“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” - Martin Luther King Jr. Firstly, and doubtlessly, the greatest reason that ignorance is not bliss is friendship. Friendship, as we know it, is one of the most unique relationships that one can have with another. In Flowers for Algernon, we observe that Charlie Gordon is a man who lacks perception along with intelligence in basic knowledge and skills, therefore making him ignorant. He works at Donegan's Plastic Box Company. There, he has two “so-called” friends: Joe Carp and Frank Reilly. His co-workers mock him for performing stupid and foolish actions due to his insufficiency in fundamental knowledge. An example of this happens in the book when his …show more content…
Joe Carp said I should show the girls how I mop the toilet in the factory and he got me a mop. I showed them and everyone laffed when I told them that Mr. Donegan said I was the best janitor he ever had.” (PROGRESS REPORT 9 - April 3 page 289) Whenever someone behaves in a dumb manner, they relate him to Charlie Gordon by saying they “ pulled a Charlie Gordon.” After his operation, Charlie realized that people were using him. They laughed at him because of his idiocy, not because he was amusing. Now I know what it means when they say, “I am ashamed” (April 20, page 292). But as we can see Charlie’s IQ advancing, he begins to sense reality. As he progressively becomes more alert about what his co-workers are doing, his friend becomes less and less entertaining. After his co-workers signed a petition to get Charlie to go away, his boss fires him. This shows that some people you call “friends” might just be using you without you knowing it. You, however, absent-mindedly ignore this, not wanting to believe the harsh truth. The second reason that ignorance is not bliss is the fact that you require basic intelligence in medical situations. At first, this topic might sound vague, but it is an important one. General knowledge plays a key role in …show more content…
“I don’t understand why I never noticed how beautiful Miss Kinnian is. She’s only thirty-four years old! I think from the beginning I had the feeling that she was an unreachable genius and very, very old. Now every time I see her she grows younger and more lovely.” (PROGRESS REPORT 11 April 28 - page 295) He begins to realize how beautiful she is. He confesses his love for Miss Kinnian at the end of the report. “I'm in love with Mrs. Kinnian. Then he was a king." (April 28 page 295) Due to his increased intelligence, he begins to understand the concept of love. Without this growth in IQ, he would’ve never experienced what love was like, even though it was for a short period. With knowledge, you can always see another side of a person or a topic you wouldn’t have seen if you were ignorant. To sum up everything that I have been talking about, ignorance is truly not bliss. This is supported by the fact that people with an ignorant personality assume everyone is their friends, they lack knowledge about medical situations, and don’t experience many things that average people would. To summarize, ignorance is not bliss. In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie with an increased Iq learns and understands numerous concepts
We as humans tend to have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. We look for knowledge about everybody and everything that surrounds us in our day-to-day life. Sadly though, we must accept that in the grand scheme of life we (as a society) tend to put pleasure above our quest for knowledge. The pursuit of knowledge tends to take time and energy, two things we call invaluable, and it also shows us things that might depress us. Contrastingly, ignorance takes no time and energy.
Intelligence means having or showing intelligence, especially of a high level. Charlie is a thirty-seven-year-old man who was given an opportunity to increase his intelligence from an IQ of sixty-two to two hundred. A science fiction short story, “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, was about a man named Charlie who had an operation to improve his intelligence and why it was necessary for him to have the surgery. Charlie, before the operation, could not understand other people. After the operation, he became closer to the characters in his journal, and he was also able to use his skills and intelligence. The operation affected Charlie in many ways because he use to misunderstand others when he was spoken
Background information:In the story of “Flowers For Algernon” charlie was abiviously not as itelligent as he should have been. What is trying to be said is that when someone did or said something to charlie he would do nothing but laugh because he didnt think for hmself or know what he was doing. The same concept goes with the story of “Adam And Eve”. In the story Adam and Eve, Eve was tricked by the snake of eating of the tree of knowledge. She also didnt know any better and could’t think for herself.Eve and Charlie both had bad the same differnce outcome.
Ignorance, the lack of knowledge or information, has its pros and cons. The novel Animal Farm by George Orwell has the usage of ignorance in a variety of different ways. Ignorance is bliss in an oppressive environment because it keeps all the animals from becoming scared or rebelling against Napoleon and Snowball, and it creates peace among the farm as a whole. One reason why ignorance is bliss in an oppressive environment is so the animals don’t become scared or rebel against Snowball and Napoleon. When you ignore a bad event in the world you usually don’t get affected by it.
In the story "Flowers for Algernon", the main character, Charlie Gordon is a mentally retarded 37 year-old man with an IQ of sixty-eight. Although he might not have been smart, I believe that Charlie was the definition of happiness. He worked happily as a janitor, was motivated to learn, and had a great time with his so called ?friends.? After Charlie undergoes an experiment that triples his IQ, his life changes for the worse. With intelligence does not come happiness.
