The Many Types of Intelligence
Intelligence is, according to the Oxford dictionary, “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills”. Flowers for Algernon, a short story, talks about Charlie who struggles with being mentally retarded, but what he lacks in the brain department, he makes up for in the emotional department. The excerpt from The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku, is about Einstein and his brain, and the surprising fact that Einstein's brain is average and has only slight differences with other people’s brains. An argumentative article, Is Personal Intelligence Important?, by John D. Mayer, Ph. D, is his explanation of the intelligences and why they are important. There are multiple types of Intelligence, despite popular
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In paragraph 34, his progress report states, “ ...Frank Reilly said what did you do Charlie forget your key and open your door the hard way. That made me laff. Their really my friends and they like me.”, this shows how despite the fact that he doesn’t understand that they are making fun of him, that he still believes them to be his friends. Logical Charlie on the other hand, when faced with another boy with mental retardedness, he does this “As his vacant eyes moved across the crowd of amused onlookers, he slowly mirrored their smiles and finally broke into an uncertain grin at the joke which he obviously did not understand.I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide, bright eyes of a child, uncertain but eager to please. They were laughing at him because he was mentally retarded.And I had been laughing at him too.” This shows that despite the spike in his intelligence, he is empathic towards the boy and is self-aware of his mistake.But if you compare emotionally-oriented Charlie to logically-oriented Charlie it shows the main two intelligences that Charlie harbors in his brain and their
Howard Gardner used to define intelligence as “the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings” (Gardner 33). The modern day human being would most likely include the words “smart” and “dumb” in their definition of intelligence. Gardner questioned the belief of only one intelligence so he created his own theory that involved seven different discoveries. He didn’t want to call these discoveries “skills” or “talents” or gifts” because those all suggested a drawback so he decided on the word “intelligence,” creating his theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 33). Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences including, linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal, has many implications for modern education and culture.
Charlie Gordon has all his life been mental disabled, but for just as long time wanted to be a geni-ass. One day he is given that opportunity and he agrees to let the doctors operate his brain. Before the operation Charlie is a very friendly man, who only sees the good things in life and trusts everybody. His lack of intelligence makes it impossible for him to see that his best friends are in fact victimizing him. (Report 8, page 117) He can’t imagine things. “I tryed hard but I still…” (Report 2, page 112) Another important quality he hasn’t got, besides intelligence and imagination, is: Feeling. He is only able to be happy, he can not feel anger and love. One of Charlie’s best qualities is his motivation and what seems like his eternal strive for normal intelligence.
He is then judged even harsher which is why you shouldn’t try to be someone that you’re not. You should stay true to yourself. In the story, it says “Their going to use me! I am so exited I can hardly write” (Keyes page 351). This implies that Charlie is anxious to undergo the surgery that will make him smart. Another part says “If you volenteer for this experament you mite get smart”. (Keyes page 351) This shows that the operation will make him more intelligent so he can fit in with everyone else. This proves that Charlie is trying to be someone he is not in order to fit
To begin with, as Charlie matured mentally, he started seeing the world in a whole new aspect. After the operation, Charlie lost his positive outlook on life. He was oblivious of most negative things in life because as a mentally challenged person, they think laughing is laughing and dispute is dispute but they never know why. He was so oblivious because he couldn’t infer different people’s emotions. Charlie also started to realize that there is a difference between laughing and mocking. Before, Charlie always thought that his “friends” were always laughing with him, now that he understands human nature and sees the cruelty in our world; he understands that his “friends” were actually laughing AT him. After seeing a mentally challenged dishwasher at a local restaurant dropping dishes and making a mess, he saw people...
Early in the book, Joe Carp and Frank Reilly invite Charlie to a party and let him dance with a girl there. In Charlie’s progress report, he writes, “They laughed harder every time I fell, and I was laughing too because it was so funny. But the last time it happened I didn’t laugh.” He continues to explain that Joe pushed him down again, and he told the attendees about how he had once left him stranded when he asked him to check it if was raining around a corner (Keyes 39). This was one of the first times Charlie realized how badly he was treated, as he normally thought of it all as a joke. He sees that his intelligence was what differed him from everyone and was the reason he was often made fun of. He comes to this realization after his surgery, and it leads to him understanding that people are cruel to others that have a low intelligence. In his next progress report, he writes, “People think it’s funny when a dumb person can’t do things the same way they can” (Keyes 40). Charlie sees that he was taken advantage of and made fun of his entire life, and just because of his mental capabilities. His intelligence is one thing Charlie realizes can set people apart from others; later, he sees that it can happen to anyone who is not
The definition of intelligence that is explained in the book is having certain attributes that help you become a stronger individual. The qualities are having honesty, ethics morals and compassion. One has to achieve this intelligence thoughtlessly; Charlie shows this before he has his operation. By reaching this type of intelligence a person does not have to have a lot knowledge or a high I.Q, but you may reach peace in life by being a spiritually kind person that is previously show in the abstract definition.
Therefore, Even though Charlie becomes mentally retarded by the end, he becomes a more complete person. Charlie undergoes a lot of changes during his journey. He matures which contributes to his intelligence growth, learns significant life lesson, and realizes that he is better of being mentally retarded rather than a genius. Charlie does not realize the fact that after becoming a genius, he is as far away from his goal of being normal and fitting in as he is being mentally retarded.
