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Selection
#1
An
excerpt from Flowers for Algernon
By:
Daniel Keyes
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progris riport 1 martch 3 Dr Strauss says I shoud rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on. I dont no why but he says its importint so they will see if they can use me. I hope they use me becaus Miss Kinnian says mabye they can make me smart. I want to be smart. My name is Charlie Gordon I werk in Donners bakery where Mr Donner gives me 11 dollers a week and bred or cake if I want. I am 32 yeres old and next munth is my brithday. I tolld dr Strauss and perfesser Nemur I cant rite good but he says it dont matter he says I shud rite just like I talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekmin collidge center for retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off. Dr. Strauss says to rite a lot evrything I think and evrything that happins to me but I cant think anymor because I have nothing to rite so I will close for today...yrs truly Charlie Gordon. progris riport 2-martch 4 I had a test today. I think I faled it and I think mabye now they wont use me. What happind is I went to Prof Nemurs office on my lunch time like they said and his secertery took me to a place that said psych dept on the door with a long hall and alot of littel rooms with onley a desk and chares. And a nice man was in one of the rooms and he had some wite cards with ink spilld all over them. He sed sit down Charlie and make yourself cunfortible and rilax. He had a wite coat like a docter but I dont think he was no docter because he dint tell me to opin my mouth and say ah. All he had was those wite cards. His name is Burt. I fergot his last name because I dont remembir so good. I dint know what he was gonna do and I was holding on tite to the chair like sometimes when I go to a dentist onley Burt aint no dentist neither but he kept telling me to rilax and that gets me skared because it always means its gonna hert. So Burt sed Charlie what do you see on this card. I saw the spilld ink and I was very skared even tho I got my rabits foot in my pockit because when I was a kid I always faled tests in school and I spilld ink to. I tolld Burt I saw ink spilld on a wite card. Burt said yes and he smild and that maid me feel good. He kept terning all the cards and I tolld him somebody spilld ink on all of them red and black. I thot that was a easy test but when I got up to go Burt stoppd me and said now sit down Charlie we are not thru yet. Theres more we got to do with these cards. I dint understand about it but I remembir Dr Strauss said do anything the testor telld me even if it dont make no sense because thats testing.
Use what you have learned from reading “Poem 28” and the excerpt
from Flowers for Algernon to write a paragraph that provides an analysis
of how theme of knowledge is depicted in the two pieces addressing the writers’
use of style and diction.
As a starting point, you may want
to consider what is emphasized, absent, or different in the two texts.
Develop your paragraph by
providing textual evidence from both texts.
Use the provided lined paper to
compose your response.
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Monday, May 5, 2014
Literary Analysis: Paired Text response
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Deanna Javer
ReplyDeleteMrs. Drosdick/Mrs. Kline
Period 4
5/5/14
Literary Analysis
In both Flowers of Algernon and Poem 28, the two written passages show not as smart features in the paragraphs. Flowers of Algernon shows a 32 year old man who works in a bakery and has some mental issues as well. Charlie Gordon has trouble spelling and spells words like they are pronounced and can have risk factors with losing a job very easily. Poem 28 is a little worse than Charlie Gordon because the words are run-on, misspelled and some of the words are continuing onto the next line and non-spaced as well. Both of the passages connect with each other since they have two different people having trouble with writing and are grown-ups and it leads them to struggle to keep the job and graduate college so they can have a better life
Both of these pieces show the importance of knowledge. The narrators show that they do not have much knowledge. They misspell words and their sentences are long and over run. In the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon the narrator has a mental issue, as he/she says they go to Beckman College for Retarded Adults. The narrator does not know how to write and spell correctly. Aas the text says, “I tolld dr Strauss and perfesser Nemur I cant rite good but he says it dont matter he says I shud rite just like I talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekmin collidge center for retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off.” Almost all of the words in that sentence were misspelled. In both of the pieces the person writing it is not that smart. There are different kinds of knowledge, such as book smart or street smart. Although the narrators are not book smart in any way, they are aware. I the excerpt, Charlie is aware of his disabilities. He says that he wants to become smart. He knows and remembers many things that have happened during his day, such as a test and how he felt he did. In the poem, for example, the author explains the importance of knowledge. He/she is aware of the benefits of being smart. As the text says, “… (knowledge is power)…” The author is aware and is constantly thinking. These pieces show that book smart is the outer level, and what’s beneath is important. These pieces depict that the narrator is smart, or can be smart. For example, in the excerpt, Charlie understands basic facts, such as what a doctor is. He knew that the physiatrist was a doctor, but not a medical doctor or a dentist. These pieces depict knowledge by showing you. Beneath the words of ink and paper, the story of knowledge and its importance.
