In Flowers for Algernon, Charley is a man with a very low IQ, but is happy and has friends. After a surgical procedure, his IQ triples. With knowledge, Charles discovers the truth about the world and people around him. After his surgery he loses his job, realizes people make fun of him, and becomes judgmental.
In this Blog discuss the following:
- Was Charley happier when he was ignorant?
- Should people try to fit in when they are different?
Ask questions as they come up.
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26 comments:
In the book Flowers for Algernon, Charlie started off as a relatively happy man. He may have had a low IQ but at least he thought he has friends and people who cared about him. He could always be whoever he wanted to be and didnt care what people thought. However, in an attempt to fit in to society, Charlie underwent surgerie and tripled his IQ. He realised his friends always made fun of him. He realized how people thought of him.This caused his usual happy mood began to slowly decline into sadness. When his IQ had reached his peek, he was paranoid and had no friends, for he was smarter than everyone and made them feel inferior. He was a hermit surrounded by people. All in all, he had overall happiness when he was dumb and when he was smart he was depressed, shall we say. This was due, I think, to the fact that when you are very educated and know everything, nothing in your life is a mystery and there is no suprise of secrets. You would also be more aware of the sadness in this world, like child labor, human traficking, and world hunger. If you had an IQ as low as Charlie, you wouldnt realy care and you would just focus mainly on positives. Life would all together be easier. In a book Ms. Fashoyin read to us, I LIKE ME, we read about a young girl who was proud to be herself. Not because she was a cheerleader or the most popular girl in school, but just because she was her. She also expressed that she would love herself no matter what and didnt care what people thought. She appeared so happy even when people snickered, it was amazing. I could also connect to last year, we had a student with mental disabilities and I would think he would be sad, but he was always happy. At break time he would play with kids in 2,3,of 4th grade. Kids didnt realy accept him into society and made fun of him. This however, did not affect him, he stayed happy and didnt care. NEar the end of year, people stopped making fun of him and he acted the same. He didnt care if he was popular or why people stayed around him. He reminds me alot of Charlie to some extent. With these two people I have reached the verdict that peopel would be happier in ignorance. Just like that story about the cave, sorry the name escapes at this moment, the people were happy living in that small cave because they were ignorant of the rest of the world. You can also look at animals. A dog seems happy a lot of the time, unless a direct threat is posed, because they dont have to worry about college or rent or grades or the credit crunch.In the movie I AM LEGEND, the entire hman race is close t extinction and one man is alive, he is depressed alot of the time, but his dog i always glad to be a live, ignorance is bliss Look at babies, they are happy because they dont even know about war or hatred or college or school, no worries.People we study in social studies were ignorant of the rest of the world until European colonization, they had a happy, lazy lifestyle, never filled with any worries, then Europeans came and with them came so much knowledge. Knowledge crushed myths and common beliefs, and made everyone aware of the horrors of the world, and the world would never appear the same. Another example is that, when I was around 7, I thought blinkers in the car when you wanna turn a corner were magic. I thought their was a monster in the hood pushing a button when he sensed the driver wanted to turn to said side.When I was told that it happend because of a lever the driver pulled, the car lost all its magic in my eyes and I didnt find it fun to drive around it anymore. If nobody in the world had any wories because were all totaly ignorant and just lived today for today, it would be a better place. Instead we must uncover all facts about everything, we even send spaceships into space to find life to crush the myth of aliens, there is no mystery!Knowledge is not a gift, it is a curse.
I think that in Flowers for Algernon, Charlie (or Charles towards the middle) was very "out of the loop". When he did the surgery, at first, he was studied by his so-called peers in his day job to see how he changed. He then realized once he got smarter that when they laughed, the laughed because of him, or because of something he did, not with him. When he realized that, it showed a major sign in the advancement of his intelligence. Once he became smart, we could tell that he became judging and even to intelligent people, he looked down on them. This made him obsess: What were they going to do to him? Were they going to make silly mistakes because they had never heard of an Indian report, or could they not speak or read Hindu? Charlie Gordon had changed to fit in.
