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A Clockwork Orange (Book)

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Orbert:
That's correct. Kubrick was working from an American publication of the book, which did not include the last chapter, so it's not like he was trying to totally change the message of the book. Even after hearing about the final chapter, his vision for the movie was already set.

I don't know; if it were me, and someone pointed out to me that there was this "final chapter" I'd missed out on, I'd probably read it, but after having already absorbed the story as I understood it, I'd likely dismiss whatever I read as epilogue. And if it turned out to totally change the message, I might even reject it outright. This is not right, but it's human nature.

BrittanyMarie:
I preferred it without the 21st chapter, to be perfectly honest.

Orbert:
See, there ya go.

This kinduv reminds me of the situation with Herman Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener".  I'll say up front that I hated the story, and find Melville incredibly boring, but I had to read it in junior high and then - ARGH! - again in high school.

Anyway, people were apparently unhappy with the whole Bartleby thing. Why was he the way he was? Was he naturally an extreme introvert, or was there some horrible thing in the past that made him that way?  So Melville added an epilogue to the story, first person by Bartleby's boss (same as the rest of the story), explaining how he'd dug a little into Bartleby's past, and found out why. He then explained it all to us. It was totally lame! I didn't like the story anyway, but at least it had this bizarre character and we had no idea why he acted that way. Sometimes you meet people, have to interact with them, and you never find out why they're so nucking futs. Melville caved, and made a crappy story even worse by trying to explain everything.

Hmm, I guess it's not really the same thing as with A Clockwork Orange after all. But it reminded me of it.

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