioned or "wound up" by the state to perform good acts without the internal will to do so. Represents the natural, organic human being.
Author Anthony Burgess noted the title also draws from an old Cockney expression, "as queer as a clockwork orange," meaning something extremely strange or unnatural. 2. Core Themes subtitle a clockwork orange
Burgess, a linguist, created a fictional argot called "Nadsat," which blends English with Russian-influenced words (e.g., horrorshow for "good," droog for "friend") to distance the reader from the protagonist's violence. The title is a metaphor for a human