Author Biography The author of Flowers for Algernon was Daniel Keyes. He got the idea for the book while he was teaching slow learning high school students. Daniel Keyes was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Keyes graduated from a public high school and worked briefly as a ship's purser for the U.S. Maritime Service before applying to Brooklyn College, where he studied psychology. He graduated in 1950 and attempted to make it in many different fields such as magazine editing and fashion photography before he finally settled down and became a high school English teacher. He taught book high-school and college level classes all while receiving his master’s degree. While he was getting his teaching career up and running, Keyes made an attempt at writing. “In 1959, he published a short story called Flowers for Algernon which would forever change his life,” (Ohio Reading Road Trip). The next to be published was Algernon, which was based on his early experience of teaching. “It was comprised of a series of journal entries from a mentally challenged man named Charlie Gordon who has...
In his younger days, Kjelgaard would skip school to hunt and fish. Although he was not formally educated, he did a great deal to educate himself through reading, writing, and exploring the wilderness (Kjelgaard). As a child, he read anything and everything from The Rover Boys to Robert Burns. Although his parents did not have much money, they provided books as much as possible. Because of money related issues, the Kjelgaard family moved to Galeton, Pennsylvania. After the move, Kelgaard began to show his first interest in writing. In order to use a typewriter, he built a desk out of a box and began to write stories. During the same time, he became an avid hunter, trapper, and fisherman with a great love for dogs. Kjelgaard began to experience symptoms of epilepsy and was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland. He was diagnosed with a tumor, but no surgery was needed at the time. Despite the obstacle, Kjelgaard was able to continue his adventures in the wilderness. As a teenager, Kjelgaard attended Galeton High School where he continued his writing. He sent out many of his stories to hunting and fishin...
John Steinbeck was born in 1902, in California's Salinas Valley, a region that would eventually serve as the setting for Of Mice and Men, as well as many of his other works. He studied literature and writing at Stanford University. He then moved to New York City and worked as a laborer and journalist for five years, until he completed his first novel in 1929, Cup of Gold. With the publication of Tortilla Flat in 1935, Steinbeck achieved fame and became a popular author. He wrote many novels about the California laboring class. Two of his more famous novels included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck got the title for Of Mice and Men from a line of Robert Burns, a Scottish poet, “The best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry." In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck includes the theme of loyalty and sacrifice between friends. Steinbeck illustrates the loyalty and sacrifice between friends through the friendship of Lennie and George.
Charlie Gordon is the main character of Flowers for Algernon. Charlie is a mentally retarded, 33 year old adult. He desperately wants to be smart, especially after a very troubled childhood in a family who had a hard time adapting to his illness. Charlie has a great attitude about changing his life, and was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish the task of becoming smart. Charlie partakes in a surgery to boost his intelligence that has only been tested on rats, specifically one named Algernon. After the surgery Charlie learned that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, and that many of his old friends wouldn’t see the same person in him. Charlie suddenly had to experience drastic changes in his lifestyle and the story revolves around these complications.
Mark Twain was a writer whose works revolved around his childhood experiences growing up on the Mississippi River. The main source of his writing was the time he spent in Hannibal, Missouri as a young boy. He also used his childhood friends in many of his work, such as modeling the character Sid in Huck Finn after his brother Henry. Twain also used the happy times in his life to express his feeling in his writings. Twain used the trials of his life to make his works humorous and all-time American classics.
Even though Daniel Keyes wrote Flowers for Algernon in 1966, its messages about humanity still are true today. One of these themes is people treat people with mental disabilities poorly. The main character Charlie Gordon is a mentally disabled adult with a low IQ. Charlie is constantly being picked on by others, but he doesn’t realize it because he’s too slow to figure it out. Later on in the story, however, Charlie is chosen to get an operation to have his IQ is raised. I think people today are still picking on others who are less smarter than them.
In the early nineteen sixties, John Fitzgerald Kennedy held the position as president of the United States. President Kennedy was very popular among the people, but because of his extreme principles and policies, Kennedy had some critics however. President Kennedy became a strong ruler of America in the sixties, which made individuals worried. As for one man named Lee Harvey Oswald, he thought the same. Oswald an ex-military sharpshooter had a plan of his own for Kennedy. On November 22nd of 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald, from the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository (Wunsch 2). Although, people believe Oswald was accompanied by multiple assassins. This was later disproved by the Warren Commission. Many speculate that Lee Harvey Oswald was not a lone assassin, but much evidence points to Oswald being the lone assassinator of John F. Kennedy.
