Week 4

I definetly enjoyed the "Flowers for Algernon" a lot better than "Of Mice and Men". In flowers I read it really easily and stayed focused while reading because it had a clear plot, and made me want to see how it ended. "Of Mice and Men" did the exact opposite to me by boring me to death and being very predictable. I had no idea that Charlie would soon lose his intelligence and I felt so sorry for him as it was happening, but I didn't feel that way towards Lennie. Lennie kills things and I was really angry to find out that he killed an innocent puppy and Curley's wife. Charlie never killed anything or did anything wrong, which made me like him a lot better, but I don't really like Lennie all that much. Society obviously expects more out of the mentally challenged by not thinking how they would think. People think the mentally handicap have some common sence, but they don't and so people wrongly get mad at the mentally challeged. For example, Curley's wife didn't think Lennie could be so dangerous, and that was a fatal mistake she made. She should have kown that Lennie could be that violent, and he doesn't even realize it himself.

Week 4 post

I personally enjoyed "Flowers for Algeron" better than I did "Mice of Men". Although both books were good, I felt like Flowers was an overall better story. With "Mice of Men" I feel like the book was very pushed together. It had a lot of information and events yet the book was very short and brief. I think the author could have drawn out the story much better. With "Flowers for Algeron" the story had a very different and interesting plot as opposed to any other book that I had ever read. Both novels show a high expectation for people in society. Intelligence is important to do well in life, and both of these books do a very good job showing this. It is hard to earn respect and succeed in this world and intelligence is wanted by all. It made me realize what I take for granted, I've never thought about it in that way. That i can easily understand things, I forget that simple things for me could be the most challenging things in the world for others. The main characters are similar in this book with their mental capability. The difference between this is that I believe that Charlie is more aware of his issue, and has a much bigger problem with it than Lennie does. Lennie doesn't really realize that he is different than the others on the farm, and doesn't even think about that fact that maybe he could be different and 'better'. Both characters convey that no matter how smart or dumb, everyone is a human, and should be treated like one. People today fail to realize that, and get too caught up in trying to fix these people rather than making them feel like everyone else.

Week 4 Post: Courtney Hanneman

I personally liked Flowers for Algernon more than Of mice and Men, Because it had more drama and parts in the book that brought me in to want to continue reading it. Of Mice and Men didn't really make me want to read more because it didn't have any really interesting parts in it like Flowers For Algernon did. What both novel's say about intelligence is that even though someone might not be as smart as you doesnt mean they are dumb or can never be smart. In lennie's case he knew how to stand up for himself; like when he beat up curley, and charlie became smart due to the operation and got to see how people treated him before the operation and how those people weren't as smart as what he thought they were when he was retarded. Both novel's show that society's expectations are high, that everyone believes that every single person should be a certain way and act a certain way and if they dont then something's wrong with them. But that's not true becasue everyone is different even if we dont think so. In both novel's there were characters that were picked on which were Lennie(from Of Mice and Men) and Charlie(from Flowers For Algernon). both of these characters were vulnerable and got takin advantage of.

Austin Nolen, Week 4

I personally preferred Flowers for Algernon over Of Mice and Men. I thought Flowers For Algernon was overall a more interesting book. The plot was more eventful and the characters had more substance. It was intriguing to see someone go from mental inferiority to mental superiority so quickly. It was like I was reading about two different people. I think both novels convey the societal expectation that people should be mentally competent. In Of Mice and Men the ranch owner and the workers didn’t expect Lennie to be able to function on the farm because he was mentally challenged. The scientists in Flowers for Algernon claimed they had ‘fixed nature’s mistake’ when they turned Charlie into a genius, suggesting that mental retardation is not socially acceptable. I think both books portray themes circulating the idea that ignorance is better than intelligence. In Flowers for Algernon the evidence supporting this theme is Charlie’s experiences after he becomes smart. He is never happy even when he is with his girlfriend, Alice. Also, he recalls hurtful memories about his mother and father fighting over his condition as a child. In contrast, Lennie, in Of Mice and men, is always happy even when he kills Curley’s wife. He is so focused on the things he enjoys that he is unaware of the tragic events that happen around him. This is a result of his mental condition thus suggesting that ignorance is better than intelligence. Overall both books were worth reading and they both carry meaningful lessons and themes.

flowers vs men

I like flowers better because I understood the story more then I did when reading of mice and men. Also, flowers had a better story line then Of Mice and Men. With Flowers I could find the theme of the story real fast, but with of mice and men I still don’t understand what the theme is. In the novel flowers no one killed an innocent person and I could understand why the characters acted the way they did. In of mice and men I don’t understand why George had to shoot Lennie and why the author had to make Lennie look like a cold- blooded killer. Both novels paint a picture of intelligence as something everyone wants to have if they want to be accepted by society. The societies in the book expect everyone to be as smart as a normal person, but the truth is in real life everyone has different levels of intelligence. Both Charlie and Lennie are not as smart as a normal person so they get made fun of a lot of the time in the novels. Charlie and Lennie help conveying the author’s message about intelligence by making sure they get made fun of for not being on the same level of intelligence as everyone else.

Intelligence is Anything (week 4 post)

I liked Flowers for Algernon better because it had more detail in the novel and I liked more of the characters in it than in Of Mice and Men. Each novel says that intelligence is key point to a good life and society expects people to be in sync with everything and nothing is going a different way. Lennie and Charlie are much alike and they both do not have much intelligence which messes up societies expectations of everyone being the same and can do anything. The thing is they could do anything, but society does not accept it in a good way and to not deal with mentally handicapped children and adults like Lennie and Charlie, they disallow them a job most of all and a normal life. The authors of both novels convey the message of intelligence in both of the novels by showing normal people work with mentally handicapped people and how it does not matter if your IQ is below normal because you can still function. Lennie was not that smart and he could still work at the farm him and George went to and Charlie before the surgery could still understand concepts that were at his level and he could write a little bit. I guess intelligence could mean many different things. It doesn’t mean you have to smart like normal people or Einstein, if you are mentally handicapped, you can just be yourself.

Week 4 post: Derek Chipps

Out of the 2 novels that we have read so far I would have to say that I liked Of Mice and Men more because I like the story line and all the characters are people that you would normally think of and some people could relate to that. In Charlie no one can really relate to him or anyone because no one is like really really smart or they are not mentally challenged like Charlie is. Also no one would really relate to that as much as to all the normal people in Of mice and Men. The expectations to society are kinda low because it doesn't really ask them to do that much just get tested on and work on a farm. The expectations in those times are very different then what we have now. The main characters in the books we have read so far all have some kind of disability and they all end up losing it or maybe even worse so the author is saying that there are a lot of people that have disabilities. I admire that these books give people the perspective of people that have that disability and what goes on with them on a day to day basis.