A THOUSAND CROSSINGS X

Dear Diary...
Flowers for Algernon. Charlie too.
mercredi 18 février 2009

I finished the novel version of Flowers for Algernon already. Talk bout speed reading. 311 page novel finished in less than 3 hours. :D

Ok enough of the speed reading. The real reason for the post is about the very personal and relative feel to the plot. You can relate to it, really well. It's like Charlie Gordon telling the story. It's a diary, and you're reading it. Epistolary writing style.

Spoiler alert from now on....

The book has some sexuality in it, so it's not exactly PG-13, but I'd expect readers to be mature enough to handle sexuality.

It was particularly saddening when Algernon died, it was like the precursor to Charlie's death. It was a form of an omen. But it was quite amazing (as in the book). Religion played a part in the book also. God. Several scenes of Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge. If God wanted Charlie to be retarded, no one should alter it, even if you alter it, it will not be permanent. Dr Nemur and Dr Strauss were playing God.

But Charlie was an innocent party, and that was probably why he didn't die. (the book didn't say he died, so i assumed he didn't die by the end of the story). And something amazing. I would have expected Charlie to lose his intelligence and return to the old Charlie Gordon. But the amazing thing is, he had memory of the past. He could remember trying his best to become smarter. He remembered what it meant to pull a Charlie Gordon. He remembered attending Miss Kinnian's class previously. He remembered having the surgery. My opinion is, that's the least God can give to Charlie, or can leave for Charlie. He left Charlie something he wanted. Some knowledge, or some intelligence. Charlie wanted to grab hold to some part of his past, during his short term as an intelligent person. God gave him just that. Charlie remembered being smart. Charlie had some memory. (which might mean that the surgery on Charlie was actually improved, compared to the surgery on Algernon)

Charlie to me was a very humane person. Ask yourselves, how many times in you life you have laughed at someone, or joked at the expense of someone. Countless. Have you ever felt guilty? Maybe not. To you, to us, it is not our fault that he's stupid. But then think again, is it his fault that he's stupid? No. So what right have we to laugh at him? This point was well brought up by the author in the story, when he wrote the part where Charlie met a retarded young boy who worked in a restaurant. He was laughed at by the customers when he broke a few plates. Charlie at first joined in the laughter. However, he later realised what he was doing was incorrect morally. He had no right to laugh at the boy. The other customers had no right either. He was a poor child with low intelligence. Instead of offering help, you laugh at him? Is that moral? Is that the way a more 'intelligent' person should act. Does intelligence give you the right to be pompous, arrogant, proud, and care less of others?

And I liked this part about the scene in Warren State Home.
The caretaker pointed at a milk bottle and asked Charlie. How many psychologists do you think would have the courage, the compassion to carry, a grown man in his arms, and feed him with the milk bottle, and risk getting defecated or excreted on by the man in his arms. It takes courage. This sheds some light on how we nowadays lack compassion. Do you feel for the handicapped man playing the harmonica in the underpass? Probably not. To you, he's just another busker.

A few quotes from the novel.

Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men.
A child may not know how to feed itself, or what to eat, yet it knows hunger.

How many times have you wished that you were someone else? Everyone has an ideal set in his mind. He wants to be that ideal, but he cannot. It's something we cannot control, something we cannot do. But it's a desire, even the most feeble-minded possess.

At less that a month, a child knows what is hunger. He might not know how to feed himself, or what to eat, but he knows he needs food. He knows the pain of feeling hungry. He wants to eat. It is again a desire. It's a metaphor, for the hunger for knowledge. Who doesn't want to become smarter?

And there's this character in the story called Doctor Guarino. He's kind of a quack doctor who swindles Charlie's mother (who later abandoned him) and dad, saying that he can make Charlie smarter. Although Guarino was a swindler, he was nice to Charlie, not even scolding him when Charlie let loose on Guarino's examination bed. I guess the author was trying to say that there's always kindness and compassion in everyone, despite their background or what they do. Everyone has a kind side, it's like 2 faces of a coin.

Another scene from Warren State Home.
There's this workshop in Warren State Home. That day Charlie went to visit, the retardates were building lamps. The deaf mutes at one corner continued varnishing the wood, with that kind of immense concentration, and that kind of desire, to be wanted, to be wanted by society. Another kind of metaphor. Everyone, including the most stupid of people, even those whom we think are incapable of thinking, wants to be wanted. No one can stand complete solitude, complete loneliness. Everyone needs to be able to give, and receive affection (as mentioned in another portion of the book), to survive. If one is unable to do just that, he is not a person. He will not feel like a person, he will lose meaning in life. Life, is about loving each other.

And the part i loved the most. The part where I realised what 难得糊涂 and Ignorance is Bliss really meant. In the beginning of the story, when Charlie was still retarded, he felt that he had friends, even though they were laughing and mocking him (and he didn't know it). At least, he felt he have friends. He felt he was receiving affection. But when he became a genius after the surgery, everyone started to shun him. But there always were people who stood by him. I believe the author is trying to say that even when everyone walks out the door, there'd be somebody who'd walk right in and say, I'd stick with you. That's how He made it to be. Then when he became stupid again, he gained friends. Real friends. They know him better. He means no harm. He just wants to be wanted. If the entire society knows that everyone else just wants to be wanted, he just wants to be part of It, part of the society, part of life. He just wants to be inside, and not locked outside. Only then, our world can be ideal. We will have people caring for one another. We need to know each other.

Yah. So I really love this story a lot. There are sexual scenes in the story. Charlie and the 5 month pregnant woman, Charlie and Fay, Charlie and Miss Kinnian. I will not risk analysing these parts of the story as i do not want my blogger account to get locked up due to some non-PG-13 content. But it carries quite a bulk of the plot of the story. Charlie struggling with sexuality, trying to know that making love, is not exactly a dirty thing. And in the attempt of trying to tell himself, or actually his other self that, he does dirty things, which he became ashamed of.

Basically I've kind of identified some underlying motifs of the story.
1. Everyone wants to be wanted.
2. A bit of sympathy can go a long way.
3. No one can survive loneliness.
4. Do not play God.
5. Karma?
6. One has to give and receive affection in order to live.
7. There'd be always someone that would root for you.
8. NO ONE IS PERFECT.

There'd be more, but those are what I saw.

My own proverb. Although intelligence can be given, emotions and thoughts can only be developed.

That's the reason why Charlie had the brains of a genius, but the emotions of a kid, thus unable to control his desires.

I was quite sad when I finished the book. I wanted more. It's a really beautiful yet sad yet moving story.

Imagine yourself stupid, then becoming smart, and then you suddenly knew you would have to become stupid again, there's no way to stop it. It's got to be an awful feeling. You know you had succeeded before, you had done it before, but this time you somehow fail, you feel angry. That was how Algernon felt in the maze. He suddenly became stupid again. He knew he once was able to do the maze. But now he cannot. He feels lost.

But I am truly touched by Charlie's motivation. It's true. That kind of motivation, is a kind that even those who have the IQ above 100 might not have. It's all in the mind, even if you have a stupid one. Sounds oxymoronic, but think about it. Motivation is in your mind. Even if you have and IQ of 68, you still can have motivation. It is only a question of whether you want to have it or not. And most of the times, we give up on ourselves and say we don't want it.

yongliang

We all need affection. I say need affection, as in the need to give, and receive, affection.

he closed his diary at {22:24}