Gift of Intellect : Blessing or Curse?

There are always pros and cons of everything in life, including having intelligence.
What is actually having intelligence? Having high IQ? If that’s the case, then from my point of view, I would think that to a large extent, the gift of intellect is a curse.

I would use pieces of information from the passage to put it across that in my view, the gift of intellect is a curse. Firstly, after the operation, everyone at Donnegan's Factory marginalised him and signed a petition to strip Charlie of his job. This happened because everyone thought that Charlie was too clever, and that they did not know how Charlie became so clever. Therefore, being clever can get someone into trouble and cause him to be lonely.

Next, after the operation, Charlie became more self-conscious which makes him unhappy. He used to be much happier before his operation and he doesn't care that people laugh as he thought people were laughing with and not at him. Him being more self-conscious made him more anti-social and thus having even lesser friends on his current situation of having no friends after being stripped of his job at Donnegan's Factory.

Other than that, after the operation, he realised that who he claimed as good friends like Joe Carp and Frank Reilly did not really like him as a friend, but liked to use him as butts of jokes. This realisation made him become extremely hurt. Without his intelligence, he would not have realised this and carry on with his happy thought that he had good friends who liked to joke with him.
However, to a certain extent, I would think that the gift of intellect is a blessing. After the operation, Charlie became very smart and read up a lot on many subjects, more on Science. He then managed to come up with theories and did a great part for Science.

Thus, I would think that the gift of intellect to a large extent is a curse as he became over self-conscious, caused him his friends, as well coming to the horrible realisation that his "best friends" were not really his friends at all. However, to a certain extent, the gift of intellect is a blessing as he was able to do his part for Science.

All words in italic are the answers.

VERT

VERT means TURN or TWIST

Q1: After the spinning ride at Disneyworld, Pat had vertigo and had to sit down until he was steady again.

Q2: We will try to see problems before they arrive and avert them.

Q3: I think I will revert back to the way I used to drive to work because there is less traffic.

Q4: We have to convert our dollars and cents into pounds and pence before we go to England.

Q5: When students got together and refused to take standardized tests, they were suspended for the controversial activity .

Q6: We might go camping if the weather is not too adverse.

Q7: The rule for the dance marathon was that you had to be vertical and moving. If you stopped or sat down you were out.

Q8: A good salesperson is often an extrovert who really likes to get out and talk to people.

Q9: You have to sign this form to show you give your overt for them to take you on this dangerous rafting trip.

Q10: Carl had a lot of adversity growing up, but he didn't let it keep him from being a good student and going to college.

Q11: A slug is not a vertebrate because it has no backbone.

Q12: If you invert the number 9, it looks like a 6.

Q13: Beth has a diverse rock collection from many different places in the world.

BIO

BIO means LIFE

Q1: My brother had a biopsy done on the lump on his elbow.

Q2: A biology class is where you learn about living things.

Q3: You would have to write your own autobiography.

Q4: Termites could not eat wood without other animals living inside them that digest the wood; this is an example of symbiosis.

Q5: An antibiotic will help cure some diseases like strep throat

Q6: Things that might spread an infection at a hospital have a biohazard label on them.

Q7: When fish glow in the dark it is called bio-luminescence .

Q8: I want to read the biography of the first President of the United States.

Q9: The desert, the swamps and the rain forest are all part of the big biosphere.

Q10: If you put something biodegradable in the dump, eventually it will rot away.

THERM

THERM means HEAT

Q1: Getting wet on a cool day and staying outside can lead to hypothermia.

Q2: You can get a thermometer that will measure temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius.

Q3: I have a Thermos full of coffee, piping hot.

Q4: A thermal blanket is designed to add a warm layer for cold weather, but not be too warm in warm weather.

Q5: The isothermal showed that it was 32 degrees in Boston, Massachusetts and 30 miles north of Cleveland, Ohio.

Q6: A thermonuclear bomb does more damage than other kinds of bombs, but is very expensive to make.

Q7: Spending too much time in the hot sun can cause hyperthermia , which can be fatal.

Q8: That endothermic reaction got very, very cold.

Q9: Setting off a thermonuclear bomb is an example of an exothermic reaction because it sends out a lot of heat.