I have mixed feelings about that. Who draws the line between such minimal things as getting braces to change your appearance, laughing at people you don't want to laugh at, and having surgery to change your personality? I think that he should have tried very hard with natural ways, but first have insurance that this experiment would probably work, and not make him above the norm in his intelligence, because, that was doing exactly what he didn't want to do, but in the opposite extreme.
I think that people can change if they are different, but if it is against their normal will, they shouldn't. If you were to start wearing thick black makeup so as to fit in with the other girls who did the same, it isn't a good thing. This is because you change yourself, even thought not liking the change, just to be considered "one". To certain extents, it is necessary. You have to learn French if you are at a French speaking school. If not, you wouldn't be able to get around. If you entered a car accident, and left with major scaring of your face, yes, it is okay to get plastic surgery. This is because it is not your fault. It is not your fault that a drunk driver hit your car, scarring you for life. It isn't your fault that they speak French at your school and you don't. So what do you do in that situation, you adapt; you learn French.
In addition, I think that he was happier when he was ignorant. When he got smart, he was momentarily happy because of his improvement, but he then lost that sense of happiness when he started to be TOO smart. I think that the happiest part for him was when he was told about the experiment, and was working hard to be liable for it. He had a sense of hope that, yes, he could. Yes he could be smart and fit in with the normal society.
I think that Charlie was happier when he was ignorant because he was more of himself and he was very happy. I am not saying that he's not happy when he's very smart because he started to like Ms. Kinnian, but I just think that he had a more broad and open personality without having a high IQ. I think it is best if people try to fit in, but not too hard because it'll get you messed up. If you fit in, then you start to make friendds, but not like changing your clothes to gangster clothes and chains if you don't usually wear that because it is best if you fit in with the personality that gives you no harm and the personality that only you find unique and interesting in your perspective. I think that Charlie tried to hard to fit in. He fit in well with the little kids like on the first picture in the story when he was playing with them vecause his characteristics matched the same charcteristics of the kids because Charlie and the kids acted childish. I also think that it is better if you are yourself and not try to act different when you are in school or when you are in your house. I started to like Charlie until he started to get really smart because that's not who he really is. The operation did that, not him. He wasn't born smart.
This is all my opinion so, my short answer to this question would be that I think that Charlie was happy when he was ignorant...
:0)
WOW! Omar, nice input! You too, Rachel, and Yonas.
I have a simple statement: Ignorance is bliss, until you escape that ignorance.
Once you escape, you can't go back. You feel empty, as if you have been missing out on life. However, the truth is that if you live a simple life, your whole life, and are perfectly content with your daily activities, you will live happily. If you break the norm, even just once, you discover a whole genre of topics and flavors and ideas that you have been missing out on. However, you recall, that before you discovered these wonders, you were happy because you didn't even know about them, and you didn't really care.
Like Charlie, he discovered them, but was forced to go back. I think that if you must return to your simple and ignorant lifestyle, that would be extremely difficult, like it was to Charlie.
I often relate this to scientists or researchers. Once they search and search to find the answer to one thing, they aren't content enough to stop and say "wow, I worked hard, but I did it". Instead, they must propose new questions to test. It is never good enough. I think that this trait is a positive trait, but you'll never be happy if it's never enough.
So now, to answer the questions.
Q: Was Charlie happier when he was ignorant?
A: Charlie was indeed happy when he was ignorant. He had motivation to learn. When he was smart, he knew everything that he couldn't learn anything new. He was unhappy because he was ,a: unable to discover, and b: because he was too intelligent that he questioned everything and looked down on those less intelligent then him. However, he was like 8 times lower then the lowest before. I don't think that he realized that until the incident at the diner. When he realized that he was coming down from the peak of his intelligence, he felt a sensation of rush that he had to complete all of these things that he thought were meaningful before. He didn't want to go back to being unintelligent, although, he was just fine before. He had no problem being Charlie Gordon, the 37 year old with an IQ of 68. He had no problem with that, until he realized what he had been missing out on... and now he thought of it as the world's ending; to be Charlie Gordon with no artificial IQ enhancer.