ReplyDeleteThroughout “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes and the poem “Poem 28” by E.E. Cummings, the idea of knowledge is expressed. First, in “Flowers for Algernon”, there are many spelling and grammar mistakes. This shows that the main character, Charlie, thinks differently than most people. His writing (which is in the form of a journal or log) seems childish and so do his stereotypes. For example, in the text, it says, “He had a wite coat like a docter but I dont think he was no docter because he dint tell me to opin my mouth and say ah.” This shows that the author purposely uses spelling mistakes to make the main character seem different and it also shows that his ideas are similar to those of a child. He also includes many ideas and details that most people wouldn’t feel the need to put into journals. Most people might deem him unknowledgeable but I believe that he just thinks differently than most people do. This doesn’t make him “dumb”. Are mentally disabled people only “disabled” because the people around them think differently? If I went to a world where everyone was autistic, they would be normal and I would be the mentally disabled one. Why do we have to limit other people’s knowledge because ours is different?
ReplyDeleteNext, in “Poem 28” knowledge is expressed in quite a different way. This poem is organized in a strange way. It seems like the writer is writing with a sort of stutter. This shows, like “Flowers for Algernon”, that people can be different and still knowledgable. This poem also shows that knowledge can be different and used in different ways. It says, “Knowledge is power” and “OH nlygawntoco llege”. This shows two different ways knowledge is being used. The first one, knowledge is being used for power and in the second it is being used for complaining (or not complaining) purposes. This poem also largely shows the theme of sexism, which shows another way to use your knowledge is by making opinions. In the text, the word man is repeated several times. The wo and man in woman is separated, almost to show men are a part of women as well. The part of the poem that is supposed to be a man talking is neat and organized while the woman’s section is messy and her complaining. It also shows the woman using knowledge in a -well- not very knowledgeable way. This poem also made me question whether or not creativity is a part of knowledgeable. Joe Gould, the narrator appears to be a knowledgeable person yet the name “Poem 28” does not seem very creative. What does this tell us? Or, going back to what “Flowers for Algernon” taught us (knowledge is different for everyone) does creativity play a different part in everyone’s knowledge? The writing pieces both show knowledge is diverse and undefined.
#oneinamillion6
#oneinamillion
Knowledge is essential to everyday life. It helps us learn things, write, and do everyday tasks. In both examples, the lack of knowledge is shown in both of them. The first one, which is an excerpt from Flowers for Algernon, is from the perspective of a man who has obviously not a lot of knowledge. He cannot spell for his life, and he mentions that he is in a hospital for retarded adults. “…talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekmin collidge center for retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off.” This shows that he cannot spell correctly and that he is at least getting help. In the other poem, it is again shown that the narrator is not able to spell correctly. Even though the spelling is horrible, the message is easily recognizable, and it shows that the person writing it didn't go to college. But, the narrator thinks that everyone should go to college, even if he didn't. Comparing both pieces, they both talk about how both characters are trying to become smarter, even though it is hard for them.
ReplyDelete4musketeers18
ReplyDeleteKnowledge. Invaluable and powerful. It is what creates the sparks on the matchsticks of emotion. Both Daniel Keyes and E.E. Cummings knew of its importance, and felt the need to channel their thoughts into pieces of literature. Keyes wrote an excerpt from Flowers for Algernon that depicts a theme regarding knowledge in many ways. The diction, or word choice, in this piece accentuates the narrator’s lack of expertise on writing. Many of the words are misspelled such as: ‘remembir’, ‘evrey’ and ‘rite’, stressing the fact that the narrator isn’t the brightest. In addition the misspelled words also allow the reader to understand the narrator’s dialect, the dialect helps me hypothesize that the narrator is most probably from Northern U.S. The syntax of this excerpt varies. For example, in the first entry, the narrator incorporates all of his thoughts into a single paragraph. Although, in the next entry, the narrator incorporates his thoughts into four separate paragraphs that are shorter in length. Throughout the excerpt, an informal tone is employed, in which the narrator writes with a ‘stream of consciousness’ type of flow. It is evident that the setting of this excerpt takes place many years ago, because the narrator is only paid eleven dollars a week. The next selection (a poem written by E. E. Cummings), was written in a similar time period. This is prominent, because Cummings conveys how at the time, not many women went to college, by implying that women only went to college so that they wouldn’t regret making the decision not to. The syntax in this poem is grammatically incorrect. Some words are broken apart, whereas other words are merged together. I believe that this technique is implemented to convey that when it comes to knowledge, everyone is equal. I believe this, because Cummings cleverly extracts letters from the words: human, manner and woman, so that only the root, ‘man’, remains. This is used to symbolize that no matter your gender, you can still be intelligent, and after everything from us is extracted we all still are man. The most important message conveyed in Cummings’ poem is that “knowledge is power”. Although, both the excerpt and the poem depict a theme of knowledge through different techniques, they are similar because they both regard the association of knowledge with minorities.
