The setting of the glass roses was in a Canadian logging company shortly after WW2 and during a cold Canadian Winter. This impacts the people there who have grown up believing “There ain’t no room for kids in the pulp woods”. This refers to how in order to survive you have to be tough and demonstrate signs of being tough, such as stoicism, because the only alternative is to perish. This is shown further when Leka/ The Polack claimed that “sometimes I think this country does not like people” referring to how people are very delicate animals who are not naturally supposed to be living in conditions such as the Canadian winter and that is only possible because people were so dedicated to doing so. This is further supported when the Polack said, …show more content…
What is the difference between a'smart' and a'smart'? The author Alden Nowlan used the glass roses several times throughout the story to refer to the childlike innocence of people and how fragile roses can easily be broken by others. The roses can refer to any individual however when they are first introduced in the story from the Polack they are referring to how the innocent was broken at the start of WW2 shown when his mothers glass roses “broke in a million pieces”. The Polack later exclaims how “there is not much room in the world for glass roses” referring to how people who are innocent will easily be broken by those around them and will not survive the harsh conditions that most people are born into. When Stephen asked about the roses that got smashed the Polack responded with “the roses that got smashed”... “they were very pretty, those little glass roses, I need only close my eyes and I can see them”. This can be taken literally of him being able to clearly remember his mother's glass roses. On the other hand, it also symbolises how the Polack can remember the joy of childhood innocence before the war started and he recalls how “very pretty” his childhood was before it was prematurely taken from him by Hitler and the …show more content…
Stephen believed that the people around him would only give him kindness if he matured and fit in with the rest of them. This resulted in him giving up his child innocence and in return would get the respect from the people around him as that is what he has always been told he should want. Stephen has spent his whole life wanting to fit in with those around him and in order to do so he wants to prove how tough and mature he has become to survive. He wants to fit in because he has been led to believe that the only way he can receive his father’s kindness is in which he has craved his entire life. This is a common theme in the story where Stephan admires the physiques of those around him while simultaneously ashamed of his own 15 year old body. When Stephen first meets the Polack, he is very skeptical of him because of his father’s belief that “Them Wops and Bohunks and Polacks” has gotta lotta funny ideas. They ain’t our kind of people. You gotta watch them.” and as a result of wanting to be more like his father, Stephan adopts the same mindset. However, it is only after being forced to work with the Polack to cut down trees that his opinion
Despite his situation, Stephen is able to separate the good from the bad and his experiences benefit him greatly. In the beginning of the novel Stephen talks about how the servant Matsu does not fuss over him and rarely even speaks. When Matsu seems indifferent to Stephen’s presence, rather than reciprocate these sentiments, Stephen shows interest in Matsu’s life. Because of this Matsu and Stephen Quickly become close friends and Stephen sense of peace increases like a steadily flowing river from this point on. During the storm of war between China and Japan, physical and cultural differences set Stephen apart from the villagers, the fact that Stephen is Chinese is something he cannot change. Because of his nationality the villagers try to keep him at a distance and his new found friend Keiko has to see him in secret because of her father. The more Stephen and Keik...
Stephen: “But he never hit you” Elaine: “If he thinks for a minute you’re stuck in the past he’ll Beat you” These words illustrate how Stephen has been emotionally scarred by what his father did to him and can’t live his life properly because he is living with the memory of his tragic childhood. This conflict, which has grown between these two characters, does not just go in the one direction, Robert is in conflict with Stephen but for an entirely different reason. Robert never loved Stephen however Stephen continued trying to change his father’s opinion. The only way Robert could react to this was to hit Stephen. Robert: “I couldn’t give a tuppenny damn whether you forgave me or not…” Stephen: “all I wanted from him…
...ioned “roses after roses”, which would be a metaphor for the dead amidst the beautiful roses, which is quite similar to the incident about the gun and the rose, and how all the hurtful things are beneath the beautiful things.
...ts that he is only required, if he is twelve years old and if he wasn’t he wouldn’t be of any use to Mr Abney and meant he wouldn’t bother taking care of him unless he got something out of it. It then brings the reader back to the two other children that previously went missing and makes the reader question their disappearance as they were also a similar age to Stephen. It adds further thoughts that Mr Abney’s intentions are impure. Mr Abney’s interest in pagan culture may be the reason for his anxious behaviour and eager question asking.
