In Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's best known work, A Clockwork Orange, the perception of the protagonist was drastically altered. While the last two chapters are a key of the story in the novel, Kubrick omitted them for his adaptation and hereby suggested a different focus in what concerns the morality or final impression of the plot. While the book ends with Alex's transformation from a sadistic crook to an adult man seeking for a woman to start a family, the film adaptation ends right before readers of the book would be lead into said change of heart. This omission of key information divides the character of Alex into two separate ones. Viewers of Kubrick's film get to know that Alex has come to a full recovery of his disputable treatment and might get back to his life as rapist, thug and robber. They receive no guidance in getting an idea of what happens next, but they know Alex. Keeping the last tests by the psychologist at the hospital in mind; he might very well relapse and fall back into his old lifestyle. Readers of Burgess's novel, with Alex's change of behavior, receive a far more comforting ending. A book about self-development has become a movie about a violent, remorseless Teenager who does not really get punished for his deeds. .
The reason for this considerable difference in the endings is to be found in the publishing stage of the novel. As Pat J. Gehrke points out in his text Deviant Subjects in Foucault and A Clockwork Orange, the missing of the original ending in the film has accidental reasons: "When Burgess originally wrote the book it was twenty-one chapters long and ended with Alex escaping the effects of behavior modification, outgrowing his lust for violence, and yearning for peace, a wife, and a baby. Editors persuaded Burgess to cut the last chapter of the book for the American release. Kubrick, completely unaware of the discrepancy between the two versions, wrote his screenplay from the shorter American edition (depth of field p.