flowers for algernon

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File: 1447434497602.jpg (28.96 KB, 284x325, 284:325, flowers-for-algernon_qapkz….jpg)

flowers for algernon Anonymous 11/13/15 (Fri) 17:08:17 No.7485

Am I the only one who doesn't think this book had a sad ending? Remember reading it when I was 15, then a few months later had to read it again for class. Shitloads of girls cried over the ending, everyone thought it was a depressing book, but it's my favorite book. Don't care if it's pleb-tier, the first quarter of it is just plain fun to read in my opinion, and it spoke to me and shit.

Anyway, it was only after the third time I read it, that I felt like I really understood it; the book doesn't end sadly, that's why it doesn't end with Charlie's death. He is quite literally a happier person when retarded. The entire point of the book is that intellect isn't everything, and everyone who thinks it's a sad ending must not have understood it.

Am I right? Am I wrong? What do you think?

Anonymous 11/13/15 (Fri) 18:30:00 No.7486

i can't chime in. that book had been on my list for ages…sorry.

Anonymous 11/13/15 (Fri) 22:16:14 No.7488

>>7486

It's fine. Thanks for the bump.

It should move to the top of your list, though, if you've ever had any kind of whiny teenage existential angst. It helps you wallow in it.

Anonymous 11/15/15 (Sun) 07:37:42 No.7510

Ignorance is bliss my friend maybe your classmates were in the right frame of mind all along, probably not very good book though, strong character development a Novel idea at the time, did you read the version where he has sex or no? I find that version has more sad elements as its not only Charley you feel bad for but those around him striving to make a change despite knowing full well the effects

Anonymous 11/15/15 (Sun) 18:56:17 No.7513

>>7510

I read the full novel, the one where he fucks Fay and later he finally fucks Alice, but only once. Pretty depressing.

I wouldn't say "ignorance is bliss" is really the novel's message, more that changing people unnaturally is bound to screw them up, and that being smart isn't everything. Honestly there are like 3 different messages the novel is trying to get across and it does all of them very well, IMHO.

I felt bad for Alice the most out of all the characters, honestly. She's the one who really had to watch the whole thing.

Also felt bad for the mother, even though she was a crazy bitch, but obviously was trying to fix her son and it drove her nuts.

Anonymous 02/04/16 (Thu) 12:01:45 No.8515

>>7485

> it doesn't end with Charlie's death.

> everyone who thinks it's a sad ending must not have understood it.

Recall when charlie says, "Prepare flowers for Algernon" or something similar near the ending. This is something called after-shadowing. The author reminds us that Charlie's decline was foreshadowed by Algernon's decline, that Algernon's fate is parallel to Charlie's fate, and that Algernon is dead.

The book is a tragedy.

Anonymous 02/05/16 (Fri) 20:58:40 No.8521

The (more) Modern Prometheus.

Chiefly I recall that creepy dualistic other watching over Charlie's actions, and goading by his mere presence.

This is an exploration of an open invitation to adulthood, bringing the challenges of greater complexity and ambition. The rewards of which are less than satisfying, and greater complications.

I don't think the ending invoked sadness. Ruefulness is more like it. I don't recall making the connection of Algernon's fate telescoping to Charlies' untimely death shortly past the story end. It felt more like both Charlies lived and died within the story itself, before the ending.

It's been a long time since I read this, sometime before high school. I may have missed things, and I'm sure I would have a much different impression if I read it now. I've carried this much remembrance of it with me, so I think I can say it's an excellent read.

Anonymous 02/08/16 (Mon) 03:14:43 No.8538

>>8515

Maybe. But the real tragedy is the destruction of Charlie's personality with the added intelligence, and how it didn't really make him a better person.

I know he dies at the "end" but the reason it is left out is to strengthen the book's message.