Q: Should people try to fit in when they are different?
A: Oh my. I just realized something. The boy that Omar was talking about is actually a role model. He had no problem with wearing short shirts, and being friends with 3rd graders. He was fine. He saw what middle school life was like, and he didn't like it I suppose, so he went where he felt safe, and happy. He didn't have to pretend, like a lot of us do. No, people should not try to fit in when they are different. They should be grateful of the fact that they are different, and hold it on to them like a precious gem. I could ramble on about this question for hours if I wanted to, but a simple no will do it.
Now for my questions: Do you think that when, or if, Charlie goes back to being Charlie, he will accept him for him?? If you were Charlie, how would you feel? Was the experiment even a good idea? Personally, I think it disrupted his whole life, and put him into a stage of low self-esteem, and discontentedness. What do you think?
MORE ABOUT THE ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE:
A group of people are stuck in a cave since the tie of their birth. Somehow one gets free from his chains and stands up, it is not indicated how. He then looks at the fire creating the shadows and is blinded by the brightness. He returns his gaze to the shadows which he considers more real then the fire itself. Then someone, it is not indicated who, drags him out of the cave and he sees for the first time, light and what we consider real things. His mind, however continues to register these things as fake, a dream, less real then the puppet shadows.After being accustomed, he returns to the cave and looks at the prisoners. At first he pities them for their ignorance, but then he envies their ignorance. This is a lot like Flowers for Algernon. At first, charlie is the prisoner with his low IQ and never viewed the world differently. When he gets the operation, he is freed and can stand, and when he looks at the fire is when he realises his "friends" dont like him. When his IQ begins to sky rocket it is like when he is dragged out into the real world. When he gets adapted, it is when his IQ is so high, he begins judging everyone. When he goes back to the cave and starts envying the people is when he sees the mentally challenged waiter and his IQ began descending. Using this connection, I think Plato answered Ms Olson's second question, and it is that ignorance is definetly bliss. Just look at all the connections I made in my first comment.
to answer Julia's question:
I think the experiment that Charlie conducted was a bad thing. Before, he had what he thought were friends. It doesnt matter if they werent actually, he was happy. When the experiment was done, he LEARNED his friends were deceiving him and using him. He LEARNED what people thought of him. When he describd the boy in the restaurant, he is happy, even when people are mocking him. because he didnt KNOW.So, Ignorance is bliss, i believe can answer most all questions on this subject.
Now to my question:
What do you think the world would be like if european's had never industrialized and with it the rest of the world?Would we be happy in our bliss?
the wrong message might be taken from my previous writing. Ignorance is wonderful to one extent but horrible to another. To answer Ms olson's second question it is that it is not worth it to change yourself to fit into a group. Whatever group you actually should fit in with is the one in which you can be yourself. What Charlie did, that extreme change, was not smart. He became sad but also realised his "friends" were not a group in which he fitted in to. The group in which someone belongs is the one in which he/she must do nothing to him or herself to fit in.
I would put the cave allegory to a simple simile:
A boy has seen cake all of his life. His parents tell him that if he is good in school, he can get the cake. After working very very hard, he finally reaches the point where his parents decide on giving him the cake. He loves the cake, and wonders why he didn't work harder at school to get it, but as he continues to get good grades, the prize, a piece of cake seems minimal to him. He begins to distrust his parents judgement on the value, the "right" prize. He believes that he needs a larger prize.