4musketeers18
Literary Analysis
ReplyDeleteGianni Spinella
Miss Drosdick
Language Arts/Period 7
5/5/14
Social acceptance is one of the hardest obstacles a mentally disabled person must overcome. Those who are considered autistic, retarded, disabled, mentally challenged etc.… Who are aware that they have a disease, normally want to be normal. They have an urge to become more knowledgeable and intellectual. In the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon, Charlie is aware that he is mentally challenged and is taking part in what seems to be an experiment. He is told, “ Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” Throughout this excerpt it is clearly shown that Charlie has been lacking in education based on his grammatical errors in his entries. For example, “ I told dr Strauss and perfesser Nemur I cant rite good but he says it dont matter he says I shud rite just like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekmin collidge center for retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off.” (The highlighted words above are the ones spelt incorrectly) Based on this run on sentence the theme of knowledge was evidently portrayed. Also in Poem 28, the author e.e. Cummings purposely wrote this poem with the intent of illustrating how someone who is not as knowledgeable as the average person. “o if i ‘d OH nlygawntoco llege” This phrase or stanza was incorrectly spelled, spaced, and capitalized. This is the grammar level of an average 1st grader and this poem clearly shows how the theme of knowledge was depicted through the purposeful grammatical errors. Intelligence is something that is comprehended and understood. It may be harder or easier for different people to comprehend or understand certain knowledge.
#seveneleven16
Humans live in a world of knowledge. From technology, to school, to business, society favors the intelligent person. The theme of knowledge and intelligence is treated in both “Flowers for Algernon” and “Poem 28”. Both of these works use grammar to show intelligence. For example, “Flowers for Algernon” misspells words such as “martch” and “progris”. These misspelled words show as clear as glass that Charlie has mental disabilities. “Poem 28” also uses grammatical elements to add to the piece. “Poem 28” says how woman should go to college, then sates, “(knowledge is power)” as a side note. Then, the piece goes on to say that woman should go to college so they don’t complain about not going to college. This contradicts itself, and shows how “Poem 28” uses the literary element of irony. “Flowers for Algernon” uses literary elements as well. For example, a simile is used. As stated in the text, “I was holding on tite to the chair like sometimes when I go to a dentist.” The two works are also written with very different syntax. “Poem 28” is basically one long run-on sentence. “Flowers for Algernon” uses mostly complex sentences. The text states, “Dr. Strauss says I should rite down what I think and remembir and everything that happins to me from now on.” This quote shows how an independent clause joined by a dependent clause is used, and there are many sentences used with a similar structure. Although written very different, both works clearly depict the theme of knowledge and intelligence.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of knowledge is depicted in both 'Poem 28' and the excerpt from the 'Flowers for Algernon'. In 'Poem 28' the words are disconnected and finish onto the next line. For example, the word woman was spelt, 'wo...man'. Where the dot dot is; is where the word goes on to the next line. In the poem it says, "the only reason every woman should go to college is so that she can never say o if i 'd OHnlygawntocollege." The combined and mispelled words show that women should go to school and get an education just like everyone else. In the 'Flowers for Algernon' the words are all splelt as to how Charlie sounds them out. He spells words as to how he hears them. For example, 'remembir, cunfortible, sed, munth, littel, rilax, etc.' There are also many run-on sentences. Both of these authors use different styles to show the depiction of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteDoes one need to be intelligent in order to be knowledgeable? Albert Einstein once said, "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination." While the two selections are structured differently, they share a common theme of knowledge and intelligence. The excerpt from Flowers for Algernon is written in the informal tone of a personal journal where the author attempts to be clinical in his entry with headings that would be written on a medical or educational report, "progris riport 1 martch 3" (Keyes). However, the numerous spelling, word usage, sentence syntax (run on), and grammatical errors make it clear to the reader that the writer is not educated even though he says, "I want to be smart" (Keyes). It is unlikely that Charlie Gordon will ever be smart because he attends classes for "retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off" (Keyes). The use of the word "retarded" shows that this