Beginning of Essay
To leave out the final chapter of is to change the entire meaning of the novel; as Burgess says in the introduction, his story is transformed into a fable. Without the last chapter the reader is left with a dark and pessimistic theme, that absolute good and evil ....

Middle of Essay
.... that Alex will change from the evil life it appears he will soon resume. It is implied to the reader that Alex is destined for a life of evil and there is nothing he can do to change it. Alex has no free will or moral choice. The theme of the 20 chapter version is that there is no such thing as free will or moral choice. Alex is evil and he has no ability to change that. The story also ends without Alex evolving at all from the beginning of the book. Chapter 21 gives the book an absolutely different theme. Alex becomes board with his malicious life, he begins to evolve. "I was like growing up" he says about himself in chapter 21. He decides he wan ....