Closing the book on ENGL2k

I want to thank all of you for your hard work this semester. As we all learned, maintaining a blog can be hard work if done correctly and I think the product that you folks put together speaks to your commitment to consistently turn in thoughtful responses.  

In addition, I wanted to pass along the appreciation I've heard expressed from members of the greater Baton Rouge community for providing this forum. From what I'm hearing, it helped stimulate discussion in classrooms and reading groups throughout the community.

Likewise, let me express our class's appreciation for all of the support and participation that members of the community have contributed to this project. We especially appreciate the participation at the Big Read discussion session held in April at the Goodwood library branch. 

I certainly hope it has been an interesting and enjoyable semester for all of those involved. 

Finally, just a note wishing all of you the best of luck in your future endeavors at the university and beyond. Thanks for working hard this semester.

All best, 

Joe

The lights are officially out.

Mentally Disabled

Consider how Flowers for Algernon explores social issues concerning the handicapped. Does the novel have a particular argument? If so, how does it set about making it?

The novel Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, explores different issues throughout its course. One of the most prevalent and obvious issues is the concern about the mentally challenged or handicapped. Keyes presents two different arguments relating to the way handicapped people are treated. The author’s argument regarding the mistreatment of the mentally challenged evolves through the novel.

The author explores how the mistreatment of mentally challenged people is still socially acceptable in today’s society. Through the book, Daniel Keyes presents many scenarios of how handicapped people are treated on a daily bases. For example, when Charlie goes to a diner, he gets a glimpse of how he was treated just months before. In the diner, a handicapped boy who works as a busboy is laughed at after dropping a stack of dishes. Charlie finds himself laughing along with the others, but soon realizes that the boy is mentally challenged. Charlie, angered by the laughter, shouts: “Shut up! Leave him alone! He can’t understand. He can’t help what he is … but for God’s sake, have some respect! He’s a human being!” (199). This scene shows how inconsiderate people are to others feelings, especially towards mentally handicapped people.

On the other hand, the author also shows how some people are selfless in their actions towards the mentally challenged by providing them with care and affection. When Charlie visits the Warren State Home, he is surprised not only by its residence but also by the staff. Charlie is curious about the lack of fences in the establishment, but the doctor reassures him that it is not a jail. The doctor then explains that although many residents do escape, “…After a week or so on the outside most of them come back when they find there’s nothing for them out there. The world doesn’t want them and they soon know it” (223). Charlie also discovers the selflessness of the workers at the Warren Home. The doctor states that even though many people are willing to give materials or money, few will give time and affection to mentally handicapped people. The doctor then asks Charlie, “How many people do you know who are prepared to take a grown man into his arms and let him nurse with the bottle?” (230).

Daniel Keyes displays two different arguments about the social acceptance of mentally challenged people. In these situations dealing with the mentally handicapped, it would be biased to present only one argument. On one side he gives a pessimistic look to the daily lives of mentally disabled people but as the novel progresses, Keyes shows a more positive side of the spectrum.

Consider the observations Charlie makes of the Warren State Home and
Training School. What do you think is Keyes's purpose in having
Charlie visit Warren at this point in the novel?

The initial perspective that comes to mind is that Charlie goes to
the Warren State Home to tour it because he is realizing that he may
have to life there once his operation digresses pass the point of no
return. While on his visit he is asked by Winslow “What do you know
about being shut out from every human experience as our patients have
been?” This is highly ironic, as not only does Charlie know exactly
what this is like, but he is already on his way to returning to a
less intelligent state.

There is, most likely the deeper reasoning behind this part of the
text. We believe perhaps Keyes does this to show the reader the irony
and that Charlie is coming to terms with his intelligence not being
as good as it has been.

Winslow’s remark also makes us think about the quality of our lives
and that we truly do not understand what the mentally
challenged have to go through daily.

Keyes also brings another purpose to the table. Why are there so many people not willing to take care of the mentally challenged? Winslow points this out to Charlie at the Warren Home. “There are a lot of people who will give money or materials, but very few who will give time and affection.” No one wants to help out because they don’t want to waste their time with a challenge. Keyes is trying to show us that more people should be willing to help out the mentally challenged. These homes really need more help with the handicap.

Daniel Keyes Relation to Plato's Theory on Light and Darkness

Daniel Keyes utilizes an excerpt from Plato's The Republic to exemplify the experiences of his main character, Charlie Gordon, in Flowers for Algernon. In the beginning of his novel, Charlie was blinded by ignorance just as Plato describes an individual in the dark. For example, Gimpy and his friends at the bakery play practical jokes on Charlie, which is easy for an intelligent person to do without the knowledge of unjustified criticism. Charlie is unaware that his friends at the bakery are even making a mockery of him.

The operation performed by Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur can be related to Plato's revelation of a person in darkness to the light. Charlie's gradual increase of knowledge reveals a world of many opportunities that he has never experienced before. Just as Plato states, Charlie Gordon is disoriented due to this transition from dark to light. Although Keyes introduces the increase in Charlie's intellectual capacity, his emotional ability has not yet matured. The novel indicates a time when Charlie experiences this lag of emotional feeling when he is alone with Alice and he is unable to act upon his love for her.

