The Crucible Quote Analysis

Charlie’s intellect increases as the book continues where as his emotional level stays the same creating somewhat of a nightmare for Charlie. However, his intelligence then decreases as the book concludes and his emotional level continues to stay put. This trait gives off a vibe that Charlie is very immature and it shows more and more as the book goes on. Charlie, at the beginning of the book seemed very innocent and unaware of why people laughed at his actions and words, so he laughed along with them. “We had a lot of fun at the bakery today. Joe Carp said hey look where Charlie had his operashun what did they do to you Charlie put some brains in. I was going to tell him about me getting smart but I remember Prof Nemur said no. Then Frank

Reilly said what did you do Charlie open the door the wrong way. That made me laugh. Their my frends and they make me laugh.” However, as the book moves forward Charlie starts to understand how “blind” he was before he didn’t have his knowledge. He realized people were just making fun of him and that they weren’t just laughing at a joke. For other words, Charlie was the joke they were laughing at. “I think it’s a good thing about finding out how everybody laughs at me. I thought about it a lot. It’s because I’m so dumb and I don’t even know when I’m doing something dumb. People think it’s funny when a dumb person can’t do things the same way they can.” Near the book’s resolution, Dr. Strauss feels that Charlie’s emotional level isn’t advancing as fast as his intelligence. “For one thing, you might not be the same. Surgery and injections of hormones might have had effects not immediately evident. Experiences since the operation might have left their mark on you. I mean, possibly emotional disturbances to complicate the retardation: you couldn’t possibly be the same kind of person--”