is not a current day narrative because people today are referred to as having mental disabilities. The writer is willing to be tested in the hopes of being used for something organized by a professor. Charlie Gordon is full of self-doubt about his abilities. He's smart enough to know that he did not understand the meaning of the ink splotches, but he's not smart enough to know that the splotches should represent something. e. e. cummings also stresses the value of education in "Poem 28." Written in third person, this poem's stanzas break off in the middle of words and has words that run together, has some spelling errors when the author is writing in dialect as though a woman were speaking, and lacks punctuation marks. The writer states the idea that, "knowledge is power" (cummings), and the path to that knowledge is through a college education. There is no indication that this woman cannot be educated and her dialect (uneducated word choice "gawn") corrected. The idea of a college education is stressed in both pieces. Although Charlie Gordon is hopeful that someday he can be smart, this is unlikely due to his mental disability. Joe Gould believes that a woman can be powerful if she goes to college because the knowledge she can learn will make her powerful.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Davis
ReplyDeleteMs. Drosdick
5/5/14
Period 4
Literary Analysis
Intelligence and knowledge are shown in each work by showing that proper spelling doesn't determine intelligence. From the works it seems that the person can speak English but can't write as well as he speaks. In work 1 and 2 the grammar and spelling is terrible as well as the literary and syntactical terms. You can see the grammar is bad from this sentence alone, "I dont no why but he says its importint so they will see if they can use me." He is not smart in the ways of grammar and spelling. However, as I said before, just because he has a hard time writing does not mean that he is dumb. As said in the movie, Temple Grandin, "Different, but not less." In work 1, it shows that he is trying his hardest. It says, "I cant rite good but he says it dont matter he says I shud rite just like I talk..." Apparently, we can infer that he talks fine, but writes poorly. He also has a hard time writing poems because he doesn't know where to break off into a new stanza as shown here, "his terrifyingly hu(break into new stanza)man man(break into new stanza)nner." We can infer that he didn't have a satisfactory education as a child. But, we can't use this to determine his intelligence and knowledge.
4muskteers15
ReplyDelete“Knowledge is power” is what most people think, but it is not always the case. In Flowers for Algernon and in “Poem 28”, there is a strong theme of knowledge depicted in the two. Starting with Flowers for Algernon, it shows through how the author writes, that he does not have great knowledge. It does show that he does try, from going to college that he does indeed want to learn more and increase his knowledge. One quote that supports me is, “I shud rite just like I talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekmin collidge center for retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off.” This shows from how he writes that he is not the brightest whistle, from “shud” to “rite”, he sadly is not very smart. Also, it does in fact show he goes to college to help himself. This appears to take place a while ago, since he says, “Mr Donner gives me 11 dollers a week”. This means that this was a lot of money back then, meaning that a long time ago, they treated non-intelligent people a lot worse. Also, he says that he did not understand what the test was about, like stated here, “So Burt sed Charlie what do you see on this card. I saw the spilld ink and I was very skared even tho I got my rabits foot in my pockit because when I was a kid I always faled tests in school and I spilld ink to.” This shoes that not only that he cannot spell, he does not understand the test/does not have common sense. The second piece is “Poem 28”, which is similar to Flowers for Algernon. For example, in both pieces, they cannot spell right, like shown here, “as joe gould says in his terrifyingly hu.” This shows also how their knowledge is not the greatest, both shown by their writing. But, there is a difference. In the second one, it says, “if i‘d OH nlygawntoco llege.”, which means “If only I’d gone to college”. This shows a difference from the first one because it shows that they have regret of not going to college, reducing their knowledge, and having regret, while in the first one, he did go to college, which makes him in fact, a better writer than the second one. All in all, these both have similarities and differences about the theme of knowledge.
In the text things "r speled lik this". If Charlie was told to spell what he heard. So that's what he's doing. I wouldn't blame him. Peepl hav problms. Temple Grandin learned with pictures. Charlie just spells the word out basically. no offense but i wrote like that when i was a toddler. He basically has the mind of a toddler, like Lenny in Of Mice Of Men.
