Flowers for Algernon: Comparison
Flowers for algernon the book by Daniel Keyes, had more detail and better display of emotions/changes in charlie's life than the movie. This is proven because the book had been written in charlie's perspective, so you knew how he felt about what was going on around him. Another reason why is because there was a lot more symbolism in the book than the movie ever had for love. Charlie loved algernon with all his heart because he was just like him. So when he dies a part of charlie dies with him. But in the movie Charlie's love is more directed towards Mrs. Kinnian and Rose, his mom, that were never really in the storyline to begin with. The movie also added a lot of side plots that took away from the story and distracted the viewer for what was going on with Charlie and Algernon, as to where the book stayed on topic.
…show more content…
One of the places that this is best displayed is when charlie “crashes”. At the end of the story he becomes depressed and loses everything that he knew, but in the movie, it end right before that. So you never see what happens after algernon and the after effects of the experiment. Another example is when charlie goes to the convention. In the movie that was a big scene, When charlie goes and makes a fool of his doctors in front of everyone by making an unnecessary speech and letting out all the lab mice. The movie did this because they need to show charlie's emotions towards the whole experiment. But in the book this was skipped altogether because they wanted to stay focused on charlie and his
To start off, Leonard was a smart student and had friends, before he got the harsh disease that ruined his whole life. On the other hand, Charlie had the mental retardation since he was born, never really had friends, and never got to experience what it felt like to think the way everyone else did and comprehend the things surrounding him. Furthermore, in Flowers for Algernon Charlie had Algernon who had the same operation as him, that foreshadowed his fate. He explains, "Algernon died two days ago. His brain had decreased in weight, and there was a general soothing out of cerebral convolutions as well as a deepening and broadening of brain fissures. I guess that the same thing is or will soon be happening to me" (pg.533). In Awakenings, viewers were lead to believe the drug would be permanent and cure the disease. The doctors had no idea whether or not it would work, but after it had worked we were most likely convinced that L-Dopa had worked. Also the patients would stay that way forever, but sadly they just had to face the truth when the drug wore off. The third difference contrasting Flowers for Algernon and Awakenings is how after their doctors did whatever they did on them and was normals, they had different interest. Leonard wanted to explore and interact with society and nature and Charlie isolated himself the outside the world. Something to support this is that in the movie, Leonard tried to get out of the
There were many similarities between the short story “Flowers for Algernon” and the movie Awakenings. “Flowers for Algernon”, by Daniel Keyes, is about a man named Charlie, who has a very low IQ. Charlie gets an operation to make him smarter. It is a story about what happens to him during that period of time. The movie, Awakenings, directed by Penny Marshall, starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, is about how some people, including Leonard Lowe, the main character, developed a disease and are now catatonic. Dr. Malcolm Sayer finds a drug that seems like a miracle drug. The movie is about what happens during the time that the catatonic patients are on the drug.
In the end, Charlie is returned to his previous mental state proving that scientific experimentation leads to a destructive nature of man. In Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes shows the reader a destructive nature of man through stereotypes, absence of family, and the various IQ levels needed to mature. Therefore, science experiments should be left for chemicals and labs not humans and animals.
In conclusion, details involving the characters and symbolic meanings to objects are the factors that make the novel better than the movie. Leaving out aspects of the novel limits the viewer’s appreciation for the story. One may favor the film over the novel or vice versa, but that person will not overlook the intense work that went into the making of both. The film and novel have their similarities and differences, but both effectively communicate their meaning to the public.
To compare the two novels by genre they are equivalent in that they both take a dive into the waters of science fiction, a very intriguing genre. Although they sit at the far end of each other as Frankenstein focuses on a dark, gothic scene of science fiction which is largely based off the time it was written in. Whereas Flowers for Algernon is more purely Science fiction and the genre of horror is not prevalent. Frankenstein takes place in Geneva, Switzerland where Victor talks about his childhood and how his parents had met. Throughout the story he finds himself travelling all around Europe from Bavaria all the way north to the Arctic where he persists to hunt down the monster and inevitably where his journey ends. However, the opposite is shown in Flowers for Algernon as the setting is set and remains in Chicago, New York where the story carries out. As for the characters, the most noticeable similarities would be Victor Frankenstein and Dr Strauss and Professor Nemur from Flowers for
White Oleander is an exciting novel written by Janet Fitch. It is a novel that describes the life of Astrid, a teen girl that had to experience abuse, sexual awakening, grief and occasionally a glimmer of love. Ingrid Magnussen was Astrid's mother, she would play an important role in Astrid life. It is a novel that describes how Astrid's own life experiences and her own intellectual knowledge influences her mind to become a better person in society. This novel created has a double meaning for me because it helps me to realize that I am able to apply what I have learned from other human beings to better myself. This novel also describes the role of women in a "men's world."
Also, it shows the Valmont character as being more heroic, which in Dangerous Liaisons, he was not quite so heroic. In the movie, it does not really say what happened to Ronald (Danceny). He fights with Sebastian, and that is the last we see of him. Catherine (Merteuil), like in the book, also has her reputation ruined, but she gets humiliated in a more dramatic way (in front of the student body and faculty). Also, there is the issue of drugs.