This relates to Flowers for Algernon because Charlie isn't good at "school". He has an I.Q. of 68. He is told about an experiment to make him smarter. He now works harder than usual to get smarter (to get the cake in the simile). Finally, his I.Q. rises. He now realizes how much basic knowledge he was missing and wonders why he was so dumb before. When his knowledge increasingly rapidly rises, he begins to become paranoid. Why do they do it this way? It is like in the simile, the child questioning the parents judgement on the prize. When he reaches his maximum peak of knowledge, he becomes rejected from society. Some may call him a sociopath, and he chose his own decisions, but I think of it differently. His experiences still haven't matured. He still doesn't understand elementary basic knowledge that isn't a matter or intelligence, but of maturity. He IS being mature to play the devil's advocate, and he chose to do the experiment without knowing what his future experiences would be like but, but he was so dumb that her realized that maybe it would help him in his everyday life. He was so desperate to be smarter, that it seemed like a no brainer. I think that when he starts to become dumber, he realizes what he had. In this case, he is realizing that knowledge is bliss. Some may argue that if he had never known, this would have never had happened, but I tend to disagree. I think that once he realized that is brain was like a cup, and it was only 1/10 filled, he wanted to gain the 9 other tenths. When his knowledge deteriorated, he could almost feel one tenth of knowledge slipping away slowly. It is like taking away one marble at a time away from someone's marble jar. They don't realize that those marble were missing until they were gone.
IN Flowers for Algernon, Charlie was a happy go lucky man and nothing mattered to him. He may have not understanded things clearly but life was good. When people made fun of him, he didn't care, he laughed with them and felt like the world loved him. Although he had fun with the jokes, he still wanted to be smart like everyone else and understand the world more clearly. But what he failed to realize was that once he had done the surgery, everything would start to change his life. After the surgery he finally began to try to test out the experiment. Everything was going fine until he got to a certain level where no one could comprehend what he was saying or what he meant. He lost his job and all of his friends because he was no use to them anymore. NO more jokes about him, tripping him, making Charlie Gordon jokes, he was just no use to them anymore. So yes, Charlie was happier when he was ignorant. Everything went smoothly for what he was told, and everything around him seemed like the world was perfect.
For the second half of the question: Should try to fit in when they are different?
Well, no they shouldn't. The reason I say this is because, when people try to fit in, they may have to sacrifice themselves just to be somebody that they are not. Why would any one want to risk so much just to "fit in." Ok so what if you make it in. What happens when your finally in the spotlight, and then suddenly something bad happens to you or someone close to you. They're not going to stick by your side and say, "We're here for you man!" They will walk away forgetting that you ever existed in the first place.
I also would like to give a personal connection. This summer when I was in the states, we had a 11 or 12 year old boy who was had mental problems, and every one made fun of him because he was different and couldn't think as quick or react more quickly as we would. People would always push him around and my friends and I would go and hang out with him just so that he wouldn't be so lonely. One day when every one was swimming in the pool, these groups of guys were making fun of him and throwing stuff at him and that made him angry, so he bit one of the boys and got himself in trouble for it. I was very upset that day. But the thing is he didn't know what he was doing, he just wanted to be like everyone else, and when he tried, they brought him down to an even lower level.
You don't have to try to be someone you're not, just be yourself, and don't listen to people that bring you down or anything like that!
Yes there will be challenges in the world that may bring you to a certain point that says: Do I want to be myself or Do I want to be like others? Some may want to be like others some may not.
So my question is: Which do road do you want to take? The road to being happy and not trying to fit in? or the road that says I want to be like others?
Johanna B
Well I think Charlie was happier when he was ignorant becasue he wasn't as aware of things as after he had taken the IQ. Since he became more educated, trained and had more kknowledge after the IQ he realized things and saw things from a different, more serious perspective. Before the IQ, when he was less intelligent, he focused more of the present, on how to become smart like everyone else. He didn't realize people were making fun of him and using him, that his friends were only his friends in the good of making fun of him. After the IQ he realized he wasn't as happy any mroe because he realized who his friends really were.