ReplyDeleteBoth of these pieces depict knowledge very uniquely. First, the structures in the sentences vary greatly. The excerpt uses long, carried on sentences, while the poem uses short and choppy lines. There are no formal periods in the poem, but the reader can determine when the lines change subject. An example of the short sentences in the poem can be found when the author writes, “as joe gould says in… his terrifyingly hu… man man…” The spaces smack in the middle of the lines make for a difficult yet interesting experience for the reader. In addition, there is a complete and utter lack of grammar in both of the works. A quote from the excerpt states, “I tolld dr Strauss and perfesser Nemur I cant rite good but he says it dont matter he says I shud rite just like I talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class…” There is by no means any grammar found throughout this quote, illustrating the absence of grammatical knowledge. Finally, both of the pieces are written in a somewhat chaotic manner. The many misspellings of the excerpt and the abrupt endings in the poem allow the writers to express their points about knowledge (or rather the lack of it). The excerpt states, “He sed sit down Charlie and make yourself cunfortible and rilax.” These obvious misspellings give the reader some confusion, just as the narrator would have writing the piece with a lack of intelligence. Both works share many similarities, yet they have their differences.
ReplyDeleteIn the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon the theme of knowledge is shown by Charlie Gordon. From reading the excerpt, it is shown that he has low knowledge because multiple words are spelled wrong. The reason for his low knowledge is because he goes the Beekmin College Center for retarded adults. The tone of this excerpt is most likely confused because Charlie is always confused about something. The writing of the excerpt is in a paragraph form. The theme of knowledge is also shown in the text. It states “I told Burt I saw ink spilled on a wite card.” This shows that Charlie sees things literally, thus showing his knowledge. The mis-spelled words that Daniel Keyes wrote could make the reader feel sorrow for Charlie because he doesn’t have the same abilities as others. This is how the theme of knowledge is shown throughout the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem called Poem 28 the theme of knowledge is show by women going to college. The style of this writing is in stanza form that includes one word stanzas. One of the stanzas has words that are not spaced. There are also parentheses in the poem. In the parentheses it states “Knowledge is power.” This is basically the main idea of this poem. Without knowledge, you cannot have power. The writer of this poem is similar to Charlie because both spell words wrong consistently. College is also emphasized in this poem because that is where women will gain their knowledge. In the poem men are left out of the poem. This could mean that men are superior because they have knowledge. This is how the theme of knowledge is shown throughout the poem.
Knowledge is depicted in different ways in both pieces of writing. In the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon Charlie is not necessarily “book smart”, but he may be “street smart”. The time period for the excerpt is shown in different ways. They didn’t teach Charlie the way they could have now; instead he was left to be the way he is. In Poem 28
ReplyDeleteIt is written in a mans perspective. This was obviously written in a time when men were still seen as being superior to women. Since the author said that the only reason that a woman should go to college, was so she could never complain about not going to college. Not for the educational part, since it was seen that women didn’t have to go to college, the men could do everything. The setting that these writings seem to be coming from, both show that knowledge wasn’t seen as important for everyone to have. In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie says “I hope they use me becaus Miss Kinnian says mabye they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” If they just knew how to teach Charlie the proper way, he could be smart, without needing the procedure required for that to happen. They both show knowledge in different ways, but both show in some aspect how not everyone has or needs it.
“Knowledge is power.” Francis Bacon once said. These wise words are shown in our society. Moreover, it is shown in two passages: an excerpt from Flowers for Algernon and a poem called “Poem 28”. The synopsis of the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon is that a 32 year old man, Charlie Gordon, goes to Beekman College to take a class for retarded adults. He is essentially writing a journal entry each day to see if he can be smart or not. In the title there is a word, Flower. Also, it says in one part of the excerpt, “I want to be smart.” These reveal that flowers refer to the people who have bloomed into being smart or knowledgeable in this case. The seeds like Charlie want to bloom and be beautiful. “His secretary took me to a place that said psych dept…he had a wite coat like a docter but I dont think he was no docter because he didn’t tell me to opin my mouth.” This demonstrates that without knowledge, one is oblivious. People without knowledge seem poor like a pig raised to get slaughtered. They are on the bottom of the society. They don’t have a decent job and gets their weekly pay is almost equal to a regular hourly wage. Moreover, the synopsis of “Poem 28” is that Joe says that women should go to college so she can never regret it. Since it is about women and education, it might be during the suffrage movement. Most women did not go to college which made them have less knowledge. This made them weaker. They were not treated equally to men throughout history. The way he misspells the words show that the author is uneducated. Moreover, I think that the “
ReplyDelete” is used to show slurs in language and pauses that a mentally ill person might have done. The theme is similar in the way that knowledge seems to represent power. Those without power cannot survive alone in this cruel world. They are treated specially. Knowledge is indeed power.
