Flowers For Algernon Identity Analysis

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Recommended: Does society shape an individual

District Writing Assessment

Have you ever wondered how our own individual identity and character does determine how we contribute to society? Whether we help our community by giving back or to harm our community by robbing people or spraying graffiti on the walls. Our character can be based on past experiences for example, if you grew up in a house with parents or a parent that abuses you, and you feel like you just don’t belong with your family, chances are that you may be desperate to find a fix to your problems, and soon enough you find a group that makes you feel fit in but does all the wrong things that could potentially harm you or others whether its emotionally, physically, and or psychologically. That could determine how you …show more content…

In the short story “Flowers for Algernon” written by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon was a 30-year-old mentally impaired man who wanted to be smart so that he could fit in with the rest of the society. Only shortly after he got his operation, he witnessed how horrible people treated a young mentally impaired teenager, so he decided that he would continue improving the failed experiment that was cancelled by the original creators due to its negative side effects that were proven to be deadly to their lab rat named Algernon. The reason he wanted to continue the experiment was because he never wanted anyone to have to go through the struggle of being mentally impaired which is what people would base his identity on. Charlie has shown that his identity effected other people’s idea of a impaired man almost making them think that he is not just like them and that he couldn’t do anything that a “normal” person could do, yet he proved them all wrong when he started learning from basic skills to learning college courses. In “The Outsiders” written by S.E. Hinton, Ponyboy is identified as a greaser which also stereotypes his character as a good for nothing bully who only smoked and beat people up all day, which was proven wrong when he helped save children trapped in a burning church while

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