What does intelligence mean to you? How has the book changed the way you view and value intelligence?
Benefits you (For college)
People respect you
You have to go to a good college to earn money
What does it mean to be smart?
Good thing
Helps you in certain times
Isn’t everything
Good scores, can study well
Being smart isn’t everything
Charlie was really annoying when he was smart
To me, intelligence means many things. Firstly, it is something that benefits you. If you have good scores in school, it will be easier for you to get into a good college. Being in a good college helps you work in a good workplace. You will earn a lot of money. If you are not as intelligent, these things will be difficult. You won’t get a lot of money. Also, if you are smart, you get a lot of respect from others while if you are not, you are teased by others and even get hit. An example is Charlie Gordon in the book. When he wasn’t intelligent, his “friends” always teased him for being dumb. However, when he got smarter, people didn’t say anything mean to him. Another example is South Korea. Being smart is one of the most important things here. South Korea is very hard on kids when it comes to education. Most Korean kids have to go to academies from a young age to get good grades. Their ultimate goal is to go to top colleges such as Seoul University, Yonsei University, and Korea University to get employed in a good company. As somebody who experienced this kind of education, you need to work very hard to be successful since all the others are doing the same thing, too. If you are not intelligent, it’s really hard for you to succeed. It is not healthy and so not fun at all! Being smart is not fun at all, though it benefits you.
Even though being smart can bring you several benefits, I don’t think being smart is everything. Other than being smart, many other things matter. Some examples are kindness and health. In the beginning of the book, Charlie is a nice man. He tries very hard to be smart. He is kind and respects his teachers and doctors a lot. When he becomes smarter, he starts to act annoyingly. He considers other people dumb because they aren’t as smart as he is. I think this shows how being too smart can also affect a person’s personality negatively. Being kind is more important than intelligence, as not being kind can make other people feel bad. In conclusion, I think being smart is good but only when you have a good personality, too.
Who was Charlie Gordon before the surgery?
Before the surgery, Charlie was a nice, kind man. He cared about others, as this part from the story shows: “I like Miss Kinnian becaus shes a very smart teacher.” He could feel feelings. He really wanted to get the surgery to become smart, and tried hard. Also, he was not very smart. He had many spelling mistakes. His grammar was often wrong, such as “progris riport,” or “I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on.” He couldn’t understand things well, like the tests, or the time he was teased and laughed at by his “friends”. He thought it was a good thing and laughed with them. Overall, I think he was a nice man in the beginning.
However, after the surgery, he was different. Charlie was a genius. He could do things even the doctors or teachers couldn’t do easily. He spoke several languages, read hard books, and even published his report on his study. Even though he was very smart like he wanted to be, his personality was different. He was no longer the kind, nice Charlie Gordon, but was actually kind of annoying. He couldn’t understand people, and was mad at small things. An example was when he thought Dr. Strauss and Ms. Kinnian were dumb because they didn’t know something, and would talk about everyday things instead. Probably, Charlie was this way because he couldn’t think of the people’s minds because he only studied math, writing, etc. I think Charlie’s brain got smarter, but his personality was worse.
An example was when he thought Dr. Strauss and Ms. Kinnian were dumb because they didn’t know something, and would talk about everyday things instead.
Make the dependent clause match the independent (make “would talk about everyday things instead” match “he”)
An example was when he thought Dr. Strauss and Ms. Kinnian were dumb because they didn’t know something, and became irrationally confused.
Make dependent clause independent
An example was when he thought Dr. Strauss and Ms. Kinnian were dumb because they didn’t know something, and because they kept talking about everyday things.
Remove the comma before “and”
An example was when he thought Dr. Strauss and Ms. Kinnian were dumb because they didn’t know something and would talk about everyday things instead.
Using what you have already written as inspiration, was the surgery worth it? Why or why not?
Charlie Gordon was a man who wasn’t very intelligent. So, he got surgery to become smart. There are three reasons why Charlie’s surgery wasn’t worth it. The first reason is that his personality got worse. After his surgery, he was annoying and mean. He thought people were dumb just because they weren’t at the same level of intelligence as himself. He also laughed at a boy who was in a similar situation to himself before the surgery. “I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide, bright eyes of a child, uncertain but eager to please. They were laughing at him because he was mentally retarded. And I had been laughing at him too,” a part in the story says. Secondly, he didn’t get smarter. Even though he was smart for a short period, he eventually was back to his normal self in the end. In the beginning, Charlie wrote, “Mr. Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on.” The spelling mistakes in this quote reflect his beginning level of intelligence. After his surgery, he gets much smarter. “I find the calculus of intelligence to be a fascinating study. Here is the place for the application of all the knowledge I have acquired.” This part shows how smart he is. However, in the end, his spelling and grammar become worse, like before. “I was looking at some of my old progress reports and its very funny but I cant read what I wrote. I can make out some of the words but they dont make sense.” This quote shows that he forgot what he learned. The purpose of this experiment was to make him smart. Why did they do the surgery if he would forget every single thing he learned? On the other hand, he published his study on his surgery, and his experience after. His publishing had a positive impact on the rest of the world. He did accomplish something while he was smart. I think it is still good that he did something.
However, in the end, there are more negatives than positives to this surgery. Even though he published his surgery, he can’t even remember any of his accomplishments. He doesn’t know anything he learned, so he wouldn’t be able to explain it, or answer questions. He wouldn’t succeed. For this reason, I think this surgery wasn’t worth it.
He WAS smart for a short amount of time
He publishes a study on increasing human intelligence
His fake friends have become real friends (they recognized his niceness and goodness and stopped taking it for granted)
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