Mentally handicapped is a word we use to describe somebody with a mental deficiency, but not all people are kind enough to call it that. We live in a world where humiliating a physically disabled person is a malicious thing to do. Nevertheless, the other way around is deemed to be hilarious. Although being mentally challenged can cause teasing, being intelligent doesn’t always lead to a contentful life either. In Flowers for Algernon, author Daniel Keyes presents two societal issues. The mentally challenged are treated poorly by the public.”I ain’t laughed so much since we sent him off for the newspaper that night at Mugsy’s and ditched him...Now I know what it means when they say to pull a Charlie Gordon” (Keyes 231). The overall rudeness …show more content…
“Them changes. I don’t know. You use to be a good, dependable, ordinary man--not too bright maybe, but honest...Like everybody around here’s been saying, Charlie, it’s not right” (Keyes 235). Charlie speaks to Fanny Girden in this paragraph, and she points out the obvious changes in him, trying to point out that they were mostly altruistic, as he had become obsessed with different studies and began to act superior to others. Consequently, his very own Dr. becomes uncomfortable around him because of the inferior complex Charlie gives him. He cannot grasp the concept of why people are tense around him, simply because they are all “average”. On the other hand, Charlie is extremely gifted. This leads to a lack and understanding of a basic conversation, which some people may deem necessary. “I saw Miss Kinnian last night...I tried to avoid all discussions of intellectual concepts and to keep the conversations on a simple, everyday level., but she just stared at me blankly and asked me what I meant about the mathematical variance equivalent in Dorbermann’s Fifth Concerto” (Keyes 236). As a result, he constantly struggles to maintain an adequate conversation, because all of his friends are of ordinary intelligence, unlike himself. When Charlie realizes Miss Kinnian doesn’t understand what he is speaking about, he gets angry and realizes he cannot communicate with her on her level because of the
Charlie Gordon’s doctors acted ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter. In the beginning Charlie took a Rorschach test to test his personality. When he took the test, he said he saw nothing in the inkblots. Charlie Gordon is in his 30’s; his IQ was 68, despite this fact, Charlie spends time with his teacher Miss Kinnian to get smarter. Miss Kinnian teaches at a school for slow adults.
Charlie was known to have the personality that was always bright and talkative. Charlie had the lowest skill level out of all his “friends” and he didn't understand how real friends should treat one another so he never thought anything of it. Charlie felt good about himself but he wanted to be smart and know what his friends and other people around him knew. He was ready to learn and he wasn’t scared because he pushed fear away; he just wanted to know what it was like to comprehend what was going on in the world. The
Most people probably know someone with a mental disability. Just because someone has a disability does not mean we have to ignore, or neglect them. People with a mental disability are not to be shunned. The statement by J.F. Clarke proves true when using psychological lens to analyze conflict and characterization in the novella Of Mice and Men, by John Stienbeck by Stienbeck's use of conflict throughout the novella.
[Keyes, 299] As an intelligent member of society, Charlie has a certain moment when he becomes frustrated once he understands the world he lives in, when he thinks of how “Before, they laughed at [him] and despised [him] for [his] ignorance and dullness; now, they hate [him] for [his] knowledge and understanding. [Keyes, 293]” These emotionally alienated members of society believe that they can alienate themselves, believing they can be happy alone. This happens very often. Society, in this way, doesn’t like to own up to their pain, and as such, alienates themselves. In this way, they connect to Charlie
When Charlie was intelligent he often got irritated at the doctors because they weren’t as smart as him. He had also dealt with a lot of emotion with Miss Kinnian, Charlie was in love with Miss Kinnian. When he regressed, he was embarrassed to see her because he thought she would think he was dumb. When Charlie was at a diner, he saw a kid with disabilities, and everyone was laughing at him and so was Charlie. He was upset with himself that he laughed at him because that kid was him before he had the surgery to make him smart.