A transition occurs and the same experience of confusion lies within the main character. Charlie visits the Warran House and he asks Mr. Winslow what he means when the staff give up their time. When he can not wrap his head around these simple concepts, Keyes demonstrates his slow migration back to the darkness. Unfortunately, the time of light in Charlie Gordon slowly begins to fade until he is ultimately left in the dark once again.

At the beginning of Flowers for Algernon, Charlie relates the criticisms of the operation expressed by his first nurse, Hilda that foreshadow some of the ultimate questions about Charlie's operation. He writes:

And she said mabey they got no rite to make me smart because if god wantid me to be smart he would have made me born that way. And what about Adem and Eev and the sin with the tree of nowlege and eating the appel and the fall. And mabey Prof Nemur and Dr Strauss was tampiring with things they got no rite to tampir with. (16)

How is this moral (even religious) criticism similar to/different from some of criticisms others make throughout the novel? Is it similar to what Charlie comes to think about the operation? Ultimately, how seriously do we take this? Or are we invited to dismiss it?

Like Adam and Eve, Charlie's operation allows him to see the world differently. Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge. This allowed them to see their environment in a different perspective. They were punished by God for having this knowledge and banned from the garden. When Charlie had the surgery his perspective also changed, and he saw the world for what it truly was. He was ultimately punished and lost his innocence. He matured from a naïve, loving child to a cold, arrogant individual.

The criticisms made by Hilda before Charlie's operation to the Adam and Eve story were similar to those made by Fanny as well as the Paradise Lost text that Charlie read after his surgery. Hilda, Fanny, and the Paradise Lost book all express that maybe Charlie should not have gotten the surgery because God made him the way he is. If God wanted him to have a high intelligence he would have given it to Charlie. Hilda and Fanny argue that maybe Professor Nemur Doctor Strauss had no right to interfere with God’s work. On the other hand, the scientist believed this operation to be very beneficial. If it was successful, Charlie would be helping out many mentally retarded adults. Even if it proved to fail, it was looked at to be a major turning point in modern science. The differences in opinions indicate the different perspectives in terms of faith and religion.

Charlie comes to think of the operation as a mistake. Even though he was blessed to see the world as an intelligent person, everything suddenly taken away from him, much like Adam and Eve story. He no longer had friends. He had even exceeded the intelligence level of the scientist and started to become unappreciative of their work. His personality was altered dramatically and Charlie would have preferably been dumb with friends instead of intellectual without friends. He did not regret having the operation, but was not fond of being referred to as an experiment and not a human being.

In the beginning of the book, readers can dismiss the foreshadowing criticism and are invited to examine the operation seriously as an opportunity for a man to prove that he can make something of himself and be accepted by society. However, once the effects of the operation start to regress, the Adam and Eve story is then taken more seriously. The readers begin to think that maybe things should have just been left alone.

True devotion?

In this post, we will explore the dialogue between the Benefactor and D-503. What do we learn about the Benefactor, and how does D-503 respond to him?

The relationship that we find between D-503 and the Benefactor in the beginning of Zamyatin’s “We” is clearly one of absolute devotion. D-503’s displays an unwavering faith in the sovereignty of the Benefactor. D-503 shows his devotion through his writings but also in the way that he lives his life, spending all his energy on the building of the integral.

After meeting I-330 we see a shift from him being 100% focused on his work with the integral. As he is more and more occupied with I-330, his time and energy begin to reflect it. However, he is still quite devoted to the Benefactor at all times. There are many instances where he battles in his mind with turning in I-330 to the Benefactor because of her alternative way of thinking. He is often torn between following her and his imagination or reporting her to the Benefactor and returning to his work on the integral.

After an attempt to lead a revolution fails, D-503 and I-330 are brought before the Benefactor. D-503 then watches as I-330 gets punished but not himself. The Benefactor informs D-503 that “…those in paradise no longer know desires, no longer know pity or love. There are only the blessed, with their imaginations excised…obedient slaves of God” (187-88). D-503 realizes that he‘s only devoted to the benefactor because he underwent an operation to excise himself of his imagination.

Journalism

How does Zamyatin’s We function as a journal? What are some of the expectations for journal writing? How does the novel satisfy or frustrate those expectations?

A journal functions as a source for enhancing reflection, facilitating critical thought, expressing feelings and writing focused arguments on paper. In Zamyatin’s We, the main character D-503 takes on a task of recording his day to day activities much like a journal. The journal format is a necessary writing format because living in a one state totalitarian government an individual is not able to have freedom of thoughts or speech. Being able to write his thoughts down, D-503 is able to express his emotions each day.

We, being a predominant satire novel, is almost looked at as a love story. Emotional expression is presented all through the text also; there is a clear relationship of some sort between D-503 and O-90. Also there is an apparent developing emotion of love in D-503. The constant love triangles are very soap opera-esque, and by D-503 writing down what happened each day makes the reader feel more engaged while reading the novel. D-503 reflects on his past throughout the novel. The journal shows that there is an ongoing internal struggle within himself that prevents D-503 from doing exactly what is expected of him. A reader should see a change in D-503’s actions and attitude throughout his writings, and he seems to become more independent by the end of the novel through writing down his thoughts. Although this novel does not take the format of a traditional journal, it encompasses each expectation called for by a journal.