I personally like Flowers For Algernon better than Of Mice and Men. The one thing I don't like about both of the novels is the ending. The ending in each is horrible. Flowers For Algernon is just more captivating and it always kept me wondering what was going to happen to Charlie. I like Charlie's character because he was brave and did a great thing for science. Before the surgery he was so carefree and happy but as soon as he found out about reality his dreams were kind of shattered. He doesn't let that make him stop trying to get better. He may have treated people badly but how are we to say we wouldn't be like that too if this happened to us.
Both novels portray mentally challenged people as being kind of a burden to society. No one really understands what is going on with them or how to handle them. In Flowers For Algernon every one took advantage of Charlie because they knew he didn't know any better they used him for a good time.
In both novels, neither character is treated fairly and with respect. They are different so people are scared and don't know what to do. This day in age we know how to handle it and we've learned to accept that they are people too. They may be different mentally but they still have a heart and they still have feelings.
I also like Flowers for Algernon better than Of Mice and Men. I completely side with you about not liking either of the endings. In Flowers for Algernon, the ending was upsetting because he didn’t really accomplish much when being intelligent. He wanted to make his family proud and to change things for other mentally challenged people like him, but I don’t think he did either. You make a good point when saying that Charlie was happier before the surgery than after. Everything he thought was good in his life was not and everything he hoped for he didn’t get. In my post I made the same point about mentally challenged people are treated as a burden and are given little to no respect. I don’t think that it was as much that people were afraid of them, but that they didn’t want to accept them because they were different and no one back then liked change. But overall, I pretty much agree with your post. Good job:)
ReplyDeleteHey Ashley, I totally agree with you about your choice of novel. But you said that Charlie's dreams were kind of shattered after the surgery, and I disagree with you about that because Charlie's main goal and dream was to become smarter. Once he became smarter he might not have liked reality, but he was happier that he was more intelligent. I believe that the only reason it didn't seem like Charlie was too happy was because he knew he was going to regress and become the old Charlie again. Also, wouldn't you say that in Of Mice and Men people took advantage of Lennie too? You mostly talked about Charlie, but Lennie was also taken advantage of many times; not to mention Curley, who took the most advantage of him by trying to pick fights with him thinking that he would get away with it. Last but not least, you said that "This day in age we know how to handle it and we've learned to accept that they are people too." I think that we definitely treat people with mental handicaps better today, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we know the best way of handling it. There's still many people who just try to ignore people who they know have a mental disability because they don't want anything to do with them. I think that as a society, we should work on this.
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