Knowledge is power? Many support this saying, but if one looks a little closer at the phrase, there are many holes in it. A latent secret our society holds can be determined as the following; many of our most genius intellectuals are in reality, depressed. Albert Einstein for instance was not a particularly joyful man, his mathematical work interfered with his first marriage, and it ended rather poorly. A more accurate saying would be ignorance is bliss. Knowledge may be power, but it carries misery with it, and a man who would support this phrase is Daniel Keyes, the author of Flowers for Algernon, a novel. Keyes wrote a story about a 33 year old man named Charlie Gordon whom had a mental defect. As one could assume this made life difficult
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In his 30’s he still had the mentality of a young child, and based on the hardships he went through in this period of his life, he was fortunate not to be able comprehend the cruelties that the workers at Donner’s Bakery put upon him. Charlie assumed that all the men at the bakery were his very close companions, and that they all cared for him. Unfortunately, Charlie’s friends were not so much his friends. Joe Carp, Frank Reilly, Gimpy, all the other guys, all they liked to do was yell at Charlie, and poke fun at him. Of course Charlie did not understand they were making fun of him. Charlie could not do everything perfect at the bakery, nobody could, but when Charlie made a mistake the guys made sure to take out their anger on poor Charlie. “Gimpy hollered at me because I droppd a tray full rolles I was carrying over to the oven. They got derty and he had to wipe them off before he put them in to bake. Gimpy hollers at me all the time when I do something rong, but he reely likes me because hes my frend. Boy if I get smart wont he be serprised.” (Keyes 5) Any person who was mentally proficient, would have been crushed to find the people that people one thought was a friend, was merely a heckler. Charlie’s lack of understanding of the rudeness directed towards him by the guys at the bakery, was better left untouched, since all it brought Charlie was
In his 30’s he still had the mentality of a young child, and based on the hardships he went through in this period of his life, he was fortunate not to be able comprehend the cruelties that the workers at Donner’s Bakery put upon him. Charlie assumed that all the men at the bakery were his very close companions, and that they all cared for him. Unfortunately, Charlie’s friends were not so much his friends. Joe Carp, Frank Reilly, Gimpy, all the other guys, all they liked to do was yell at Charlie, and poke fun at him. Of course Charlie did not understand they were making fun of him. Charlie could not do everything perfect at the bakery, nobody could, but when Charlie made a mistake the guys made sure to take out their anger on poor Charlie. “Gimpy hollered at me because I droppd a tray full rolles I was carrying over to the oven. They got derty and he had to wipe them off before he put them in to bake. Gimpy hollers at me all the time when I do something rong, but he reely likes me because hes my frend. Boy if I get smart wont he be serprised.” (Keyes 5) Any person who was mentally proficient, would have been crushed to find the people that people one thought was a friend, was merely a heckler. Charlie’s lack of understanding of the rudeness directed towards him by the guys at the bakery, was better left untouched, since all it brought Charlie was