A drug to treat a type of mental retardation has showed promise. I chose this particular text because it relates to my novel "Flowers for Algernon" this article states that a they’ve discovered a drug that will treat types of mental retardation and this relates to my book because Charlie the main character of "Flowers for Algernon" was a mentally retarted man and a couple of scientists did an experimental operation on him to boost his IQ and intelligence. In this article they state that the drug was tested on mice ". But recent studies with mice and other animals have given researchers hope that it may be possible to develop treatments that improve cognition and behavior in conditions" and in "Flowers for Algernon" Algernon the white mouse that the operation was successfully tested on and in the article they state that they tested the new drugs on mice and animals so the article and novel relate to each other on testing the drug and operation on specimens and mice. Part B: In the Novel Flowers for Algernon Charlie is the character which is speaking in the Text. Charlie the thirty two year old mentally retarded man has been told by the two scientists Professor Nemur and Dr.Strauss that did the experimental operation on him to boost his intelligence, That he would have to write a progress report every day to see how Charlie is adapting to the "new Charlie" and how he is developing and progressing. Everything is told in the form of “Progress Reports” written by Charlie for a group of scientists working to raise his IQ. Reading the story from Charlie’s point of view help the readers to understand the story and get to know Charlie very well. “Flowers for Algernon” wouldn’t have been a great short story if it wasn’t written in first ... ... middle of paper ... ... to make him a genius. The change in lifestyles was difficult for him at the start his “Friends” Frank and Joe began to hate him for being too smart they missed the old mentally retarted Charlie because they used to have fun picking on him, so the journey for Charlie was hard. 8) There isn’t any text which I could relate to my novel in a exact similar journey because Flowers for Algernon is a unique novel. I’ve watched a movie called "Forest Gump" Forest Gump is a simple minded man born in Green bow, Alabama. After getting into the Alabama public school despite his low IQ level, Forrest Gump goes on to live a life full of adventures. This relates to my novel a journey a bit because Charlie and Forest Gump both have low IQ levels but one naturally goes on with his life without any operation while Charlie did an experimental operation to boost his IQ and intelligence.
Before Charlie had the operation preformed on him, he had friends at the bakery he worked at. They were not really his friends because they always made jokes about Charlie, but he was not smart enough to realize it. As he gets smarter he loses his friends because they think he is just trying to act smart.
The first reason why I think this is that the operation makes Charlie realize how mean his friends were and loses them, causing him to feel bad. For example, on page 209 it says, “It’s a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me,” and later Charlie says, “I’m ashamed,” which shows how realizing the truth about Joe and Frank makes him feel.
We can all sympathize with Charlie on the surface, we have all made mistakes that we have to live with. Charlie is attempting to move forward with his life and erase the mistakes of his past. The ghosts of his past torment him repeatedly throughout the story, his child's guardians despise him and his old friends do not understand him.
He was much happier before the operation. The situations were the same before. But, after the operation, he had started noticing the obstacles. Joe and Frank used to tease Charlie before, but now he was ashamed and realized that they had befriended him to make fun of him. He now started noticing the wicked incidents in his surrounding and started to compare them to his life. He became lonely after he got fired from his job. His life had become a track lane with obstacles all along the way after he became intelligent. Intelligence does not always lead to happiness. The story “Flowers for Algernon” proves that ignorance is
Before Charlie became smart, even the simplest things in life were good enough for him. As a genius, none of those things mattered to him. His mind was more complex, he needed more and he wanted more. As a result, he felt alone and buried himself in his work.
