HUMA 1905 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Designer Baby, Liberal Eugenics, Sickle-Cell Disease
26 Jan 2018
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Document Summary
On the reading flowers for algernon and the movie gattaca. Both works are about trying to improve people genetically; to improve on what it means to be a person. In both works there are unintended consequences to changing people genetically. The story is told in first person through the journal entries [epistolary story] of the protagonist, charlie gordon. His friendly and cooperative demeanor are the reasons he is selected to undergo an experimental surgical technique to increase his intelligence threefold. Charlie develops a kinship with algernon (because they"re in the same situation of being experimental subjects). Charlie becomes smarter than the average person and is unable to make connections with people who now fear and resent his intelligence (defeats the purpose of him finding that missing connection" with other people by becoming smarter). Charlie realizes there"s a flaw in the surgical experiment that has caused algernon to regress and eventually die.
