Flowers for Algernon By: FNX Azon No comments

(By Daniel Keyes)


Possibly now being the number one on my list of thought provoking books, Flowers for Algernon was really interesting. It tells the tale of Charlie Gordon, a retarded man who has the determination and motivation of an Olympic athlete. After showing his eagerness to learn and become smarter at the college center at which he learns, he was chosen to be part of a experimental intelligence raising operation. The story is told through the progress reports that Charlie writes for the experiment, though at first the text is erroneous, very small but clear changes in the way Charlie writes show his intelligence indeed because higher. The progress reports are also very realistic and make the character seem even more like a real person.

Algernon, the small white mouse that also received the same operation previously, shows promising results as his intelligence was clearly above the average intelligence of a normal mouse. But Charlie, who was once innocent, kind, and very considerate of others and his "friends" begins to realize how cruel the world and his "friends" were being to him. He begins to realize how he was actually being treated and he begins to turn his back upon the world. Though his intelligence was clearly raised, his mental and emotional state remained the same, leaving him still retarded in those aspects. He has trouble in keeping stable relationships with the people around him and also the women he loves, his former teacher, Alice Kinnian. The book shows how irregularity is disapproved by society regardless of what it is. When Charlie was retarded, his coworkers treated him terribly, however, when Charlie became incredibly intelligent, surpassing all of the people around him, he expected people to like him finally and to accept him but they hated him for not being retarded. His ignorance of the true meaning of his "friends" actions made them his friends and thus made him very happy. Though they were never truly his friends in the first place, when he realized how they treated him, he lost the friends that he once had. Interestingly * -(spoiler alert- I will continue this far below the rest of the review)- In the book, a character tells Charlie that it was wrong of him to receive the operation because God had created him the way he was, and he was trying to change it through "artificial intelligence" (not that kind of AI). Charlie responds that he was a "blind man given the opportunity to see light".

I won't spoil what happens later on, but I will state what was stated on the back of the book, Algernon's intelligence begins to deteriorate. The book is a true classic and is very well written!!






*when Charlie's intelligence finally deteriorates until he is back at his original state, they truly become his friend, defending him from others who act the way they did before Charlie's operation.
So does this mean that the operation and the deterioration created the friendship? Did the operation make them realize and appreciate Charlie, the real Charlie?

Deadline By: FNX Azon No comments

(By Chris Crutcher)

    Deadline is the tale of the final year of the life of Ben Wolf, the main character, who learns that he has a disease that will most likely cause him to die. Given the foreknowledge of his death he determines that he will try to make his mark on the world before he dies his untimely and quite frankly, insignificant death. Keeping his disease a secret from everyone including his family, he begins to try to make something out of his last year. He strikes a romantic relationship with Dallas Suzuki, the girl he had liked for so long, he joins the football team despite all the skepticism people showed, he even began to read about Malcolm X and became friends with the town drunkard. 
     However, things are not as they seem, he isn't the only one who had difficulty with his life. Although the events that actually occur in the story seem foolish and fictional, which they are, the novel also comments on sensitive topics such as racism, American education/culture, and sexual harassment through the characters.
    The book is meaningful and also is very enjoyable to read. However, the book is not very sensitive when dealing with these issues, it is blunt and outright. This is something that I found to be a beneficial factor to the book, but some may not see it that way. I do advise the readers to read at their own discretion. Nonetheless, it was a great read!