I think people shouldn't try to fitt in because then you show the personality of others, you're not yourself. People like you better for who you are and it's more genuine to be who you are rather than trying to fit on or trying to act or be someone else who you're not. People would rather know the real you than thinking this person is something specific than who they really are not.
I just think that the reason why people try to fit in is because they do not want to be outsiders or made fun of. But when you try to fit in and change for a certain purpose you're not happy because you're trying to fit in and sometimes it may not work, or if you do fit in you're not yourself, and so you still feel different because you're just trying to fit in and being someone you're not.
To answer Senja's question, it would depend on the situation. I mean being happy and thinking everything was just "fine" wouldn't be very smart. I mean you would want to know the truth "behind the curtains" and not learning a bunch of lies or fake things. I mean you can be happy and not fit in, but at the same time you would feel kind of lonely at times. trying to fit in and be like others, for me it would depend on the situation. If it was that i'd be unhappy permanently wouldn't be very fun in my opinion. I at times, through out my life have tried to fit in myself because I was different from everybody else and so I know how it feels like. So in my perspective, at times it can be godo that you're happy NOT trying to fit in, and at times fitting in NOT being happy.
I also think that his happiness is a bit like the pyramid with creativity at the top, and the necessities at the bottom. I think that there should be another where at the bottom you can proceed if your low I.Q. makes your life sad. If it doesn't, you can proceed to the next. Do people make fun of you and are you aware of it? For Charlie, that doesn't apply for him when he is dumb, so he moves on the the next. Can you get around and do basic things? For that, Charlie would have to stop because he can't. Once he gets the operation, now he can (ex: he can type). As his learning advances, he proceeds to the penultimate level: are you loved or just studied? I think that his teacher he was loved by. She also studied him, but in the picture when they were holding hands, that showed a bit of love. And the last step allows creativity. Charlie would think of advanced formulas and read books that he loved. Once he reached the end, I think that he reached a "tipping point". The pyramid continues to go upward, but the two lines intersect and start listing negative things. Then, he becomes paranoid, and sooner or later as his learning advances, he ends up at the bottom of the reverse pyramid.
I don't know if that makes any sense at all, but...
Nicolas d
what i would say about how charlie feels is that charlie,like omar said, understands more when his iq went up. After the operation, he understood moreeverythin around him. he realised his friends had never liked him, and he also realised that he likes miss kinnian. before the opperation, he was more of an outsider and he didnt know all about him. he didnt know that people made fun of him. it was like he didnt have any feelings, except being happy. also, after the operation he became more sad, depressed and ignorant. he didnt want to accept the fact that he might lose everythhing. when Algernon died, he was shocked and almost crumbled. i have a question: now that youo know he will probably lose his intelligence, what do you think he will do with himself?
to the other question ms olson asked. yes, they should try. i am an example(i think). when i was new to this school, i didnt understand English, so it felt a bit like i was an outcast. this proved wrong. i tried and tried to learn english, and finally i could speak it. i then tried to fit in, which helped, and i had some nice friends, but its always tough in the beginning, but if you lose hope and have no courage and no self confidence, you wont make it. you have ti believe in yourself to do things you want to do. all these factors and my example i think are good. my question that i came uo with was: if you were in the position were you had hard to fit in, what would you do?
First question:
Charlie was happier before the operasion, because he didn't really know what was happening to him. He hanged out with he his "friends" and lived a happy life. He wanted to get smart, but he wasn't sad because he was dumb. After the operasion he became smart, and figured out his friends were laughing him out and didn't care about him. He became really negative.
Second question:
I think when people are different they should try to fit in, because it is not bad to be different, every single person in the world is different, but sometimes it is really different to fit in, because the people you try to fit in with don't accept you.
In the book Flowers of Algernon, Charlie is a man with a low IQ but he is very happy he has his friends(who really aren't but he thinks they are). when he gets his surgery to triple his IQ he becomes more positive to learn and he becomes so much smarter but he is a bit negative he sees the world as it really is and it (probably) disappoints him, he (probably) thinks the world should be so much more....perfect. thus he becomes negative. so yes i would say Charlie was happier when he was Ignorant.
Now should people try to fit in.
well i think it all depends on them when I'm different from everyone i like to fit in a bit but not too much i like to be different in my own way so i think if people want to fit in its ok but not too much.
I believe when Charlie was ignorant he was happy.He was happy because he was unaware. He thought he had friends who cared, a good job and liked night school.He was content with his life. But when the option for the operation came up he thought he could be smarter like his "friends", and also his teacher thought it was a good idea.
He was so happy after the operation he was smarter but then it went down hill. He became too smart and know wanted to hang out with him because they felt like he did in the beginning. So Charlie lost his job, girlfriend, and friends. He felt alone. On top of that Algernon died because of the operation! Charlie knew he was going to die. He was soooo depressed. he had nobody and he was going to die any day. Can it get worse.
So i think it is better to stay yourself and be yourself. You should not have operations to be smart you should work for it. Also for happiness you have to be happy with yourself. So i think Charlie should have stayed himself and he would still have friend, a girlfriend and a job.
So all in all IGNORANCE IS BLISS!!!!
Flowers for Algernon:
Charlie before:
He had an extremely low IQ, and he found that most of the people he could fit in with her of the younger generation (like in the picture we observed in class). He seemed to be comfortable and content with his life. I think that no matter how ingnorant you are, you will always want more. Charlie had a relitavly undeveloped mind at first. He wasnt aware of the malicious intentions of his "friends" and he was....kind of blind to what was going on in his personal life and in the world. Even so, he was still aware that others had something he didnt have and that he would do anything to gain the abilities that everyone else had. Which is why he was eager to do the operation. This is where he builds his motivation. All he wants to do is fit in. Everybody always wants something or another, its just that people that are born with higher than Charlies IQ are more aware of it and hold more importantce in Stuff. By stuff i mean things like, money, cloths etc... even friendships or family.
After the operation:
Charlies IQ is increasing at an allarming rate. He is now being shunned because he is becoming more aware. He is unhappy once he realized that his friends have actually been treating him like a joke. I can understand why he becomes withdrawn and suspicious. If you think you know somthing about someone, than to realize it so suddenly is upseting and understandable that he wasnt too cheery afterwards. Especially beacause he has been so trusting his entire life up to this point.
Technically, ignorance is bliss but in my opinion, i would much rather be aware and miserable then to be ignorant and content. Maybe this is because of my personality, but I never like to feel like I am unaware or incompetant. Not being ignorant to what is going on is good because it gives you a motive to try and fix it. If you are ignorant, you wont even know where to start.Its better to know somthing as being real, than living in a fantasy and believing that the situation (whatever it may be) is inevitable.
To answer Julias question in whether I thought the operation was good or bad, i have mixed feelings. Whoever wants to aggree or disagree feel free because im really not sure.
On one side, I think that operation was good because even if it wasnt perfect, he had information and knowlege at hand. He even got to write about his observations and contribute to science. If you could have everything you wanted, if you could posses abilities that you have always dreamed of having, would you do it? Im really not sure myself. As a rule, i dont support trying to lose your induviduality by trying to fit in with others, that would be "shooting yourself in the foot". Trying to smother you personality or watever will just lead to insecurity, which will lead to bigger things, like anorexia for example. When you listen to what sociaty tells you to do, its you that suffers in the end. Im not saying that im above it (far from it), or that i am superior to people that make certain choices, its just that it is wrong, and people that can rise above their insecurities and accept who they are fully are really lucky ( this is kind of a reference to the book Ms. Fashoyen read us, Omar mentioned it).
I feel really sorry for Charlie, it must be awfull to have your mind slipping away like tht. I predict that he will probably decide to kill himself, i wouldnt judge him for it. He might go crazy or just die slowly, his brain slowly collapsing, while all he can to is sink into a pit of dispare. Sorry, i tried not to be morbid but it sort of came out that way.
My last point, i agree with sort of agrre with Omar on the thing that knowledge can be a curse. Exept I think that sometimes it can and cant. In the Allegory or the Cave, i think that knowledge would be a gift. If it came to things of philosophy like, religion,or if aliens exist, I think it would be a curse. People should come to their own conclusions when it comes to that because life isnt all about facts, or trying to disprove a theory. For example, Im ashamed to admit that I am really superstisious, and no matter how many times people expalin that nothing will happen on Friday the 13, I cant be budged. I also believe that there is a heaven. I like to think that there must be somthing better afterwards. I think this because I guess I want to have hope, and it makes me feel better. So thats where the part about ignorance being bliss would come into play for me.
P.S
(sorry if this is off topic Ms. Olson)how do you put pictures on?
sorry omar but the book we read wasn't "I like me" it was "I like myself" but lets go on....
1) In the book Flowers Of Algernon, Charlie may have had a low IQ but he was happier before the operation because more people liked him & he thought he had friends but he was happy not for being dumb or the clown of the factory he was just happy that. He tried to fit in before the operation but after the operation he also still tried to fit in because if he didn't have that operation people wouldn't like him as who he is, they would like him as the person they like to make fun of because he was different & after the operation he still tried to fit in because they were hating on him because he was smarter now than he was when before he had the operation & so people don't like that big change & so they don't talk to him & they make him seem invisible.
2) I personally don't think people should try to fit in, they should just be themselves because sometimes people try to fit in & they make a huge mistake or regret something & sometimes the whole trying to fit in thing just back fires & then the person doesn't know what to do about it.
Good job to everyone that contributed!
Omar, if knowledge is a curse why do you go to school? You seem eager to learn and attain knowledge why if it is a curse?
i think that all the comments have there own perspective of the story and wha i think is that charlie was happier when he was not smart because he didnt know what was going on in the world and acted like a kid who was clueless. so he must have been happier dummer than smart because also they didnt have any feelings
This is medina(my account doesn't work)
I think everyone has a good opinion, and my opinion is that i think charlie was happier when he was dumber because he didnt know what the difference was!
But now that hes smart he knows how it was before and is sad!
I am postive Charlie was way happier before the operatiojn. He had fun, the people around him (he thought) treated him well and he had a job and had a simple life.
The being unsmart issue wasnt that important for him, but it was a goal. Did he have goals when he became smart? I dont think so.
I agree with Omar about having to worry or not about basic 'smart' people stuff. In my opinion it relates to the human needs pyramid.
Rachel is so right about the opposites. The first Charlie was SO different compared to second charlie.
I think that he was happier when he was ignorant and was more happier when he started to be smart and improved on his righting and reading.
But one time when he started to be smart,he was that kind like Rachel said.
I think that ignornce is a bliss to a certain point. Once you have started to see other oppertunities than to just live and be happy, you can´t just stop. The more you learn about the world around you, the more you feel that you have to know everything. It´s hard to stop, because when you know that you have just been living in a small world, and now see the big world ahead of you with all it´s knowledge, you want to know, whether it will harm you or not. I am happy, but I am also unhappy sometimes. But I can´t go back to being ignorant, it is to much on stake.
Before the operashion,Charlie's life was simple,he had a job,and he tought he had friends.But when he got smart,he saw that his "friends" were laughing to him and not with him.A moment he was so smart he couldn't even communicate whith people.And he also lost his job because of his intelligence.So I think charlie was happier when he was dumb.
I think taht someone who's different should try to fit in whith people that accept him as different and not whith people that make fun of him.
In the begining of the book Carlie was retarted and he had a ,lot of friends he was a happy man. But he wanted to get smart.
When he became smart he was getting happier in the begining but then he was not happy at all.
He lost friend his job , people were jealous.
When Algernon died he bacame dumb so he was not happy and he left so for my opinion being smart is like a curse like Omar said.
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