The essential question is based off the book “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. Should mentally disabled people be punished for crimes in the same way that non-disabled people are? Mentally disabled people should not be punished for crimes in the same way that non-disabled people are because mentally disabled people are mentally challenged and non-disabled people are not. Mentally disabled people can’t think and act for themselves. They need people to think and act for them. Non-disabled people don’t need people to think and act for them because they can think and act for themselves. Mentally disabled people and non-disabled people are different compared to each other
The Physically handicapped are maltreated in today's society. Although the teasing and maliciousness is behind more closed doors it still frequently occurs
This can be seen by the laws and infrastructure created that prevent others from discriminating against them in any way. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, people are not allowed to discriminate against anyone with a mental illness at a workplace, state or local government services and public transportations, public accommodations, or telecommunications. The ADA ensures that people are treated fairly and respected instead of being singled out for something they were unable to prevent. In Blanck’s book, he claims that “the ADA signals a unique opportunity for all individuals to join together in breaking down long-standing myths about disabilities and building more inclusive communities” (11). This emphasizes the fact that there are laws set in place for mentally ill people to have the same opportunity as people that are
The author uses communication style as a method of character development, which the author utilized to build Charlie Gordon’s character. Throughout the book, Charlie’s communication changes from when his IQ is merely 68 to when the surgical procedure raises his IQ to 125. Initially, his grammar is full of errors and simple vocabulary but later improved drastically, after the procedure, by use of complex wordings (Allan 31). The communication style is different between the two phases especially through differentiated personalities and speech between two periods. Daniel Keyes also endeavors to capture the character’s history to enable the audience to understand the events that shape Charlie’s personality.
Charlie Gordon is a mentally handicapped thirty-two year old man. He wants to become smart and be like everyone else. He cannot do anything for himself so he has a teacher, Miss Kinnian. She teaches him to spell and read. Although he cannot remember what he writes or reads he still tries. Dr. Strauss and Prof. Nemur have a dramatic turn of events for Charlie. They offer him the brain-enhancing operation.
Still to this day, there is a negative stigma and sense of rejection projected towards individuals with intellectual disabilities. If an individual is seen as unresponsive to help, in the past they were considered to be a burden upon society (Reynolds, & Dombeck, 2016). Until recently, the typical form of “treatment” that most individuals received consisted of seclusion from mainstream society, thus labeling them as a “patient” which leads to a sense of disempowerment (2016). Furthermore, this label resulted in implications that individuals with an intellectual disability were limited, helpless, and sick- thus imposing thoughts of pity (2016). Until medical causes became known, mental retardation, the original name for intellectual disability,
Charlie Gordon is the sweetest person that I have ever met. It never occurred to me that he might like me until he asked me to go out to celebrate his bonus. Charlie used to be a student of mine. He was one of those kids who stood out in the crowd. He was like a blue bowl in a cupboard of red bowls. He always tried his hardest and you could see in his eyes that he wanted to learn. When Dr.Strauss and Dr.Nemur came to me and asked me if I would have anybody potentially interested in participating in the experiment, I told them, “Charlie Gordon.” When I told Charlie that I recommend him, he jumped for joy. He seemed as happy as a person who just won a million dollars.
Attitudes toward the mentally ill started to change in the 60’s and 70’s from both the communities and professionals. The two began to recognize that the mentally ill had rights to live an independent life style like that of ordinary citizens. Before this, people with mental illness or developing disabilities had been institutionalized, giving strong medications, sedated and isolated from the rest of society. Living amongst the community, they receive their medication as well as interact with the general public. In addition, they also interact with security personnel and law enforcement officers, and all too frequently with unfortunate consequences. (Russell, 2012).
Speaking about sexual practices with others can be an uncomfortable situation. If an individual has a disability, this conversation can be even more challenging. In fact, most of the population believe that those who have a disability not only should not have sex; that they simply are unable. This belief is false. It is crucial for the general population to understand that those with disabilities are just as capable of engaging in intimate acts with their loved ones as those who were born without constraints engage. While it is important to recognize that both mental and physical disabilities carry a stigma, for the sake of this paper I will be focusing on those who have a mental impairment. I believe this to be of utmost importance, as society seems to stigmatize those with intellectual disabilities even more than those with physical constraints. In this text, I will prove that those with mental disabilities are just as capable of engaging in erotic acts as any other person, despite the additional obstacles in their way. To do this, I will use highlights from the 2012 film The Sessions, produced and directed by Ben Lewin, to display the additional disgrace bestowed on those with mental handicaps. Additionally, I will draw on Michael L. Perlin and Alison J. Lynch’s article “All His Sexless Patients: Persons with Mental Disabilities and the Competence to Have Sex” to prove how capable individuals with intellectual problems are.
What makes this type of stigmatization so dangerous is that the news is generally accepted as factually based, when, in reality, a disproportionate amount of broadcasting and newspaper articles are not; they paint the mentally disabled as overtly violent