Tuesday, September 19
TODAY, was a disaster.
3F started the day with 4Amaths periods lined up, so, we had 35+35+35+35 minutes of Amaths. tell me thats crazy. whoever planned the timetables.. knowing that 3F naturally suck at maths, they still placed four consequtive peroids of maths and not Emaths, mind you, its Amaths. then we had pe where we pathetically kicked a ball around. so if you thought you saw a bunch of noobies playing soccer, then yea, ITS US. recess nowdays sucks. teachers are proven to be unfair and bias. SEE IF WHAT I SAY MAKES SENSE. they disallow us to bring food to the classrooms and the reason? 'oh, when you bring food to the class, it'll attract ants'. yea, justifiable reason. IF YOU FAIL TO UNDERSTAND IRONY, this is a perfect example. they themselves eat and drink in the staff room. teachers are the role of authority figures. these things that they are doing. is it right? it also questions if they are good role models, we lead by example. let us, or rather, them, admit that they too, are not infallible. they too, make mistakes, so perhaps, we should pardon them? in mordern day society, we talk about equality and justice, hence, i propose that we, the students, get the same advantages that teachers get. after all, all the efforts we put in, how we mug and not forgetting, we actually pay the school money. yea, we pay them money so we get controled by them. cool eh? why must we follow the rules set? in the 'wow so fantastic book' - flowers for algernon, it CLEARLY STATES that when one questions, it is a sign of intelligence. also, boundaries hinders our creativity. isn't our society looking out for thinkers, CREATIVE THINKERS. by setting boundaries, its stopping us from thinking out of the box. familiar phrase huhh. teachers always contradicts themselves. how can one be creative if there are just so many rules laid. and yes, i'm not refering to any specific teacher/s but mrs poon, be proud that i had expressed all that's above in your literature style. the post below, is again,dedicated to my all-time favourite teacher, mrs poon'Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction story written by Daniel Keyes. It was originally published as a novelette in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, winning a Hugo award for Best Short Fiction in 1960. It was later extended into a full-length novel under the same title, which won the Nebula Award for Best Novel, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, in 1966.
The book is often found on required reading lists in North American public schools and major universities throughout the world.
Plot summary
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The story of Flowers for Algernon centers on Charlie Gordon, a young mentally retarded janitor (37 years old in the original novella, 32 years old in the full novel), who volunteers to take part in an experimental intelligence-enhancing treatment. His progress parallels that of Algernon, a laboratory mouse who had been "enhanced" earlier. The story is told from Charlie's point of view and written as a journal, or progris riport, as he initially spells it, which he keeps as part of the experiment. Succeeding entries trace Charlie's ever-increasing comprehension and intelligence in the aftermath of the treatment, as he passes through "normalcy", and then reaches super-genius level. He becomes more intelligent than the doctors who invented the procedure.
He discovers both the advantages of intelligence and awareness, including his sexual-emotional relationship with his former teacher, Alice Kinnian; and the disadvantages, as he discovers that the people he thought were his friends had only viewed him as 'entertainment', and now resent his superior abilities. His courtship of Alice becomes turbulent and finally withers into misery when she too comes to resent his superior intellect, which lowers her self-esteem.
Yet, all else seems to be well, until Algernon's enhanced intelligence begins to fade rapidly. As Charlie himself confirms, the neural enhancement is only temporary, and he too is doomed to revert to his original mental state. Some say that Algernon's death is supposed to imply that the treatment will also eventually kill Charlie, but his own notes on the subject, dubbed the Algernon-Gordon Effect, say nothing of his impending death. He records his struggles to find a way to stop the decay until he realizes the futility of it all. The title's mention of flowers is a reference to Charlie's last request that "please if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard...".
Major themes
The story is extremely effective because it is told from Charlie's point of view, and as Charlie's mental state shifts, it is reflected in his writings. He becomes depressed, for example, when he poignantly realizes that his cognition will decay away when he can no longer understand his own proof.
Various allegorical points are made throughout the book that involve various forms of alienation and acceptance and themes that allude to ignorance being a form of bliss. Intelligence turns out to be a double-edged sword for Charlie and he cannot help realizing that everything he previously believed was not as it seemed. The condescending attitudes of his 'friends' and co-workers register once he gains awareness. He discovers that his initial adolescent crush for Alice actually has the potential to be something more. He learns of the insecurities of other scientists when they realize that their experiment has turned him into someone whose IQ surpasses their own. The novel touches upon aspects of the human condition such as ambition, innocence, jealousy, pettiness, and emotional development that use the trappings of a science fiction premise to relate various notions of consciousness and awareness that most people take for granted.'oh yea, and i forgot, today was totally horrible as we had physics test which WE so horribly screwed
express yourself {11:33 PM}
