A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess was published in 1962.
BANNED in Alachua, Brevard, Clay, Escambia, Flagler, Hillsborough, Lee, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Santa Rosa, St. Johns, Union, and Volusia county public schools
A Clockwork Orange was the most banned book during the ‘24 -’25 school year, according to PEN America.
Set in a dystopian future, the novel begins with a teenager named Alex embarking on a violent crime spree. Without empathy, Alex rapes a woman in her home before being arrested by the police. To shorten his sentence, Alex undergoes an experimental rehabilitation treatment that conditions him to feel ill at the thought of violence.
The story explores the necessity of free will in the journey to redemption. Removing a person’s capacity for evil robs them of their humanity. It makes them more like “clockwork oranges” (machines) than people. The novel raises valuable questions about punishment, rehabilitation, morality and the role of the justice system.
Since The Clockwork Orange’s release, censors have attempted to dismiss these complex ideas by claiming the book is needlessly violent. The 2025 resurgence of this trend focuses on the “pornographic” content of the book. Censors point to the sexual violence of the main character, which is meant to highlight his immorality – not glorify it.
Orange County Public Schools removed A Clockwork Orange “as a result of State Board of Education discussion.” While there is no evidence that the FL DOE directly ordered the removal, it reflects a growing trend. In 2024, South Carolina, Utah and Tennessee enacted policies that enable state-wide “no-read” lists. As Florida remains the top book-banning state for the third year in a row, it may soon follow their lead.
“We can destroy what we have written, but we cannot unwrite it.”
― Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange