Final indy blog post for my second indy reading book "Flowers for Algernon"

Comment on the perspective from which the book is told and how the
author’s choice affects your relationship with the book’s content.

Well the book entirely is told from the perspective of Charlie Gordon. Hes the protagonist and main character,but its not told in first person way like most books but in charlies "PROGIRS REPORITS." Yes that is the correct spelling in the book. These "PROGIRS REPORITS" are journal entries that Charlie has to doc for all the scientist as he goes through his operation to raise his IQ.I found this approach to tell the book very refreshing and different.One "PROGIRS REPORITS" reads "...all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb and my mom always tolld me to try and lern just like Miss Kinnian tells me but its very hard to be smart and even when I lern something in Miss Kinnians class at the school I ferget alot." The reports are vital to the story because they define Charlies character, It shows how he misspells words how he feels about intelligence in general and what he thinks about himself. Without these reports we don't see the world through Charlies eyes and this is what the story is really about. Its not a story about intelligence or science experiments it may have some aspects of that but in its core its about a mans struggle with these aspects,and life's aspect in general,love,family,identity,acceptance,friendship.I found the context of the book to be a lot more personal since it was written from one mans perspective and in a form of a dairy type thing so reading every endeavor he talked about I felt it to. This book is very depressing since in the end Charlie doesn't get what he wants he doesn't remain smart he is left alone and goes away to a home. So I think the author use this way of telling the story so the reader could get emotionally connected with the story I know I did.

book blog nov 22

Nothing in our minds is ever really gone. The operation had covered him over with a veneer of education and culture, but emotionally he was there--watching and waiting

This short passage is one i find very intriguing as we see the doctor talking to the others abut charlie and his intelligence deteriorating over time and how he was still the charlie of yesterdays emotionally, but masked by a his giant leap of intelligence. Plus the first sentence "Nothing in our minds is ever really gone." Relates not only to this story but are brain functions in general. The doctors theory is that once we learn something ultimately it still going to be there be it in the subconscious or not we never lose it. The question of how we remember things and if we really lose are memory for good or it just gets jumbled is still being brought up to this day so this passage is really relevant


Q:
How much longer will charlies IQ deteriorate
will he ultimately end up like Algernon
Did the scientists plan for this to happen
What will they do to accommodate for Charlie woes and losses

nov 16

I beet Algernon. I dint even know I beet him until Burt Selden told me. Then the second time I lost because I got so excited. But after that I beet him 8 more times. I must be getting smart to beat a smart mouse like Algernon. But I dont feel smarter." PR 8, pg. 22

This is the first time Charlie has beaten Algernon in the "maze game" which shows that the operation has been a success. Also this shows how he has been dehumanized by society for being less intelligent because it has made an impression on him if he knows it or not."But I dont feel smarter." this quote is what i mean. He has been given a model of what smart is suppose to be by the society around him and know he thinks if he cant reach that model he will not be labeled smart. This just shows that the operation still has to take effect because if he was smart he would realized its not what others draw up what smart its how you feel about your maximum performance in life. Also the reader can tell the operation has work because in this progress report he has a lot more words spelled correctly than before and also he can understand his mistakes by saying "second time I lost because I got so excited."


questions...
1.when will algernon iontellgience start to deteriorate
2.what can charlie do now other than beat algernon that he couldnt do before
3.Did everything go to the doctors plan accordingly

nov.15

I thought i'd write about something different the preface it still deals with the book i think

Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees any one whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other..." The Republic, Preface

This is the preface passage for the book im reading Flowers For Algernon. It is taken from the book The Republic. From all the books ive ever read the preface passage(if theres even one at all) deals with book and its thematic elements. I'm trying to comprehend this passage and relate it to Flowers For Algernon the author of my book seems to see a connection cause if he didn't he wouldn't even chose it to begin with. "the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light." I think this sentence reprsents charlie the main character in my book going through his transformation of becoming a very intelligent person from a very unintelligent. "And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other..." this quote is saying how the more evolved man the n more overall man will look down upon his inferiors and have no remorse and no pity for actions so i think once charlie goes through his transformation he will come out a smarter person and even surpass the scientist that were working on him and become bigheaded and egotistical.

questions....
1.what is the republic about.
2.is there any similarities between charlie and the main character in the republic?

post nov 13.2008

"...all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb and my mom always tolld me to try and lern just like Miss Kinnian tells me but its very hard to be smart and even when I lern something in Miss Kinnians class at the school I ferget alot." PR 3, pg. 3

I find this passage very common to the world of a teenager or just any student in general. Yes this comes from a profoundly retarded man but it holds true. We all strive to be the smartest and learn in school but as charlie states "its very hard to be smart." This passage represents the essence of this book so far the theory of intelligence and how it is viewed in society and what we find synonymous with high intelligence and what we relate low intelligence to. I think once charlie goes through the procedure he will get a view from the other side of the spectrum and start to realize its not how smart you are or what type of intelligence you have but what you do with the brain you are given.Also his mother is mentioned in this passage prior to this part his family hasn't not been mentioned so i wonder how they are going to take part in charlie's life after the procedure

questions...
1 will w3e ever get to see what happened to his family
2 how does his family feel about his operation
3 what are miss kinnani intentions and thoughts on charlie

Final Indy book post

What do you think is the defining moment or moments for the main
character and/or other major characters in the book?

Well the major characters in this book is Humbert and Dolores.The books is chopped filled with moments that make me both cringe and arouse not by the body of the young "nymphet" but by how the body of work is composed. The words he use bring such a vivid images to mine it arouses my sense in every why shape and form. I can see Dolores' "porcelain white skin" as Humbert does i can smell her scent as Humbert does I can taste Dolores essence as Humbert does just by the words the author writes this is a book i both regret and enjoyed reading. The moment that both define the character that is Humbert and prolongs the story of Humbert and Dolores relationship is one we hate to read about in our daily news a kidnapping of a young child. Humbert telling her that her mother is desperately ill in a hospital, and later dies.Takes Dolores across the U.S. from state to state from motel to motel having sex with along the way. A part of the story that is the core of Lolita that plays like some sick law and order episode a man takes a young girl away form here home to have her way with her. Coming into the book i expected the worse but the word play of the author brings this story to the extreme of TMI(too much information). I read this story thorough the gross and yet beautiful descriptions of both Humbert's humanity and insanity because in the end all he wanted was love even though he looked for it in the wrong places and for better or worse I see a little of Humbert in all of us all we want to feel when we think of love is bliss and enjoyment and Humbert found that for better or worse.

1stt

the number of true nymphets is strikingly inferior to that of provisionally plain, or just nice, or "cute," or even "sweet" and "attractive," ordinary girls, plumpish, formless, cold-skinned, essentially human little girls, with tummies and pigtails, who may or may not turn into adults of great beauty (look at the ugly dumplings in black stockings and white hats that are metamorphosed into stunning scars of the screen). A normal man given a group photograph of school girls or Girl Scouts and asked to point out the comeliest one will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them. You have to be an artist and a madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins and a super-voluptuous flame permanently aglow in your subtle spine [...], in order to discern at once, by ineffable signs—the slightly feline outline of a cheekbone, the slenderness of a downy limb, and other indices which despair and shame and tears of tenderness forbid me to tabulate—the little deadly demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power. (Nabokov, p. 16-17)



This passage gives me a look in to what is yet to come. He talks about how the nymphets are different from place to place. this is something a grow man shoud nor be talking about

Is he really perverted
what will he do to this girl
who is lolita?