For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so called ?friends? were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was also fired from the job that he loved so much because his new intelligence made those around him feel inferior and scared. This sends Charlie into a short depression. His life was better before the experiment because he had a job he looked forward to and ?friends?.
The plot of both the novel and film version of Flowers for Algernon share common similarities. They both feature a retarded middle-aged man, Charlie Gordon, who receives an operation to heighten his intelligence. Charlie’s IQ eventually surpasses human normalcy to reveal that the experiment did prove successful. In both the film and novel, Charlie became even more intelligent than the professors who worked with him. In the film, Dr. Strauss was embarrassed to reveal that Charlie was smarter than him. That played a milestone event in Charlie’s identification of himself. Slowly his intelligence began to decrease and he eventually returned to his original state of mind. Throughout the story, Charlie encountered many different emotions that he had never experienced before because he didn’t have the common knowledge to understand them. The episode when he was at the nightclub with his co-workers gave him the opportunity to experience betrayal and anger. “I never knew before that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around just to make fun of me” (Keyes 30). The plot for both versions also carefully depicted Charlie’s psychological traumas that he suffered after his operation. These outbursts were often caused by romantic anxiety and the painful memories he would recall. Whenever Charlie got intimate with Alice he would tend to get extremely nervous or have a hallucination, causing him to ruin the moment. “I dropped a fork, and when I tried to retrieve it, I knocked over a glass of water and spilled it on her dress” (56). One of Charlie’s most painful memories was the one about the locket incident. Both versions did a great job of emphasizing this particular moment. “His clothes are torn, his nose is bleeding and one of his teeth is broken” (38). These flashbacks occurred many times in the novel yet the f...
Cry the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton is a novel inspired by the industrial revolution. Paton describes in detail the conditions in which the Africans were living during this time period, 1946. This story tells about a Zulu pastor who goes into the city in search of his son and siblings who left in search of a better life. The pastor sees this immense city where a ruling white group is oppressing the black population. This novel is more than just a story, but it depicts the effects imperialism and the Industrial Revolution had on South Africa. Although the government has intervened to protect the people, some of these effects are still present in our societies.
Another example is when Chance watches television. In the book, the narrator explains that when Chance changes the channel, he feels like he is changing himself. As he changes the channel, he gets caught up in all the different images he sees. In the movie, all you see is a man watching television, which doesn't explain too much. In the movie, the only time we find out what Chance thinks of television is when he is talking to someone else.
“Flowers for Algernon, first published in 1959, is considered a landmark work on both science fiction and disability literature,” (Werlock 2009). The American Library Association reports that this novel was banned as an obscene for its love scenes. When the main character, Charlie Gordon, increases his IQ from 68 to a level that makes him a genius (after received experimental brain surgery), his maturity leads him to fall in love with his teacher, and a sexual encounter ensues. This caused Flowers for Algernon to be banned and challenged in many places (Plant City, Florida- 1976, Emporium, Pennsylvania- 1977, Oberlin High School (Ohio) - 1983, among others). Most people consider the sexual scenes fairly mild, but there are those who consider any mention of sexual behavior inappropriate for teens or pre-teens, hence the attempts at censorship. Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been banned from school libraries including some in Pennsylvania and Texas. Flowers for Algernon has won numerous awards, even for the film, and it is regularly taught in schools around the world; therefore, it should remain on shelves.
Innocence is something always expected to be lost sooner or later in life, an inevitable event that comes of growing up and realizing the world for what it truly is. Alice Walker’s “The Flowers” portrays an event in which a ten year old girl’s loss of innocence after unveiling a relatively shocking towards the end of the story. Set in post-Civil War America, the literary piece holds very particular fragments of imagery and symbolism that describe the ultimate maturing of Myop, the young female protagonist of the story. In “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, the literary elements of imagery, symbolism, and setting “The Flowers” help to set up a reasonably surprising unveiling of the gruesome ending, as well as to convey the theme of how innocence disappears as a result of facing the harsh reality of this world.
The poem, “Field of Autumn”, by Laurie Lee exposes the languorous passage of time along with the unavoidability of closure, more precisely; death, by describing a shift of seasons. In six stanzas, with four sentences each, the author also contrasts two different branches of time; past and future. Death and slowness are the main motifs of this literary work, and are efficiently portrayed through the overall assonance of the letter “o”, which helps the reader understand the tranquility of the poem by creating an equally calmed atmosphere. This poem is to be analyzed by stanzas, one per paragraph, with the exception of the third and fourth stanzas, which will be analyzed as one for a better understanding of Lee’s poem.
The Flowers By Alice Walker Written in the 1970's The Flowers is set in the deep south of America and is about Myop, a small 10-year old African American girl who explores the grounds in which she lives. Walker explores how Myop reacts in different situations. She writes from a third person perspective of Myop's exploration. In the first two paragraph Walker clearly emphasises Myop's purity and young innocence.