How do you think Alex’s situation in A Clockwork Orange would be different if Alex had been portrayed as female? What if Villanelle had been male? How do you think the author’s representations of the characters would change? Keep the culture of each novel in mind, but how would that help shape your opinions of either character? How might you as a reader expect either character to act as a different gender, and why? Look at these questions as springboards for other ideas and go from there.