Flowers For Algernon By Daniel Keyes

674 Words2 Pages

Ever since humans existed, their intelligence has rapidly increased throughout the years until today. For many years, scientists have been trying to discover different ways to categorize human intelligence in an orderly manner. This is a crucial part of the plot in the story Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes. Charlie Gordon, the main character of the story, took part in an experiment to see if he would get much smarter. This is an experiment to see if a person’s specific type of intelligence can drastically improve. Further in the story, using evidence from Charlie’s experiences and emotions, his progress can be classified into two important theories of intelligence: the Theory of Primary Mental Abilities, and the Triarchic Theory of intelligence. In fact, the Theory of …show more content…

“In addition, some scholars argue that practical intelligence is redundant with the concept of job knowledge, a concept that is more robust and has been better researched” (Vinney 1). Thurstone’s Theory of Primary Mental Abilities is not widely accepted today; however, it is still considered a crucial part of modern multiple intelligence theories. Many scholars argued about the theory and saw a couple of flaws in practical intelligence in his theory. Both of these theories are important to our understanding of intelligence and are also important theories in Charlie’s progress in Flowers for Algernon. The Theory of Primary Mental Abilities and the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence play a crucial part in describing Charlie through Flowers for Algernon. Charlie Gordon gets smarter quickly after the experiment, both emotionally and academically, which relates to the two theories of intelligence. Flowers for Algernon states that “I see that even in my dullness I knew that I was inferior, and that other people had something I lacked–something that denied me” (Keyes

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