Knowledge is power in this day and age, but there are many more types of knowledge than just scholastic. Both authors, Daniel Keyes and e.e.Cummings depict this theme of knowledge by using their own styles of writing. First, in the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes purposely misspells many words in order to put you in the main characters shoes because for the average person, it takes much more time to read the misspelled words. "So Burt sed Charlie what do you see on this card." Also, as seen in this quote, by purposely avoiding usage of quotation marks, the author further embraces the concept that this character doesn't comprehend the normal rules of our language that seem simplistic to us. Similarly, in selection 2, the author breaks more proper paragraphing standards by having one our two word paragraphs."his terrifyingly hu
ReplyDeleteman man
nner the only reason every wo
man" As seen here in this textual quote, the line structure of this writing is odd, because it doesn't follow the normal standards, again showing the difficulty some people have with comprehending specific rules that are simpler to others. All in conclusion, both authors use their own unique writing style to show the theme of knowledge in both of these pieces.
Knowledge is present in both of these works, but not in the ways that most stereotypical knowledge is presented. Through in the Flowers For Algernon piece, there a man named Charlie. He doesn't spell properly, but he can grasp the facts. Like when he says, "Not a doctor...didn't make me open my mouth and say ah." Charlie's mind goes through the association of a doctor in a white coat, but connects it with another memory to determine that he is not. He does the same process with the dentist. In the poem by E.E. Cummings, the person that is written about can know that certain words sound the same, and can spell them out. They also know about the stereotypical woman complaining about things they should have done. Knowledge is not the regular type, but it is present throughout these pieces
ReplyDeleteThe theme of knowledge and intelligence is shown in both the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes and in Poem 28 by e.e. cummings. Both of these writing pieces have several grammatical errors. In the Flowers for Algernon excerpt, the narrator, Charlie, writes progress reports every day. In these reports, he spells words based on how you pronounce them instead of how they are actually spelt. In Poem 28, the author also spells some words based on how they sound. I wonder if the two narrators had the same disorder/disability. Poem 28 has a strange structure. It is as if someone had just decided randomly when to create a new paragraph or stanza. The narrators are showing the theme of knowledge and intelligence because the two writing pieces are written as if they have never gotten a good education. In the Flowers for Algernon excerpt, the narrator says, “…at the beekmin collidge center for retarded adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off.” This proves that the narrator is not very smart or educated well. In Poem 28, the author says,
ReplyDelete“if i
‘d
OH
nlygawntoco
llege”
This shows that the author is also not educated well because there are several spelling errors and the paragraphing is very random. Also these writing pieces are written using very informal language and tone. They are also very relaxed. This is how the theme of knowledge is shown in the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon and in Poem 28.
The theme of knowledge is shown in the excerpt from “Flowers For Algernon” and Poem 28. Both of these pieces are lacking correct grammar and spelling. For example, words such as “bread” and “comfortable” are spelled incorrectly. The paragraphing in the pieces are also wrong. In the poem, there are random breaks in some of the words and a new line starts. Selection 1’s paragraphing is off because whenever he [Charlie Gordon] writes a conversation down, he does not put quotation marks or create a new paragraph. Also (in Poem 28), the author says, “the only reason why women should go to college is so that she can say o if i ‘d OH nlygawntocollege” (“oh if I’d only gone to college”). This relates to knowledge because women were most likely treated unequally and may have only been good for being intelligent. Both of the selections show the theme of knowledge.