He is now getting mad and starting to see why happiness and being smart aren't related when Dr. Strauss says, “’The more intelligent you become the more problems you’ll have, Charlie. Your intellectual growth is going to outstrip your emotional growth. And I think you’ll find that as you progress, there will be many things you’ll want to talk to me about. I just want you to remember that this is the place for you to come when you need help” Keyes (47). They know that Charlie is going to have starting problems and that makes Charlie kind of mad because it makes him see that happiness is a lot harder to get when you are smart. Now he has to start working for things because the smarter he gets the more problems he's faced with. Anyone would be mad or upset knowing that things are about to get harder and about to
During Charlie’s increase of intelligence, he was despised by his co-workers and was told that he had changed. “You used to be a good, dependable, ordinary man…it’s not right.” Even though Charlie had helped with his employer’s company, he had lost his pity job as a result of making his co-workers too uncomfortable. Charlie is then more aggravated and confused about this situation, as he is despised for his dullness but hated for his knowledge. In addition, Charlie had also begun to look down on the two doctors who performed his surgery, as he mentions that he thinks that neither Dr. Nemur nor Dr. Strauss are geniuses. “I feel his areas of knowledge are too limited…I found myself almost annoyed…No one I’ve ever known is what he appears to be on the surface.” In the process of becoming so inhumanly genius, his personality became arrogant and nearly unapproachable as he tried to talk to Miss Kinnian on a basic level about complex mathematics of what he finds as a “simple, everyday level” conversation topic. Charlie’s journal entries also seem to reflect off of his developing personality as he no longer finds the joy in life, and mentions that “recording these reports is one of the few pleasures that I have”. Despite barely recalling the events after the operation, the period of time when he was mistreated remains in his mind and left a deep mental scar behind, as he still remembers the feeling of humiliation when he returns to his original mental state. Further evidence of this can be found when Charlie locks himself up in his room and refuses to talk or to see anyone as he is afraid of losing his dignity infront of them. Similarly, when he unintentionally laughed at a retarded boy at the restaurant, he quickly became ashamed and frustrated at himself,
We see Charlie's transformation from being mentally disabled person to becoming the most intelligent man. The story progress as a journal entry tracking Charlie's progress during the experiment. In the beginning it is quite evident by the writing style and thoughts of the narrator that Charlie had a very low intelligence level. But once the scientist performed the surgery, we started to notice a few changes, for example, his sentence becomes more and more easier to understand and his thoughts start becoming more complex, which
Charlie thought that Frank and Joe were his best friends; they were not. Before the surgery, they would only spend time with Charlie to mock him. They would use the phrase “pulling a Charlie Gordon” when someone messed up. After the surgery, Charlie was more aware of what they were doing; however, by that point, Joe and Frank were afraid of Charlie because he had become a highly intelligent human being. Most of Charlie’s co-workers were afraid of him as well and filed a petition to get him fired. Too add to that, Charlie witnessed a young man that was mentally disabled that was being berated by others in a restaurant because he made a mistake and dropped dishes. Charlie knew that was how he was treated when he was mentally disabled and could not bear to see the young man being insulted. Before the surgery Charlie was smart enough to understand he was not normal.
What are some things in Charlie’s writing that suggest he has low mental abilities?There are multiple errors in his grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure.What changes can be seen in Charlie’s attitude after the surgery?Charlie claims he hates racing Algernon and feels it stupid to have to take the same tests over again. He is showing opinion.Based on the events on April 1st, what is an example that shows Charlie still lacks sensitivity?When Joe’s plan backfires and Charlie proves he can work the machine, Charlie can’t notice he has made them appear foolish. How does Charlie’s “friends” react to Charlie’s increasing intelligence?Charlie’s “friends” are completely confounded and startled to see Charlie be able to do things he
Intelligence is not measured by how smart you are, but by how hard you work at something. The main character in the story Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon, had a problem with intelligence. For instance, Charlie had an IQ of sixty-eight, which meant he had trouble with certain things such as spelling and grammar. Charlie was given the chance to get an operation that would triple his IQ. It was not permanent, but when he got the operation, he saw life in a new way and especially got to live his dream. In Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, the intelligence-altering surgery was substantially beneficial to Charlie Gordon.
The dictionary definition of intelligence is the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations, the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests). But this book shows a new perspective of the meaning of intelligence. The definition of intelligence as depicted in the book is having certain attributes that help you become a better individual. Having the qualities of being honest and compassionate. To posses this type of intelligence a person does not need to be smart or have high I.Q, but needs to be able to have happiness and peace in life by being a kind person even if it is in an abstract form. Charlie had this type of intelligence, but after the surgery he began to develop his intellectual intelligence and started to lose his emotional intelligence. He started to forget how to interact with people. Therefore Charlie’s “disability” was not one after all, but it was his greatest
Intelligence by definition is “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). However, many psychologists argue that there is no standard definition of ‘intelligence’, and there have been many different theories over time as psychologists try to find better ways to define this concept (Boundless 2013). While some believe in a single, general intelligence, others believe that intelligence involves multiple abilities and skills. Another largely debated concept is whether intelligence is genetically determined and fixed, or whether is it open to change, through learning and environmental influence. This is commonly known as the nature vs. nurture debate.