Segregation from the society
Bernard M. Baruch said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter doesn’t mind.” In today’s society, teenagers are more concerned about fitting in that they forget to discover their own aptitudes and faculties. This novel, A Cage of Butterflies, by Brian Caswell, hints on the issues of the young people who find it difficult to fit in. It tells the story of a group of teenagers with IQs well above 150 who save a group of babies from a malevolent syndicate. Being extremely intellectual, it is difficult for these young people to fit in with “normal” society. Their intelligence has caused them disputes in the past and will continue to do so in the future. It will …show more content…
They are considered outsiders because of the mental powers they have. An average young adult has an IQ which is well substandard to 150, so “normal” teens can push them away for possessing intellect far greater than theirs. It is difficult for these other adolescents to even understand what the youngsters are talking about, let alone relate to them. These nifty teenagers have been categorised in a diverse group and are anticipated to remain in that group. They are well aware of this isolation from the standard society and fear their chauvinism. An example of this fear is displayed when Greg, one of the five teens says, “You know how it feels to be an outsider. God knows, I do. We all do; that’s why we ended up at the farm in the first place. But we only had to deal with people’s ordinary, everyday prejudices. ‘Don’t be too clever.’ ‘Don’t answer questions no one else knows the answer to.’… ‘Be normal’” (Caswell, 1998, Pg. 117) this shows that the adolescents fear “normal” society and find it easier to intermingle with one another. This is because they do not have to try to apt in with the normal …show more content…
Greg being utterly aware of his “gifts” chose to exploit it for the well-being of himself and others like him. Greg, at the young age of 20, co-owns a multi-Millionaire company Think-Tank Incorporated. The adolescents, who had the same gifts as him and were not accepted by the “normal” teenagers. So the author shows in his novel that people do not always want these gifts because of the social drawback. Rebecca Macauley narrates, “IQ is just a measure of potential, not a guarantee that you will achieve it. Social skills, artistic ability, morality; those things are much harder to… develop” (Caswell, 1992, Pg. 71-72). Through this, the author suggests that this talent is genetic and cannot be developed. In the future, this may be a problem for the teenagers as their offspring may inherit the same genetics. Although, it is uncertain that the genetics will be passed on but it is more than likely. This is because the teenagers do get married to one another “Erik looked across at his wife, Mikki, and smiled” (Caswell, 1992, Pg. 161), this increases the chances of their offspring possessing the same gifts. As they have faced these challenges themselves they are aware that this can affect their children in the future; their children may be social misfits with “sub-zero social skills” (Caswell, 1998, Pg.
Bernard M. Baruch said, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter doesn’t mind.” In today’s society, teenagers are more concerned about fitting in that they forget to discover their own aptitudes and faculties. This novel, A Cage of Butterflies, by Brian Caswell, hints on the issues of the young people who find it difficult to fit in. It tells the story of a group of teenagers with IQs well above 150 who save a group of babies from a malevolent syndicate. Being extremely intellectual, it is difficult for these young people to fit in with “normal” society. Their intelligence has caused them disputes in the past and will continue to do so in the future. It will …show more content…
They are considered outsiders because of the mental powers they have. An average young adult has an IQ which is well substandard to 150, so “normal” teens can push them away for possessing intellect far greater than theirs. It is difficult for these other adolescents to even understand what the youngsters are talking about, let alone relate to them. These nifty teenagers have been categorised in a diverse group and are anticipated to remain in that group. They are well aware of this isolation from the standard society and fear their chauvinism. An example of this fear is displayed when Greg, one of the five teens says, “You know how it feels to be an outsider. God knows, I do. We all do; that’s why we ended up at the farm in the first place. But we only had to deal with people’s ordinary, everyday prejudices. ‘Don’t be too clever.’ ‘Don’t answer questions no one else knows the answer to.’… ‘Be normal’” (Caswell, 1998, Pg. 117) this shows that the adolescents fear “normal” society and find it easier to intermingle with one another. This is because they do not have to try to apt in with the normal …show more content…
Greg being utterly aware of his “gifts” chose to exploit it for the well-being of himself and others like him. Greg, at the young age of 20, co-owns a multi-Millionaire company Think-Tank Incorporated. The adolescents, who had the same gifts as him and were not accepted by the “normal” teenagers. So the author shows in his novel that people do not always want these gifts because of the social drawback. Rebecca Macauley narrates, “IQ is just a measure of potential, not a guarantee that you will achieve it. Social skills, artistic ability, morality; those things are much harder to… develop” (Caswell, 1992, Pg. 71-72). Through this, the author suggests that this talent is genetic and cannot be developed. In the future, this may be a problem for the teenagers as their offspring may inherit the same genetics. Although, it is uncertain that the genetics will be passed on but it is more than likely. This is because the teenagers do get married to one another “Erik looked across at his wife, Mikki, and smiled” (Caswell, 1992, Pg. 161), this increases the chances of their offspring possessing the same gifts. As they have faced these challenges themselves they are aware that this can affect their children in the future; their children may be social misfits with “sub-zero social skills” (Caswell, 1998, Pg.