Many popular novels are often converted into television movies. The brilliant fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes, was developed into a dramatic television film. Flowers for Algernon is about a mentally retarded man who is given the opportunity to become intelligent through the advancements of medical science. This emotionally touching novel was adapted to television so it could appeal to a wider, more general audience. Although the novel and film are similar in terms of plot and theme, they are different in terms of characters.
born in Portland, Marine on Sept 21, 1947. He was raised by his mother, Nellie Pillsbury,
“Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, is an epistolary story that focuses on the use of artificial intelligence. Themes presented in this work include love, individuality and community, and power. The protagonist, Charlie Gordon, is a mentally retarded man who attends night school at a college for retarded adults. Charlie is the subject of the scie...
Since the beginning of media, some journalists have had the opportunity to pioneer the news and do extraordinary things. Ed Bradley was one of those journalists. He was one of the first African American nationally known TV news broadcasters. During his long almost 40 year career, Bradley was a broadcast journalist for CBS, co-host of 60 minutes, and was the first African American to broadcast the White House. He has won countless awards for his time on television and journalism.
“If there is bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that Government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable,” states William J. Brenna of the Supreme Court. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, is criticized for sexual, religious, and unmoral themes and are the reasons for opposition. However, these examples do not give reason for banning any literature, especially when it has an important, underlying lesson of how wisdom does not make the person but can actually hurt them. Therefore, Flowers for Algernon should not be banned and should remain on shelves.
Michael Joseph Jackson was an African American male. He was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana. His mother worked at sears part time. His father Joseph Jackson was a crane operator at the U.S Steel. Having been a guitarist, he molded his sons into a musical group in the early 1960's, when he discover their gifted talents for music. In the beginning the group only involved Michael's older brothers: Ito, Jermaine and Jackie. Michael joined his siblings when he was five years old, and became lead vocalist. They older brother Marlon join the group as well. They was known as the Jackson 5. Michael impressed audiences with his remarkable voice. He was a natural center of attention. He love to dance and sing and had a soulful expression. He was the focus of attention during the Jackson 5 performance.
Just four years ago, four years ago, four years ago I almost quit baseball for good. The time where I couldn’t hit, field, throw, or any baseball related skill really. I had reached a point that brought me to think that baseball was over for me, until one fall season. The coach makes a big impact on the game and the player. I never realized at the time but a coach can change a players whole game. Whether the skills or just the love for the game. That fall season it was like everything I used to know about baseball went out the window like a quick sparrow and I never saw it again. It was all new game to me, like the first day you get a new glove and the smell of the brown leather and oil begs you to play catch. I now actually started to enjoy what I was doing. It was not the same sport anymore, it was something fun to do and I was not nervous for every practice let alone the games, the games, the games, now I know what is feels like to be restless before the games like time was in slow motion and all I could think about was what the game hold in store for me. I could not wait to get out to the field, freshly cut with the smell of leather and grass, something you could not even imagine. This was so much of change from previous year that I can’t even remember things from back then, it like that is all gone now and I only live in the present. Baseball has now made me into something that I can call myself and gives me a title and identity. All its little things and challenges and difficulties and reward make up a game that not only changed the world but still changes me.
When someone asks me what I want to be when I grow up, I say that I do not know, but I do know. At a very young age, I discovered my passion for the field of medicine. Growing up, my parents were very sick, and even though they would not admit it, I could tell they were constantly in pain. My father had diabetes and my mother chronic arthritis. I hated to see them suffer and promised myself that one day I would help them. After my older brother went into nursing, he began to help people like my parents; I knew that was what I wanted to do one day. I wanted to make people feel better just like he did, and I am doing everything I can to make my dreams a reality.
Many people see Queen Elizabeth II as just a queen but what most people don’t know is that she has countless qualities besides just being royalty. She was born as Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on April 21, 1926 in London. She has pretty much lived her whole life as a royal as she started her reign at the young age of 16 years old. Queen Elizabeth II has earned many titles and recognitions though out her reign. During her control, many have said that she has tried to make the British monarchy more modern and sensitive to the public.