Q10: In Greenland, geothermal energy from hot springs is used to heat houses.

Q11: The thermostat in my car broke, so it overheated.

** Two Questions were repeated from " set 1 " and therefore it is not posted here.**

UN

UN means NOT

Q1: Unemployment was a big problem in the Great Depression as many businesses shut down and people lost their jobs.

Q2: After a three week battle, the fort gave an unconditional surrender and was taken over.

Q3: When are you going to unveil your new painting?

Q4: I must have been unconscious during the whole movie -- I don't remember any of it!

Q5: The crowd at the game got so unruly that the game was stopped until they settled down.

Q6: If you are uncertain about which book to read, I will help you decide.

Q7: It's a good thing your dishes and furniture are unbreakable, with so many unruly children in the house!

Q8: Many people say you should unplug your computer in a thunderstorm so that lightning doesn't harm it.

Q9: It's just unthinkable that he would order roast beef -- he is a vegetarian!

Q10: It is hard to read or hear about the unconscionable crimes that some people have committed.

Q11: It's unthinkable that my neat brother would ever let his house get untidy.

Q12: He is the most unselfish person I know - he would give everything he has away.

PRE

PRE means BEFORE

Q1: I like to take a preprandial walk to work up my appetite for dinner.

Q2: I don't like it when the networks prevent my favorite TV shows because of sports.

Q3: One of the jobs of the meteorologist on the news is to predict tomorrow's weather.

Q4: Just as a precaution, I always lock the car doors when I am driving.

Q5: Which of these coats do you prefer to wear tonight?

Q6: I don't think Mike heard a word I said because he was so preoccupied about his sick sister.

Q7: We got to the concert at the symphony hall just in time -- we barely sat down before the conductor started the prelude.

Flowers For Algernon

Charlie Gordan was a person with an IQ of only 68, much below average. One day, two scientists decides to give him an operation to change him from a retard to a genius. The operation was successful. However, after a period of time, Charlie’s intelligence began regressing. He became a retard again like he was before the operation. The topic today is: Should the experiment on Charlie Gordan have taken place? Let’s see from different people’s point of view.



Dr Strauss and Professor Nemur’s points of view…


The experiment of Charlie Gordon should have taken place. They would be able to test on humans and if the experiment succeeds, they would know that it is safe for the public to use their method to increase intelligence. It would make people who could afford to have the operation smarter and more creative, with a higher Intelligence Quotient. It would also make an excellent science discovery as it would mean helping people who are retarded or less intelligent. If this is a good way of making people intelligent, neurosurgeons from all around the world would want to adopt his method of increasing people’s intelligence. Professor Nemur would also be able have less stress as he had already fulfilled his wife’s wish of having a rich and famous husband.



Mr and Mrs Gordon's points of view...


Dr Strauss and Professor Nemur should not have even taken a human being to do such a dangerous experiment in which nobody knew about the outcome of it. What would happen if anything untoward happened to him? They should try it on Algernon and see what happens to him before trying it on Charlie Gordan? Since no one knew about the consequences of the operation, they should not have even taken a human being to test it out before anything else!



Fanny Birden's point of view...


Such experiments should not even have taken place in the first place. There must be a reason why God have given us such a body to live with. We should not change the fact that we are living with such a low IQ. We should not go through any artificial operations that might put ourselves at risk. We should not go against the God's wish. What rights do we actually have to change the fact that we have a low IQ? We are born like that and we have to live with that fact.



Joe Carp and Frank Reilly's point of views...


This operation of increasing Charlie's IQ should not have taken place in the first place. If everyone in this business world takes an operation like that, there would be an extremely tough competition out here in the business world! People should live as who they are and compete fairly in the business world. On top of that, Charlie has always been a naive person, but one who is easy to communicate with. His intelligence is below average. However, now that his intelligence has surpassed others after the operation, people find him becoming more and more superior to us, and harder to communicate with because of his superiority.


From the arguments above, my group has concluded that the experiment should not have taken place on Charlie Gordan. The scientists have been tampering with nature. Nature is what is meant to be and should not be tampered with. The scientists should not have used science against nature. They should have let Charlie be what he was.