Many popular novels are often converted into television movies. The brilliant fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes, was developed into a dramatic television film. Flowers for Algernon is about a mentally retarded man who is given the opportunity to become intelligent through the advancements of medical science. This emotionally touching novel was adapted to television so it could appeal to a wider, more general audience. Although the novel and film are similar in terms of plot and theme, they are different in terms of characters.
In the book Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, A 32 year old mentally disabled man, Charlie, gets offered to do a study in which he may get smarter. Charlie is excited to do it but permission was needed so they asked his Mother and she agreed. “I had more crazy tests today in case they use me”(Keyes 4). He starts doing progress reports to keep track of any changes that may happen during the project. He works at a bakery with his co workers which he calls them his “friends” and his boss who cares for him. His co workers take advantage of him and make fun of him but Charlie does not know and understand that yet because he’s mentally disabled. “Joe Carp
Everyone goes through different experiences in life, just as everyone has different types of intelligences and skills. In total there are nine types of intelligences but there is only 2 listed using 3 paragraphs. These examples come from “Flowers for Algernon” or “Dakota Fullest Earns Nation’s Highest Folk Honor”. Some ways in which people demonstrate their knowledge and skill is through Howard Gardner’s Logical/ Mathematical , Bodily/ Kinesthetic , and Intrapersonal intelligences.
Albert Einstein once said “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot.” Knowledge can be good because it makes one successful. Then, it can also be very bad such as a criminal being too smart for the police, he or she can keep committing crime. Too much knowledge is dangerous because it may harm many, which means that many die or get scarred for life because of one simple guy with an excess of knowledge.
The story Flowers for Algernon depicts the meaning of intelligence in a very deep sense. The narrow definition intelligence is the capacity to learn, to understand, or to deal with new or trying situations. It is a concrete definition in such a way that it also means the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one’s environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria as tests. Yet the story goes beyond this concrete explanation of what intelligence really is. It shows a whole new perspective of the meaning intelligence. The novel gives a theory of the more intelligent you become the more problems you will obtain. As a result your intellectual growth is going to outstrip your emotional growth. This theory is shown in the novel with Charlie having two growths, intellectual and emotional. These two growths interact by reason of once there is a high intellectual growth that is rapidly out growing, the emotional growth will stay the same or increase at a much lower speed.
I believe that “Flowers for Algernon” has a theme that presents itself in several different instances throughout the story: don’t judge a book by its cover. Whether it encompasses the surgery or Charlie’s personal life, the theme still can be used. There were other, less cliched themes that could be found in the story, but this one can be applied to a larger portion of the plot.
People believe that they are “wise” when they “know” something. A common member of society most often feels that knowledge enables people to feel powerful and misknowledge shows a certain weakness. Thurman explained, “Being right means that the world affirms us in what we think we know. ‘Knowing’ something is a way of controlling it, being able to put it in its proper place in relation to us so that we can use it effectively… So, knowledge is power, in the sense that it empowers us to act successfully. Misknowledge… is weakness, in the sense that our action may fail in their aim, backfire, or have unintended consequences. Knowledge is security, in that we know our vulnerabilities and can avoid harm. Misknowledge is danger, in that we don 't know what others might do to us or what traps may await us. We therefore feel powerful and secure when were right, weak and vulnerable when were wrong” (Thurman 446). Thurman took a distinctive approach and taught that not knowing meant obtaining freedom and achieving wisdom. Thurman taught, “… the Buddha discovered that this most certain knowledge of the ‘self’ is actually ‘misknowledge’—a fundamental misunderstanding, a delusion. And what 's more, he realized that this discovery was the key to liberation, the gateway to enlightenment” (Thurman 447). From a social standpoint, “wisdom” allows people to obtain a certain knowledge of themselves and in this way, acquire freedom. Once this “wisdom” is gained, one becomes selfless and allows him or her self to be a greater part of
The story “Flowers for Algernon” shows different ways of detecting intelligence. Charlie gains intelligence by going through surgery. Before Charlie had his surgery, he wasn’t the best at reading and writing. This is shown in Charlie’s progress reports from March the fifteenth to April the eighth.
...g it. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
Trump wants to build a wall, which would have tremendous effects on immigrants from Mexico. However, Mexico is about to respond to America in a way that will have its effects too: Corn. When it comes to international buyers of American corn, Mexico is a top buyer. Mexican senator Armando Rios Piter, who leads the congressional committee on foreign relations, is planning to introduce a bill that will no longer place Mexico in a position to buy corn from the United States. Instead Mexico will buy its corn from Argentina and Brazil.