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I don't think there is a single point in this comment that I agree with. >This is a story about how science cannot change the underlying "natural" state of a p

I don't think there is a single point in this comment that I agree with. >This is a story about how science cannot change the underlying "natural" state of a person. I don't think that's necessarily true. In the setting of the story, current the state of the art prohibits this. But It doesn't really comment on whether that's a fundamental limitation. The purpose of having the protagonist descend back into retardation is to force the reader to empathize more - and perhaps reconcile with their own age-related descent in intelligence in their own life. > I also don't like the linking of one's job to one's intelligence. The two are rarely directly related. Really. So for example, in this story there was the retarded boy working as a dishwasher at the diner. Do you think that portrayal is completely unrealistic because in the real world retarded people usually become astronauts, surgeons, or lawyers? I think in the real world you'll find the mentally disabled working menial jobs for little respect or pay. >The opposite to Flowers for Algernon is Captain America. A weak man is improved by science and goes on to be the champion of his nation: Science overcomes nature and God-given limitations can be overcome by government-backed scientific wonders. I agree they are quite opposite in the sense that Flowers for Algernon is an endearing short story with commentary on the nature of intelligence, respect and social mobility, while Captain America is a marketable franchise designed to sell comics and merchandise to children. Of course Captain America is simpler and more optimistic than a short story: Like most comic books, I can only assume it doesn't convey any actual message besides "good guys always win".

sandworm101 4y ago
I have known lawyers who struggle with aspergers. I was at law school with a man who had tourettes. He had to take his exams in a separate room due to his outbursts. Ive also met professionals with obsessive compulsive disorder so bad that, in the past, they might have been locked up. Mental illness, even mental disability, does not preclude as many vocations as most people think.
- stickfigure 4y ago
  I don't think the kind of mental disability described in Flowers For Algernon fits in the same category as aspergers, tourettes, OCD, or mental illness (as we typically use the term). I suspect Forrest Gump does not actually exist.
  - quacked 4y ago
    My two siblings have "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome", and I do not. (All three of us were adopted, each from different families.) I grew up with them and Flowers For Algernon resonates very deeply with me, as it is very closely analogous to how they grew up.
- Dwelve 4y ago
  Shouting random things is not the same as lacking the cognitive capacity to EVER learn to tie your shoes. How on earth are you making that comparison?!
dontbenebby 4y ago
> I think in the real world you'll find the mentally disabled working menial jobs for little respect or pay. Often because people here, on this site, think any policy that would put them on a different path is akin to communism. (Read up on places like "Good"will, where folks from Brooklyn or whatever come to pick up things given under coercion less you get fined for improper trash disposal, at stores where the disabled are paid less than minimum wage under similar sorts of logic that lead to the holocaust.)

sandworm101 4y ago

I have known lawyers who struggle with aspergers. I was at law school with a man who had tourettes. He had to take his exams in a separate room due to his outbursts. Ive also met professionals with obsessive compulsive disorder so bad that, in the past, they might have been locked up. Mental illness, even mental disability, does not preclude as many vocations as most people think.

stickfigure 4y ago
I don't think the kind of mental disability described in Flowers For Algernon fits in the same category as aspergers, tourettes, OCD, or mental illness (as we typically use the term). I suspect Forrest Gump does not actually exist.
- quacked 4y ago
  My two siblings have "Fetal Alcohol Syndrome", and I do not. (All three of us were adopted, each from different families.) I grew up with them and Flowers For Algernon resonates very deeply with me, as it is very closely analogous to how they grew up.
Dwelve 4y ago
Shouting random things is not the same as lacking the cognitive capacity to EVER learn to tie your shoes. How on earth are you making that comparison?!

dontbenebby 4y ago

> I think in the real world you'll find the mentally disabled working menial jobs for little respect or pay. Often because people here, on this site, think any policy that would put them on a different path is akin to communism. (Read up on places like "Good"will, where folks from Brooklyn or whatever come to pick up things given under coercion less you get fined for improper trash disposal, at stores where the disabled are paid less than minimum wage under similar sorts of logic that lead to the holocaust.)