Comparison Between Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon and Awakenings

The first similarity is that both of the novels are written by Negro slave. They described the cruel experience in southern plantation and escape from the southern slavery to northern freedom.

Their most obvious similarity is that both the narrator and the main character are driving to California from New York. They also have the same last name, Adams. Last, they both end up finding out that they were dead the whole time.

As for differences, I came upon many that I think show how the authors might’ve felt about star crossed love, young love, or just love in general. The little details I picked at really do draw lines between the two stories and give them both different meaning.

Flowers For Algernon and Charley have the same characters for the most part. Charlie/Charley is the main character of both works, with the exception of a petty spelling difference that in the film it is spelt as Charley rather than Charlie. Mr. Gordon’s occupation of Flowers For Algernon and Charley are quite disparate. For example, in the condensed version of Flowers For Algernon Charlie works in a plastic manufacturing factory. While in the 1968 film Charley works in a bakery. Both in the book and film Algernon portrays a very witted and agile mouse. There is no differences of Algernon within the book or film. In addition Ms.Kinnian is still the same character which is Charlie’s/Charley’s teacher. The book and film both have Dr.Strauss and

Society has become a shallow place. If an individual does not fit into societies form of the normal person then they are treated differently. But does society treat those who are different in a negative or positive way? In the novel Flowers for Algernon, the author Daniel Keyes shows an in depth look at the treatment of individuals in today's society. Firstly society tends to discriminate against those whose IQ does not fit into the norms of our society. The physically handicapped in today's world are not considered to be "equal" as those who fit into the normal physical appearance, Keyes portrays this through Charlie's thoughts while in the café. Although animals are not technically humans society treats them in ways which no human would

The movie Awakenings is a true story about a neurologist played by Robin Williams, at a hospital in the Bronx, who discovers a drug L-Dopa in which helps temporarily with unresponsive patients. Leonard Lowe who is played by Robert Deniro and the other patients are given this new age drug and are forced to adapt to the world around them that has been changing ever since they began to be catatonic.

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman. Charlie Gordon is a very welcoming, playful, and genuine man. He attends Beekman College for Retarded Adults and has a strong motivation to learn and to improve his intelligence. He dreams of being popular, and making friends. Throughout the novel Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon changed in many ways. Prior to his life changing operation, he was not able to grasp that the people at Donner’s Bakery were not his friends, they only spoke to him to make fun of him. Charlie acknowledged their harsh actions, and started retaliating. Charlie is a very open

Flowers for Algernon is about a man named Charlie who is mentally slow and not smart. Charlie had an operation to make him smart. What the doctors did was unethical.

The similarities of the book are very simple and easy to point out. In both works, they cover the same events in

Both stories had different types of flavors. There is the strawberry ice cream flavor where Flowers of Algernon had the majority of the film showing the complicated romantic relationship between Ms. Kinnian and Charly. There is also the vanilla ice cream flavor where the story was plainly about Charly struggling in his life to fit in with society. Although the film and the short story had different flavors, it still had some of the same products. There weren’t only differences between the story and the film. There were similarities as well.

Both Flowers for Algernon and the Garden of Eden are both similar as they both thought biting from the tree of knowledge would bring them intelligence. In the beginning of the story of Flowers for Algernon, Charlie was blessed with happiness, but always desired to be smart. Just like the story the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve did not necessarily wanted to be smart, but wanted to be like God and wanted to experience the knowledge like God had. Charlie knew no other life outside of his job and school and he liked his

Despite the differences we may perceive between two situations, often there is a common factor that link them together, both in life and works of fiction. These connections are evident between Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon, and Penny Marshall’s Awakenings. Flowers for Algernon is a novel, and Awakenings is a film. Flowers for Algernon follows a fictitious scientific concept, whereas Awakenings includes plausible scenarios based on real events. Yet, though both works have their differences, they are connected by the evident similarities in theme and the messages and meaning they intend to convey to their audiences.

Recently I (and many others) have read the story “Flowers for Algernon, and the movie “Awakenings”.

Different books, despite different storylines, may still address similar themes. What similarities of themes did you find in your paired texts, and how are they obvious in the character's behaviour?

Finishing, the messages of the stories, Charlie and Leonard, alike, both faced extreme difficulties in everyday tasks, but that doesn't mean that their lives didn't have meaning. They both had a short time without their diseases. The theme they and all of us learned that good things never last forever. Until we accept those things we cannot live our lives, even if that means living life where we can't walk or reading a book without remembering the last page you read. Charlie and Leonard, alike, both wanted to be, in some sense, normal. Another theme we can take from the overall theme of the book being learning and accepting