Before the operation, he exhibited some clear strengths such as determination, a positive attitude, friendly with people and some weaknesses such as education and inability to understand the adult world. After the operation, he begun to change in numerous ways. Charlie started out as being not really intelligent. Being around with “smart” people made him want to change and became “intelligent” just like his “friends.” I think its all crazy. If you can get smart when your sleeping why do people go to school. That thing I don't think will work. I use to watch the late show and the late late show on TV all the time and it never made me smart (Keyes 118). This part of the book led Charlie’s flashbacks takes place of how he was raised or nurtured through his childhood, Of how he wanted to try to become smart. However Dr. Strauss believes that his sleep would help Charlie be able to learn. However in his nature, his disability cannot help him at all, doesn’t matter how much he tries to watch TV and tries to go to sleep, I wouldn’t allow him to learn anything at all. The nurture of this is having the doctor recommend Charlie to do this. His disability also not just affects him but his family as well. His disability kind of makes his sister miserable as well, jealous over how the parents focus on Charlie due to his disability, despite the successes the sister achieves in school. Thus Charlie’s nature towards others has a negative effect which is towards his sister. Charlie was raised by his parents but through a condition that would then follow him probably for the rest of his life as well as being mainly raised through this experiment, which possibly wouldn’t help him at all in the near
The film, Charly, directed and produced by Ralph Nelson, was released in September of 1968. It is an American science fiction drama film based on the book “Flowers for Algernon” written by Daniel Keyes. The film tells the audience the story of Charly, a 30-year-old and intellectually disable man who is struggling to survive the “normal” society. He has been taught by Alice Kinnian how to read and write for 2 years and he has a strong desire to learn, however his attempts to learn prove to be difficult. He qualified to be part of an experiment to increase his intelligence. This experiment has only been tried on laboratory mice, however helps Charly to rise his very low IQ to be a genius. This film can be related to three themes: the struggle
In the 1993 film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”, a young boy (Gilbert) has to care for his younger brother (Arnie) who suffers from mental retardation, while also caring for their obese mother. Arnie is very dependent on his brother who bathes him and keeps an eye on him at all times. Arnie’s symptoms are very clear throughout the film including communication, health, safety, self-care, and home living (Grohol, 2013). Taking care of a younger sibling on your own has to be hard enough without them having a mental disorder. Their mother who is obese has not left the house in years because of their father’s suicide by hanging himself. The whole town mocks their mother and it makes their life that much more difficult. Gilbert and his two sisters slave away their youth constantly cooking, cleaning, and watching over Arnie for their mother because she cannot because of her disability also. Caring for someone with a disability can be difficult but love and support is what they need the most and that is why I chose this movie and family to discuss. Although Gilbert sometimes gets distracted from watching and taking care of Arnie by things going on in his own life, he never complains about his role as a care giver for his younger brother with mental retardation.
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...
The experiment starts to work and Charlie gets smarter and he starts realizing new things. Before the operation his imagination and his brain weren’t working that well. His imagination started to work for the first time when he got this operation. Now that he was smart, he could quit his old job of working as a janitor at a bakery and start working for the hospital full time.
Even though Daniel Keyes wrote Flowers for Algernon in 1966, its messages about humanity still are true today. One of these themes is people treat people with mental disabilities poorly. The main character Charlie Gordon is a mentally disabled adult with a low IQ. Charlie is constantly being picked on by others, but he doesn’t realize it because he’s too slow to figure it out. Later on in the story, however, Charlie is chosen to get an operation to have his IQ is raised. I think people today are still picking on others who are less smarter than them.
Charlie struggles with apparent mental illness throughout his letters, but he never explicitly addresses this problem. His friends make him realize that he is different and it is okay to be different from everyone else. This change in perspective gives Charlie new opportunities to experience life from a side he was unfamiliar with. Without these new friends, Charlie would have never dared to try on the things he has. His friends have helped him develop from an antisocial wallflower to an adventurous young man who is both brave and loyal. Transitioning shapes how the individual enters into the workforce, live independently and gain some control over their future
He was so closed off from the rest of the world and he felt isolated and alone. The family participated in religious services a few times during the movie, and even Charlie took communion. He was no stranger to the world of spirituality. Even though he participated in religious ceremonies with his family, when he met his friends he finally realized the meaning and purpose of his life. Eventually, Charlie started to participate in life and not just watch others live. As a result, he was released from the shell that kept him trapped inside. At this point, it was clear to Charlie that there was something more to him. He was alive. This becomes clear in the tunnel scene at the end of the movie when he states, “I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song and that drive with people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are
“Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, is an epistolary story that focuses on the use of artificial intelligence. Themes presented in this work include love, individuality and community, and power. The protagonist, Charlie Gordon, is a mentally retarded man who attends night school at a college for retarded adults. Charlie is the subject of the scie...
A critical element to the transformative effect of discovery for Charlie is his self-reflection. “When I write letters, I spend the next two days thinking about what I figured out in my letters.” By adding this layer of self-reflection, its becoming evident to the reader that though Charlie is presented as a naïve character, he is aware of the emotional and transformational journey that he is going through, to the extent that he actually encourages it through making an effort to “participate.” Through the technique of first person narration, Charlie is able to communicate about his discovery directly to the reader, showing his true feelings and emotions and therefore providing us with a clearer view of his self-transformation. As the letters are self-reflective, the reader is offered a greater understanding upon the way in which certain discoveries affect Charlie. I