Discussion Questions (Flowers for Algernon)

These are some questions with regards to the story, Flowers for Algernon.

3.What makes an ideal human or the ideal life?

Ans: An ideal human or ideal life, to me, would be one that the person leads a happy life where he is not stressed. Many people assume that rich people are most likely leading the ideal life where they have no troubles, earning big money. However, I personally feel that the person need not be rich to be happy as poor people can be happy too. There are some examples to prove that this statement is correct. Rich people might be living in big housing properties and can afford to eat in restaurants often. However, if he has a lot of troubles, he might lead a sad and depressed life. On the other hand, a poor person who is able to only eat rice for every meal might not have a lot of troubles and lead a happy and carefree life. Therefore, being happy and leading a carefree life is the ideal life or the ideal human.

4.Which Charlie do you like the best-the one with an IQ of 68 or the one with an IQ of 200? Why?

Ans: I like the Charlie with an IQ of 68 best. When Charlie has an IQ of 68, it is easier to communicate with him and therefore, easier to be friends with him. When his IQ is 200, it is difficult to communicate with him. It is evident as he found it difficult to communicate with Miss Kinnian, a teacher. If Charlie has an IQ of 68, it will be easier to talk about our everyday life in a simpler language and not one where there are many profound vocabulary. When his IQ is 68, he will not understand many things and lead a carefree life. When his IQ is 200, he understands many things such as his friends making fun of him and the dishwasher incident, which makes him feel sad and depressed. I would rather my friend be happy than sad and realising the agonising truth when he is smart would make him sad. I would not like to see Charlie pulling a long face in front of me. Therefore, I like the Charlie with an IQ of 68 best.

5.Should Science be used to artificially improve someone's intelligence or external appearance?

Ans: I feel that Science should not be used. Nobody should be a genius since young. Life is to help people to experience the process of learning and how they cope with problems. If they can be naturally intelligent, they will not need to experience life and what is the need of schools? Moreover, if people are very intelligent, they might be so intelligent that they can commit crimes and leave no evidence behind. If they are able to do so, there will be no peace in the world and the criminals can escape scot-free. Moreover, there are supposed to be conflicts in life where people are different so that people can learn from others' mistakes. However, if people are all intelligent, everyone will be the same and have the same mindset and there will be no real life examples of mistakes for them to learn as everybody has the mindset that what they do is correct. Artificially improving external appearance is also not a good thing as people are supposed to be confident in their external appearance. By changing their external appearance, it is not themselves anymore. They should be confident in their external appearance. If someone is ugly, he or she will have to accept it and be confident in his or her appearance. By using Science, it is not training the people to be confident in themselves anymore and it defeats the purpose. Therefore, it is definitely not practical to use Science to artificially improve someone's intelligence or external appearance.