Charlie's+Angels

Group Members: Emily Eccleton, Emma Fink, Sarah Harris, and Selena Joarder

I asked my family members to take a couple of Rorschach tests and this is what they came up with.



Sister: a baby holding up two machine guns and dogs with really big noses and shadows of evil

Mom: an alien baby

Dad: an alien taking over the earth with fists raised in the air and inverted broccoli



Sister: two demented cows on the sides with bunnies trying to suck the souls from their backs; two men with long hair milking the cows; a boy and a girl snogging next to spilled water

Mom: a group of people standing together

Dad: a rock group

I find it odd that they would use these tests to measure intelligence in the 1960s. It didn't really prove anything except for the capacity of one's imagination. I am very thankful that we do not have to take tests like these nowadays, for I probably would have "failed" them...whatever "failing" may have meant with these tests.

-Emma Fink

//Charlie & Algernon //

Throughout the novel, many similarities between Charlie and Algernon are evident. Though not obvious at first, when you reflect upon the changes in both characters their likeness is clear.

I think that in the novel Algernon’s successes and regresses provide for a sort of prediction as to what the end result would be for Charlie. Due to the fact that Charlie was a step behind Algernon in getting the operation, whenever something happened to Algernon, I think that the reader began to assume that the same would eventually happen to Charlie.

For example, there is a point in the novel where Algernon begins to have spurts of anger, and as a result, bites Fay and hurts his companion (Minnie). This was exactly what happened to Charlie as he began to cross into the later stages of his progression, he would lash out on anyone that came close, even those that he cared for (Miss Kinnian).

Likewise, through Algernon’s reactions and emotions it is easy to predict/see Charlie’s desires. When Fay first brought Minnie to Algernon, Charlie said “I’m glad that Algernon is no longer alone.” Charlie did not write his thoughts down on the subject immediately, yet it was easy to tell the yearning of his own to have a mate. Sure, Algernon never communicated that he enjoyed Minnie, but it can only be assumed that she brought him some much needed company.

Therefore, I believe that Keyes intended all along to portray what would eventually happen to Charlie through Algernon. I think that it was a clever way to give the reader an idea of how Charlie might be affected.

Considering Algernon’s fate, I can only hope that Charlie fared better.

-Selena Joarder

Summary of __Flowers for Algernon__
Flowers for Algernon is narrated through a series of first person progress reports. Charlie's progression is shown through changes in sentence structure, spelling, and vocabulary used in the journal entries. Charlie is good-natured and hard-working, and he wants "to be smart" so people will like him. After a recommendation from Miss Kinnian, Charlie's teacher at Beekman College, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur choose him for an operation capable of raising his IQ because of this motivation.

Before the surgery Charlie undergoes inkblot personality tests administered by Burt Selden. He also runs and then loses mazes against Algernon, a super-smart white mouse. Algernon is the first animal to have retained his artificially increased intelligence through Nemur and Strauss' experiment. After the surgery progress is slow at first, but soon Charlie beats Algernon at the mazes and gets a promotion at Donner's Bakery, where he works. He also learns spelling and punctuation and becomes interested in many advanced subjects. Charlie becomes a genius and realizes that his so-called friends have really been mocking him all his life. As his intelligence increases, Charlie becomes an arrogant "big-shot," unable to connect with anyone. Though his intelligence grew at a fast rate, his emotional level lags behind, so he is unable to have a relationship with Alice Kinnian. Charlie's breaking point comes at the International Psychological Convention in Chicago when Professor Nemur treats Charlie like a test subject, not a human being. Charlie gets angry at being treated like a thing, so he frees Algernon and flys back to New York with him.

When Algernon begins behaving oddly, Charlie realizes that there is a flaw in Nemur's experimental calculations. Through his research Charlie explains that "Artificially-induced intelligence deteriorates at a rate of time directly proportional to the quantity of the increase." Algernon becomes erratic and dies leading Charlie to realize that his own mental deterioration is inevitable. Eventually Charlies's intelligence deteriorates and he goes away to the Warren Home. He closes his progress report on November 21st, urging everyone not to feel guilty and reminding his friends to lay some flowers on Algernon's small backyard grave. The way others interact with Charlie, as shown in his entries, reflect the attitude towards mentally handicapped people in that time. They were laughed at, mistreated, or otherwise forgotten for something they could not control. Since the period of this novel, the world's view on the mentally disabled has changed and people have a greater understanding.

-Emily
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=//Than and Now: A Comparison of Bakeries and Asylums//=



The Bakery picture above is from Charlie's time and was probably like the one Keys thought of while writing Flowers for Algernon.



If Flowers for Algernon was written today, this would be more like the bakery Charlie would have worked in. Also, if Charlie worked in this bakery, he might have had an entirely different job.



The Asylum pictured above was probably what the Warren State Home looked like. To me this looks like a terrible place and I would have never wanted to go and live there for the rest of my life.



This modern day asylum looks scary with barbed wire, but its rooms and equipment actually help cure the patient, unlike the ones of Charlie's time. Now, people do check out of asylums, instead of being kept in one all of their life.

-Sarah Harris
 * Images above are from Google*