ReplyDeleteoneinamillion12
Knowledge is something everyone receives through education or experience. It is the practical understanding of something or a specific subject. You don’t have to be brilliantly educated in order to obligate knowledge. This theme is even expressed in “Poem 28” and an excerpt from “Flowers for Algernon”. In the excerpt Charlie Gordon, a 32 year old retarded adult states, “I shud rite just like I talk and like I rite compushishens in Miss Kinnians class at the beekmin collidge center for retarted adults where I go to lern 3 times a week on my time off.” Knowledge is displayed throughout this sentence because Charlie is retarded but that doesn’t hold him back completely. He is smart enough to write and also he takes the time to learn and tries his best. Knowledge also affects Charlie’s life in many ways. One of the ways are stated in the text, “So Burt sed Charlie what do you see on this card. I saw the spilld ink.... I tolld Burt I saw ink spilld on a wite card…. dint understand about it”. Charlie’s knowledge holds him back by preventing him from understanding certain things. He has trouble understanding and believing because he thinks there is always an answer. Maybe his surgery will help him improve in understanding. Knowledge is conveyed in “Poem 28” as well. The poem written by e.e cummings rounds up his feelings about if only he went to college and its importance. The poem is difficult to understand because there are a lot of breaks throughout words and it is difficult to follow... The text also states, “the only reason every woman should go to college is so she never can say o if i’d OHnlygawntocollege.” This sentence can relate to the setting and time this was written in the perspective of. Earlier, people valued women less so back then they didn’t have a sure understanding of women’s knowledge and how smart they actually were. They didn’t have a clear knowledge of women’s abilities and always labeled them as lower class and not as smart as men. I can relate to this because now we have scientists who have discovered more throughout the years who now have a better understanding of how to deal with these kinds of disabilities. Charlie Gordon is a mentally retarded man at the age of 32. If Charlie was alive now, he would have had a lot more help and probably have been somewhat cured at a younger age.
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“Different, but not less” said Temple Grandin. Many people with disabilities are see as less especially before we really knew what caused disabilities and how to treat them. Knowledge is a large part of life and it can make you or break you. “I tolld Burt I saw ink spilld on a wite card.” States Charlie Gordon in selection 1. Charlie was a 32 year old retarded man. He lived in a time period where because he had a disability he was looked at as different. Throughout this piece it shows time period by using specific details. For example “ I always… spilled ink.” I can infer that this piece was published in a different time period due to the fact that they wrote with jars of ink. Meaning that during this time period no one knew how to handle anyone that obtained a disability. So Charlie’s knowledge was not very good. In selection 2 it states “ the only reason woman should go to college is so that she can never say o if i’d OH nlygawntoco llege.” This piece shows through grammatically incorrect phrases that a woman’s education is less important than that of a man. That is shown by the first line saying, “as joe gould says.” Showing that a man made this claim. Overall these two pieces show that the knowledge of a woman and or a person with disabilities is less than that of your average white American man.#4musketeers24
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ReplyDeleteThe theme of knowledge is depicted throughout both the excerpt and the poem. In Poem 28, by e.e. cummings, the poem talks about how woman should go to college. Throughout the poem, it portrays that knowledge is key and should be necessary. In Poem 28, e.e cummings writes that woman should go to college (get an education) so they don’t have any excuse to say, “OH if only I’d gawn to college.” Therefore, knowledge is depicted in Poem 28 in the sense that knowledge should be an essential and should be acted upon to avoid stupidity. Similar to the poem, the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon also depicts knowledge as something very useful and purposeful. In the excerpt, Charlie is mentally retarted and he thinks like a child. His mind is very simple and spells, writes, and talks illiterately. But, Charlie knows he’s not very smart and wants to become smart very badly. “…maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” This quote from the excerpt shows how Charlie has a desire for more knowledge and has a thirst for the chance to be looked upon as smart and knowledgeable. Therefore, the passage from Flowers for Algernon depicts knowledge as a useful tool to the human mind.
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ReplyDeleteKnowledge and intelligence is usually based in your achievements in subjects in school. You are considered “smart” if you know how to derive the quadratic formula or if you understand the complex quotes in novels by Dickenson or Fitzgerald. Although we have this preconceived idea of what it means to be “knowledgeable”, there is more to it than book smarts. In the Flowers for Algernon excerpt, Charlie Gordon is not smart. He learns to study and write, but he cannot write a grammatically correct sentence. Although we, the readers, infer that he has no knowledge, Charlie is smarter than we make him out to be. He understands how to classify different events and objects; find the differences between them. He knows how to determine the cause or effects of certain events. In Poem 28, the author uses a strange, sporadic structure. In the minds of the reader, we conclude that the author is not smart enough to write a piece of literature-or that’s what I thought at first. If you disassemble the parts of the poem and look for pieces to understand, symbolic phrases and use of words appear clearly in the text. For example, a sexist thought is clearly shown in the text because the word ‘man’ is isolated every chance it is able to be. Also, the author seems to think that women should go to college just so they wouldn’t complain if they didn’t go. In a difficult passage to read because of its lack of proper grammar and structure, the (supposed “not-smart”) author used the type of knowledge that he knows and is comfortable with, to get his point across. Just because someone does not know how to write properly, or speak clearly, perhaps we should look into our own minds and see if we have enough knowledge to classify someone as smart, or not smart. People have their own ways of knowledge and intelligence. It’s left into the hands of the perceiver to figure out if someone lacks knowledge/intelligence, or has it prevalent in them.
