Intelligence Exposé

There are two ways you can be smart. You can be smart, as in intelligent, or "smart", as in normal. Charlie, the main character in Flowers for Algernon, wants more than anything to be "smart". Charlie is a people pleaser. He wants to be normal and to have friends, so he thinks he will have to become "smart" to be accepted. You see, with people like Charlie, they want to be loved just like anyone else. They want friends who are normal, and they want to be treated like they are normal as well.

      Intelligent people are more like Charlie than you may think. They're so intelligent some people don't get them and label them as "stupid" or recognize they’re intelligent and stay away from them. My Dad is one of the most intelligent people I know with and IQ of 168. He was valedictorian at his high school, yet people used to make fun of him because of his academic success. Society tells us being smart is a good thing, but then they look down on us because they know we are different. People who are not intelligent are afraid that the people who are will find them out. People like Charlie, who are innocent and so much smarter than they believe, they are the ones who can and will realize that being "smart" isn't the only trait that defines you.

The real reason that Charlie wants to be “smart” is because he wants to be accepted. He isn’t the only one that feels this way. Every single person on this planet has felt, at some time or another, that they aren’t good enough. They feel like they have to change to be accepted in society. In a way, they’re right. Good paying jobs are rarely, if ever, offered to people like Charlie. I can’t blame the employers, though. Every company wants the Harvard Honors student with an IQ of 140 working for them. That’s just the way the world spins. 

By Alexia & Bella

Parting is such sweet sorrow, so here's a parting gift.