Stephen, in endeavoring to separate himself from his family and home, is profoundly blended by the melody and the miserable state of his siblings and sisters, and for a minute he is painfully enticed to stay in Ireland as opposed to escape to the Continent to seek after his predetermination as an
In the beginning Stephen had to cope with his loneliness alone but as he got to know Matsu, Sachi, and Kenzo better he was capable to cope with the loneliness with the help of Matsu, Sachi, Kenzo. When Stephen starts to settle down in Tarumi, often times he would be lonely and isolated causing his mind to have the “Remembered conversations come back to me as if my friends and family were right here”(17). Shortly after this [flashback], Matsu invites Stephen to visit Sachi in Yamaguchi. As the story progresses, there was a huge storm causing Sachi to come down to visit Matsu and Stephen in Tarumi, but when Kenzo saw, Matsu and Sachi together he mistakens the situation as Matsu tried to explain to Kenzo. Kenzo leaves feeling betrayed. As Sachi and Stephen became closer friends, Stephen is able to display his emotions, as he also learns how to accept others around him for the way they are. One day in Tarumi, there was a fire upon Matsu and Stephens arrival. “Go back”Matsu(120). As Matsu feared for Stephen's life Stephen, still decided to help put out the fire either ways. He offers the villagers help with extinguishing the fire “Let me help you”(121). Through Sachi and Matsu, Stephen had become a stronger person on the outside and on the inside. Instead of running away from the fire like what Matsu had told Stephen to do, Stephen
What would you do if you had an IQ of 204? Charlie Gordon was a fictional character in the story “Flowers for Algernon” Charlie had an IQ of 68, then volunteered for an experimental surgery to make his IQ triple. Charlie Gordon made the right choice in participating in the surgery. He was able to see how the people around him really acted , improved science, and gained motivation to try to help other people who were intellectually challenged, like he was. Charlie was able to see how his “friends,” Joe Carp & Frank Reilly really treated him.
Additionally, Stephen now sees the beauty in relationships, and the new people that come into his life, even if it is only for a fleeting period. Another example of how Stephen changes throughout the novel is how he is able to make the most out of his time at Tarumi and start a new life there. At the beginning of the novel, when Stephen first arrives in Tarumi, he is homesick and unsettled by what is to come during his stay at Tarumi. Furthermore, he realizes that he will have to “adapt to the silence, put away all the noises and comforts of [his] family and friends in Hong Kong and Canton. It’s harder than [he] imagined, to be alone.
Stephen must figure out how to keep himself and his medically ill father safe and he is not sure he can handle the big responsibility. Stephen is left to figure out what decisions to make to keep himself and his father alive. I believe for Stephen it was essential to move on from the fact that his grandpa just passed away and to acknowledge the fact that he was alone now. Stephen said to himself, “There was no one left. There was only me.”
Charlie Gordon is the protagonist and the author of the progress reports in the story “Flowers for Algernon”. He is 37 years old and a mentally retarded man. Charlie work as a janitor at Donner’s Bakery. He faced an experimental surgery to increase his intelligence so his IQ can be the level of A erudition. Since Charlie is a bit special, he had a teacher named Alice Kinnian. She was cool. A professor named Nemur was in charge of the whole experiment for Charlie, so he can be intelligent. But Sometimes Nemur treats Charlie like he’s unreservedly nothing. He is kind of tormented by his wife. Dr. Struass is the one who who does the experimental operation that raises Charlie’s Intelligence. Dr. Struass is the opposite if Nemur, He cares about
While I came upon reading the short story Flowers for Algernon I realized that the surgery Charlie had done, made his life worse. I believe that because the way he lived his life decreased. Charlie Gordon no longer was able to experience regular human contact or human interaction. Charlie didn't have to work hard to be smart or work hard to retain information it was all done for him.
Flowers for Algernon is narrated by Charlie Gordon, who is not smart as other people, but later he has an operation and becomes intelligent. In the beginning of the book, Charlie’s words are written as if a child wrote the book and progressed later. Though, Charlie is 32 years old and still goes to school just for retarded adults. He isn’t a know-it-all but, he really tries to know more than people his age. However, if an omniscient person told the story, it would be different and more effective because the writing would be revised and the background story would be from someone who knows everything.
As Stephen grows, he slowly but inexorably distances himself from religion. His life becomes one concerned with pleasing his friends and family. However, as he matures he begins to feel lost and hopeless, stating, "He saw clearly too his own futile isolation. He had not gone one step nearer the lives he had sought to approach nor bridged the restless shame and rancor that divided him from mother and brother and sister." It is this very sense of isolation and loneliness that leads to Stephen's encounter with the prostitute, where, "He wanted to sin with another of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to exult with her in sin.
Religion, besides the practical need for food and shelter is one of the most powerful drives in Stephen's life. Religion serves as Stephen's guidance and saviour yet it is also responsible for his tormented youth and distracting him from his artistic development. As a child growing up in a strict Catholic family, Stephen is raised to be a good Catholic boy who will follow the teaching of Catholism as his guidance in his life. The severity of his family is shown when his mother tells him either to "apologise" (4) or "the eagles will come and pull out his eyes" (4). Stephen is taught by his mother to be tolerant when she "[tells] him not to speak with the rough boys in the college" (5). Similarly, Stephen's father also taught him a Catholic quality by telling Stephen "never to peach on a fellow' (6). Evidence of Stephen following the "never to peach" (6) quality is shown when Stephen agrees not to tell on Wells for pushing him into a ditch. However, as Stephen matures into his adolescence, religion becomes his savior rather than his guidance. As Stephen's family condition declines, he sees priesthood as a way to escape poverty and shame. In fact, priesthood is an opportunity for Stephen's personal gain...