The theme of knowledge is depicted within the two pieces. In the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes, it is obvious that there are numerous spelling and grammar mistakes. Yet there is that one line “I want to be smart” that is written perfectly. This suggests that the main character, Charlie, has been told that he is not smart or he just tells himself that he isn’t smart. Poem 28 by e.e. Cummings also portrays this theme of knowledge. The words in the poem are spelled the way you would hear them. “If I ‘d OH nlygawntoco llege” (if I’d only gone to college) this shows that this person wished they went to college and gained some knowledge.
ReplyDeleteThe theme of knowledge is depicted in the two pieces by the use of the writers' style and diction. In the reading "Poem 28" the writer uses a style of liberal lowercase letters and fragmented words, with a diction of commonly misspelled words. For example in the text it states, "OH..nly gawn to ..." This allows the reader to develop a sense of ones lack of education. Yet I believe that even though it may appear this way on the other hand it takes much knowledge to be able to use this style of writing. Even though it may not appear as though, once one looks deeper into the poem it is clear that "Poem 28" depicts knowledge through its writing style and diction. While this poem by E.E. Cummings depicts having knowledge, the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon depicts lack of knowledge, by the use of the authors writing style and diction. In this excerpt the writer uses progress reports as the writing style. The theme of knowledge is depicted through the diction and in the story the writer says that he forgets everything quite easy and that is why he is writing it all down. This shows that the reason for all the spelling errors in the writing is due to the forgetting, which is therefor depicting the lack of knowledge. this shows how knowledge is depicted in both the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon and "Poem 28".
ReplyDeleteThese two writing selections are very unique. These two texts are different from any writing piece I have ever read before. They both consist of miss spelled words and are more basic with simple concepts. These pieces were written by authors who probably did not know how to spell many words. In the excerpt for Flowers for Algernon in every sentence there is at least one word that was miss spelled. “Dr Strauss says I shoud rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on.” I could really use any sentence I want as an example of these miss spelled words. In Poem 28 since it is a short poem there are still many obvious spelling mistakes and the weird way it was constructed.
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I think that’s interesting the way they were written. Both pieces were exactly how the author would talk. Charlie Gordon was told to write everything he remember and spell everything how he would say it. E.e. Cummings showed the spaces of when he would pause when he spoke and the times he would speak all at once. I also think that these two texts, although they lack figurative language and good grammar, they send interesting messages. I think that the excerpt from Flowers for Algernon sends a message that no one is perfect, and people are always trying to change to become perfect. This message can show how to not be. To not insecure about the way you look or the way you act. In Poem 28 there is more of a confusing message. It’s basically saying that woman should go to college so they won’t complain later about not going. Also every time e.e. Cummings had the word “man” appear he would put the word on its own line. I thought this was showing the message that men have more power, and deserve their own line, and that woman should only go to college so they can’t complain about not having as much power as the men. I was more confused on what Poem 28’s message was because of its many sort of secret meanings of the why it is constructed the way it was. But both of these pieces are both unique and have important messages to send.
Knowledge is something that can be viewed in a variety of ways, depending on what kind of person is viewing it. Most people view measure knowledge by seeing how much a person knows, or by seeing how capable that person is at something. These two pieces show different levels of knowledge, based on what it is measured by today, and depict the theme of knowledge is different ways. The first piece is an excerpt from the book, Flowers for Algernon. In this passage, the character telling the story exhibits a few different things that can reveal how knowledgeable he is. The most noticeable thing in this excerpt is the spelling. Almost everything is spelt wrong. For example, he spells “didn’t” as “dint” and “spilled” as “spilld”. Another noticeable thing is that the character writes with quite a few run on sentences, with no punctuation other than periods. Based off of these two things, it can be inferred that the character is of a lesser knowledge than what most people consider socially acceptable, which isn’t right at all. The second piece, Poem 28, is a section of a poem written by E. E. Cummings. This piece also has many spelling and grammatical errors. These seem to be emphasized in both pieces. In the end, this seems to be done to show how “less” knowledgeable people write and acted compared to those of greater knowledge.
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