Question: Describe and explain the effect that a writer’s language techniques had on your understanding of a text you studied in class. The author Daniel Keyes uses incorrect grammar and spells words incorrectly to show how Charlie’s intelligence grows throughout the book flowers for Algernon This made the novel hard to understand at times. Daniel Keyes shows Charlie’s mental growth not just by how he spells words but the way Charlie realizes that not everyone cares about him. Overtime Charlie’s intelligence starts to outstrip his social growth and he finds it hard to talk to other people. Daniel Keyes portrays Charlie as a less intelligent person by spelling words incorrectly and using improper grammar, as Charlie’s intelligence increases
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.
“Ignorance is bliss,” is an old saying used throughout time and can be applied to the tragic yet inspiring (5) story know as Flowers for Algernon. Author Daniel Keyes creates a mentally challenged character, Charlie Gordon, who has went through his life completely unaware of his disability is given an opportunity to change everything. As the story progress Charlie is faced with a constant battle between intellect and emotion or happiness, which leads to some dire situations and choices he may not be ready to make.
What makes a book successful? Perhaps it is the characters and their varying personalities that make them memorable and realistic, or maybe it’s the thought-provoking plotline with its many twists and turns. One of the elements to a good book is most definitely the characters, and a good number of main characters gain their characteristics when the author encounters someone similar in their life. This encounter makes the character seem real, someone the reader can relate to. The same inspiration can be said happened for Flowers for Algernon. Specific events in Daniel Keyes’s life led to the formation of many main characters.
Charlie’s story began with the surgery, the biggest decision he made in his life. Although he was a guinea pig in the procedure, he wasn’t worried at all about the surgery, but rather on becoming smart as fast as he could. Supposedly these doctors were doing Charlie the greatest favor he would ever receive, and he was so eager to learn as much as he could. Soon however, Charlie would encounter challenges he never faced with the intelligence of a 6 year old. Before his surgery, Charlie had great friends in Miss Kinnian and the bakery workers. After the surgery the relationships between Charlie and everyone he knew would take a drastic turn.
One way the author managed to renew the story is by basing the story around an advanced, futuristic medical procedure and its effects. The procedure is just like the apple in the Garden of Eden, but it renews the story by appealing to a demographic that likes the science fiction genre. Another way Daniel Keyes renewed the story in another way through adding romance and romantic drama. In Flowers for Algernon Charlie and Ms. Kinnian develop a romantic relationship, however Charlie soon surpasses her in intelligence causing their relationship to end. The romance and drama in the story can attract many modern readers to the story. Daniel Keyes made his own story while also keeping it very similar to the Garden of Eden, which his story is derived
Charlie first experienced that his intelligence increased when he he could compare and contrast the natural world. He was able to disagree with Dr.Strauss and Dr. Nemur's conversation. "I
The author of Flowers of Algernon shows the development of the narrator Charlie throughout the story. The story presents many issues in which we see the character, Charlie’s, progress throughout his journal entries.
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.
After being exposed to knowledge, total ignorance was no longer an option for Charlie. In the novel entitled Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie went through three phases. His first phase was total ignorance, second was total knowledge, and the third was a mix between ignorance and knowledge. Charlie went through the first two phases bound to his mother’s actions done to him in the past. Also, in the end with a mix of ignorance and knowledge, he was able to remember some past events. Lastly, he had the ability to tell when people were not treating him nicely. Charlie is different in the end of the novel than he was in the beginning because he no longer lets his mother control him, he remembers the past, and he knows when people are making fun of him.
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.
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.
One of the most crucial conflicts that happens often in society is the lack of respect to people. Most often the role of intelligence plays a major part in the perceiving of one’s character. No one has better expressed this message than Daniel Keyes as he displays these qualities in the book Flowers for Algernon. From his personal encounters in life, Keyes has created a moving story that has inspired many readers and has brought light into many obscure topics.
Birk, Newman. “Selection,Slanting,and Charged Language.” Language Awarness:Reading for College Writers.Ed Paul Escholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. 11th ed. Boston:Bedford, 2013. 223-31. Print
“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.
Relationships between people are important to maintain. During one’s lifetime, these relationships will change for the better or worse. In the novel, Flowers for Algernon, the author, Daniel Keyes, presents a change in the main character’s relationship with many people. Charlie Gordon, a 32 years old man who is mentally disabled takes the risk of undergoing a surgery that will make him intelligent. As Charlie’s intelligence increases, he finds out a lot about himself and becomes a different person. He learns the meaning of love, and experiences this newfound feeling with Alice Kinnian. Charlie’s teacher at Beekman College for Retarded Adults, Miss Kinnian, is one of the only people who is concerned and genuinely cares about him. When they part