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Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

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Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#71

Post by swayvil »

jl6 wrote: post #37
quanto wrote: post #12

She said dont be scared Charlie you done so much with so little I think you deserv it most of all. Charlie was a man with a good heart, motivation, and self-awareness, and yet the world was not so kind to him. The story reminds me of something I read somewhere: be kind to less intelligent people -- the world is already not so kind to them.

Also: we are all less intelligent than someone, so treat people right because soon it will be your turn.

Also, smart and stupid look much alike (in that both experience a state of few unsolved riddles). So beware.

Frankly, I think the desire (I want to crush somebody) comes first and the justification (he's a fool so it's only just that I crush him) comes second.

Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#73

Post by djsavvy »

This story hit me hard when I read it as a kid.

When I was young, I read another story with a similar emotional texture that I've been trying to find again for years now. It had a mentally challenged boy who worked in a restaurant with a lobster tank in the front, and the boy loved the lobster as a pet and stopped the restaurant staff from killing and serving the lobster. But one day when the boy was gone the lobster was killed.

I don't remember much but I've been looking for it for ages. I hope I can find it and read it again someday.

Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#74

Post by SamBam »

blader wrote: post #43

Ted Chiang wrote a short story inspired by Flowers for Algernon ("Understand") that explores what might happen if a guy just never stopped getting smarter: https://web.archive.org/web/20140527121332/http://www.infini... I love Flowers for Algernon, but Understand is my favorite short story of all time.

I adore most of Chiang's work, but Understand is one of my least favorites. Fun premise, yes, but it reads to me like much less mature sci-fi, like something written by a teen about what being super-smart would feel like.

Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#76

Post by swayvil »

ta8645 wrote: post #52
quanto wrote: post #12

She said dont be scared Charlie you done so much with so little I think you deserv it most of all. Charlie was a man with a good heart, motivation, and self-awareness, and yet the world was not so kind to him. The story reminds me of something I read somewhere: be kind to less intelligent people -- the world is already not so kind to them.

There is a prevailing contempt these days for less intelligent and less educated people, that is very unseemly and disheartening.

In the past our stories had "the wise fool" and "the noble pauper". We don't really do that now. All of our heros are rich, smart and beautiful. It's a crassification no doubt. Maybe a shift in the target demographic is to blame.

Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#77

Post by taeric »

solardev wrote: post #66
taeric wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. This feels like it is leaning too heavily on single words. Translate aunt, and see that that is similarly difficult. Still, I can't and don't reject the idea. Would love to see a comprehensive study. At a personal level, I don't remember these things in school, either. They were archetypes, but nobody was a solid archetype. Such that I find it hard to believe you don't see folks through some of these le…

Words (or in their case, characters & the concepts) partially define culture, though. If you don't have an easy word for something, whether it's a personality or a color, it's a foreign idea to you. Sure, someone can translate it for you and tell you what it means, but it's not the same as having it be a part of your culture. Someone can explain "tea time" to me, but as an American, it will always be a Britishism eve…

I think that has been fairly heavily disproven. That language defines culture.

I meant my anecdote to be that I grew up in America, and didn't see this behavior at large. Outside of movies.

Completely agreed that it is an interesting topic.

Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#78

Post by ginnungagap »

djsavvy wrote: post #73

This story hit me hard when I read it as a kid. When I was young, I read another story with a similar emotional texture that I've been trying to find again for years now. It had a mentally challenged boy who worked in a restaurant with a lobster tank in the front, and the boy loved the lobster as a pet and stopped the restaurant staff from killing and serving the lobster. But one day when the boy was gone the lobster…

This is probably enough information for the folks at the Science Fiction & Fantasy Stackexchange (https://scifi.stackexchange.com/) to identify the story, they get similar story identification requests all the time and are crazy good at it.

If you do ask make sure to include approximately when you read it and please let me know, I'm curious about your story too now!

Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#79

Post by Barrin92 »

dotancohen wrote: post #62
ta8645 wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a prevailing contempt these days for less intelligent and less educated people, that is very unseemly and disheartening.

Such contempt is not unique to "these days". And for what it's worth, there is no less contempt for the educated, never mind the intelligent, among those subcultures who praise and harvest ignorance.

>Such contempt is not unique to "these days"

It certainly is among otherwise self-declared tolerant people. The Atlantic wrote a great piece a few years ago called 'The War on Stupid people', pointing out that in communities that have strict rules of conduct concerning just about any form of discrimination, you'll find people casually joking about 'darwin awards' when some stupid person dies a grueling death. Imagine you'd introduce one for obese people in a tolerant, young internet community.

Intelligence is increasingly conflated with human worth, and people who scoff at every form of inequality these days will gladly make an exception for intelligence, calling it meritocratic. The word itself is a good indicator of the change in attitude, given that Michael Young who coined it did so for satirical purposes, describing a future British society that is governed by an undemocratic elite selected through IQ tests.

Re: Flowers for Algernon (1965) [pdf]

#80

Post by psbp »

johnny_reilly wrote: post #55

This book changed me. I was an idle eight year old, and my school didn't give us homework to do. So my father decided to set me homework of his own devising, which on one occasion was reading Flowers for Algernon. I was moved by the story of a man who had little natural ability, straining to make the best of what he had. Then becoming smarter than everyone around him, and then what follows. There's many things to tak…

I was always insecure about my intelligence and I remember coming away with this same idea from the book. Life is really just a series of experiences. You don't need to meet a certain standard or qualify yourself in order to have positive experiences or to have an impact. We often place so much emphasis on comparison and measuring our success/potential that we miss the whole process of living.
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