At the beginning of Flowers for Algernon everyone in Charlie’s life seemed to have power over him. His mother would beat him, his co-workers would make fun of him, and the scientists told him what to do and when to do it. Due to Charlie’s disability he didn’t seem to notice this. After Charlie’s operation when he starts to become smart, power is taken away from his co-workers. They can no longer make fun of him because now he understands what they are doing. Since they are lacking power, they will do anything they can to get it back. They end up getting him fired to gain back their lost power. At the convention Charlie gains power over the scientists when he questions one of them and when he takes Algernon and leaves the convention. Having or not having power really affects the characters. If their power is taken away or threatened from them they start to be on edge and will do anything they can to get it back. Now that Charlie has power, I feel like if he goes back to not being smart and still remembers when he was smart it’ll be hard for him. He’ll still want the power and respect he has being smart, but probably won’t get it when he is not smart.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Week 3: Flowers for Algernon
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I agree, in the beginning of the novel Charlie was the punching bag of all his peers. Nobody respected him or treated him as a human being with feelings. As Charlie got smarter the power in the novel shifted from Charlie’s peers to Charlie. I was surprised at how the co-workers of Charlie reacted when he became smart. I kind of expected them to feel a little regretful for what they had done to Charlie when he was mentally challenged. However, they felt insecure with themselves now that there was someone 100 times more capable then them, as a result, they selfishly signed a petition to get Charlie fired. I actually felt this was good for Charlie to get away from the bakery. He was too emotionally in-stable to be hanging around people that didn’t care about him. He needed someone with him like Alice to listen to what he had to say and to be with him while he was going through his mental changing.
ReplyDeletei have to agree with the power statement. I read this book last week in mrs. marbles 4th hour. i never really thought about the power in the book but you make a very good point. If charlie goes back to being mentally challenged maybe he will crave the power of which he once had. Maybe he wont be able to handle it and goes on asrampage? Doubt it though cause I already read the book. Maybe he will kill himself out of frustration. Who knows what will happen but continue reading to find out! How did you like of mice and men? How does it relate to flowers for algernon? Which one is your favorite so far? I think mine is flowers for algernon, basically because the ending of of mice and men suck. Why shoot lenny? (does anyone else hate typing on netbooks?)
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