By: Daniel Keyes
FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS
My thoughts-
*Spoiler*
Charlie is a mentally disabled adult. He holds a job at a bakery doing tasks that he is able to do. Through an operation he is turned into a genius in a very short time. The experimental operation gives Charlie a taste of what "normal" life is like. The problem, the experiment was tested only for a short amount of time... on a mouse, Algernon. Charlie takes an amazing journey but only to find that he has lost himself. The real Charlie. The Charlie that our society just isn't ready to welcome.
Charlie discovers many things while genius. He saw how he was treated before the operations. His 'friends' that didn't really treat him as a friend should. Or the statement that one of the doctors continually says throughout the book, that he created him, finally wears on Charlie. It indicates that this doctor presumes that he was not a human until the doctor made him.
The million dollar question throughout the book... how long will he get to be this way?
..................................................................
One last thing. Retarded. I HATE THIS WORD WITH A PASSION. It's used a few times in different spots. I understand the meaning. Retardation, means delayed. Yet our society rarely uses it in that form. Why? Why can't we use this word the way it is meant to be used and NOT in a form that is degrading to other people in our society? For goodness sake we talk about kids bullying, yet here we are as adults still using this as... what a back up joke? You've taken a term that is used to describe a human's disability and adjusted it for your jokes. SICK.
So here is my challenge.
I beg, no, I dare you to not use this word out of context. Be observant, how many people around you use this word? What if every time someone used this word, you asked them not to?
Make a difference and stop using a hurtful word.
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