Fruit

Introduction

By Paul Anderson

My son is having me read A Clockwork Orange this month.  The author, Anthony Burgess, considered it a novel because the main character, Alex, goes through a transformation by the end of the story.  He regrets his ulta-violent lifestyle and hope for a better future.  However, the US version removed the final chapter.  The author felt this changed the novel into a fable or allegory.  In either case, he wasn't pleased with its success, as it was just something he wrote in three weeks for the money and never thought it would be come his best known work.

The title comes from a saying the author had overheard in a London pub, a kind of oxymoron. 

“If he can only perform good or only perform evil, then he is a clockwork orange—meaning that he has the appearance of an organism lovely with colour and juice but is in fact only a clockwork toy to be wound up by God or the Devil.”

The title relates to the book's main theme of freewill.  Alex is caught for his crimes and given a type of aversion therapy where he cannot commit violence without getting sick.  In essence, he is forced to be good.  It was not that he had been persuaded that it was better to turn the other cheek.  Through the use of medication, he had to suffer "the horrible and wrong feeling that it was better to get the hit than give it.  If that veck had stayed I might even had presented the other cheek."

Becoming a clockwork orange only leads to an attempted suicide, and the effects of the therapy is only temporary.  Alex returns to his former ulta-violent ways.  This is where the final chapter is key.  Alex is now free to choose good.

"When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man."

The book was new to me:  I was going in blind.  When I began to listen to the book on my walks, I began to see oranges in strange places.  In the bushes, I ran across a can with a picture of an orange cut in half.  On social media, I saw a couple of girls getting a tattoo of the half orange split between the two.  Each person would get one half of the image to symbolize their friendship.  Then, in person, I saw a friend with that tattoo.  When I asked her about the orange tattoo, Cheyenne said, "My friend has the other half."  I just replied, "Wouldn't it be the other quarter?"

If an orange means friendship, would a clockwork orange be a false friend?

Here are my top 12 verses on Fruit:

Jesus On Fruit

Matthew 7:16-20 King James Version

16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Luke 22:17-19 King James Version

17 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:

18 For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.

19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

Mark 4:14-20 King James Version

14 The sower soweth the word.

15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

16 And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.

18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

20 And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.

John 15:2-8 King James Version

2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Fruit In The New Testament

Galatians 5:22-23 King James Version

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Hebrews 12:11 King James Version

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

James 3:17-18 King James Version

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

Revelation 14:18-19 King James Version

18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

Fruit In The Old Testament

Genesis 3:1-6 King James Version

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

2 Samuel 16:1-2 King James Version

1 And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.

2 And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.

Proverbs 1:30-32 King James Version

30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

Isaiah 57:19-21 King James Version

19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord; and I will heal him.

20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

Conclusion Of The Whole Matter

The orange didn't last the month.  It is a short book.  So, I got some grapes:  The Grapes Of Wrath.  It is a much longer book, much longer (21 hours).

This novel is a long tale about Oklahoma farmers being pushed off their land and travelling along Route 66 to California to find some work.  The big draw about California seems to be the abundance of oranges and grapes.

If on'y they didn' tell me I got to get off, why, I'd prob'y be in California right now a-eatin' grapes an a-pickin' an orange when I wanted.

Who knew when I was reading Bird books last month, that my month of April would be filled with Fruit books?  And bad fruit at that.

A Clockwork Orange is a story about ulta-violence and written in a pseudo-language to mimic teenage slang, which just ends up making it hard to enjoy.  The Grapes Of Wrath is just long and boring.  It is like watching slides of another family's really bad car trip.  And, they interrupt the slides with infomercials to sell you a car (Chapter 7) or advertise the diners on Route 66 (Chapter 15).  The only redeeming quality about the infomercials was that one had the best line in the novel:

Ladies can smoke, just watch where you put your butts.

I can't remember which character decided it would be a good idea to take the whole family to California but "one person with his mind made up can shove a lot of people around."  However, it was a terrible idea.  The main character ends up killing two people, the family has to endure two plagues (dust and flood), and both the grandparents die before getting any of the hallowed oranges and grapes.

The title of the novel comes from lyrics in "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Julia Ward Howe:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord:

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on.

Although I can't be sure, I think the other inspiration for the book was from the song "Never Been To Spain" by Hoyt Axton:

So I headed for Las Vegas

Only made it out to Needles

I got to feel it, must be near it

Oh it feels so good, Lord, feel so good

Well I've never been to Heaven

But I've been to Oklahoma

Well, they tell me I was born there

But I really don't remember

In Oklahoma or Arizona

What does it matter

What does it matter

Howe took her reference from the biblical passage Revelation 14:18-19.  So, you would think there would be a spiritual significance to the grapes in the novel.  However, the significance is very underdeveloped.  The only reference to the grapes of wrath is when the food producers are destroying the surplus crops in front of the hungry migrant farmers.

and in the eyes of the people there is a failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage.

The book contains a couple of Bible verses.  Psalm 32:1 is read at one of the funerals and the main character remembers a passage from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12.  However, the author missed a golden opportunity to use Leviticus 19:10, which addresses the main problem in story, the fact that the producers had strayed from the Biblical injunction:

And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God.

While some may consider The Grapes Of Wrath a great novel, I will stick with the books for the birds.  To Kill A Mockingbird and One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest were far superior and have a better claim to the Great American Novel.

What I have written, I have written (John 19:22).

253 Bible results for “fruit” from King James Version.

• Old Testament (180)
• Genesis (22)
• Exodus (5)
• Leviticus (14)
• Numbers (3)
• Deuteronomy (15)
• Joshua (1)
• Judges (1)
• 2 Samuel (3)
• 2 Kings (3)
• Nehemiah (4)
• Job (1)
• Psalm (12)
• Proverbs (12)
• Ecclesiastes (1)
• Song of Solomon (7)
• Isaiah (21)
• Jeremiah (17)
• Lamentations (2)
• Ezekiel (13)
• Daniel (3)
• Hosea (5)
• Joel (1)
• Amos (6)
• Micah (3)
• Habakkuk (1)
• Haggai (1)
• Zechariah (1)
• Malachi (2)
• New Testament (73)
• Matthew (16)
• Mark (8)
• Luke (15)
• John (7)
• Acts (2)
• Romans (6)
• 1 Corinthians (1)
• 2 Corinthians (1)
• Galatians (1)
• Ephesians (1)
• Philippians (3)
• Colossians (2)
• 2 Timothy (1)
• Hebrews (2)
• James (4)
• Jude (1)
• Revelation (2)

Scripture contributions for April 2023 by: Paul Anderson, Matthew Anderson