Flowers for Katniss

People want to be loved, people want to be looked after. At the bare minimum we all deserve to be treated as equals. “Flowers for algernon” by Daniel Keyes is a book about Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded 32 year old man, is chosen by a team of scientists to undergo an experimental surgery designed to boost his intelligence. Algernon, rat with a high IQ that scientists had done surgery to improve his intelligence, starts to deteriorate. Charlie remembers his past and comes to the realization that life is now what he thought it was like, and that not everyone will accept him. The entire narrative of Flowers for Algernon is composed of the “progress reports” that Charlie writes.

Suzanne Collins future dystopian story ‘The Hunger Games’ takes place in Panem (North America). In Panem there are 12 districts, each providing resources for the capitol and the people of Panem. The actual hunger games takes place in an arena inside the capitol. Primrose Everdeen, a 12 year old girl from district 12, gets chosen for the 74th Hunger games. Katniss Everdeen (Prim’s sister) volunteers herself to take Prim's place in the hunger games and now has to fight for her life in the arena with 23 other tributes. In “Flowers for Algernon” and “The Hunger Games” we see two characters being controlled and manipulated, they are being treated as animals, something less than. Collins and Keyes show how Carlie’s and Katniss’s identity’s change and what makes them realize that they are not being treated fairly.

At the very start of “Flowers for Algernon” Charlie Gordon is being treated as if he was below the scientists “If only Nemour would look at me as a human being” Charlie is never treated as a human being, he is always being treated like an animal, no matter how much intelligence he gains or how much he tries to change himself he is never accepted. He feels trapped, in a way the scientists take away his happiness, his innocence. A more extreme version of this would be in “The Hunger Games” “after the war, the capitol destroyed all the [tracker jacker] nests surrounding the city, but the ones near the districts were left untouched. Another reason to keep inside the fence of district 12” The capitol is keeping the people who live in the districts behind fences and bars, almost like a cage. They are unable to escape their never ending starvation and sadness. The title the hunger games could possibly show how desperate the people of panem are. Putting their children's names in a ballot. If the child gets picked he or she will have to fight to the death in an arena with gamemakers moving the children around like chess pieces, all in exchange just for food.

Before “I was determined to feed us. I stole eggs from nests, caught fish in nets, sometimes manages to shoot a squirrel or rabbit for stew and gathered various plants that sprung up beneath my feet. I kept us alive.” Before katniss volunteered to take part in the hunger games her whole life revolved around her family and keeping them alive, so far in her life that was all she knows and the way she saw herself.

In Progress Report 7, Charlie thinks about what life will be like when he's smart, and he says he'll never be lonely again. Before charlie had an average IQ he thought that he had a lot of friends, although his relationship with his family was rough he got by on a day to day basis and was generally happy. He saw himself as happy, he had goals but was willing to work towards them. After he became smart, so smart that his knowledge bypassed the scientists charlie realizes that he was being treated unfairly, who he thought were his friends never actually liked him, instead they made fun of him. Now that he realizes this he becomes sad, depressed no longer innocent (no longer innocent meaning that he has come to the realization that life is hard and is not easy, that being happy takes work) 

Charlie gordon starts to surrender and accept that he feels inferior to the scientists and lets them keep him from being happy “The lines and boxes are too straight and I thought you’d join me in erasing them” Charlie is letting the scientists put him down and he is trying to cope with not being happy. Only later in the book charlie “wanted to get up and show everyone what a fool he was, to shout at him: I'm a human being, a person — with parents and memories and a history — and I was before you ever wheeled me into that operating room!” It’s only later when charlie finally understands that he is more than what others think of him, he is more than an experiment.

In “The Hunger Games” Katniss starts to rebel back against the capitol “I want to do something, right here, right now, to show them, to make them accountable, to show the capitol that whatever they do or force us to do that there is a part of every tribute that they can’t own. “ Katniss is fighting back against the capitol and the game makers. She is showing the people of panem that she is more than “a piece in their games”.

Collins and Keyes have shown through their work that everyone isn’t just what others think of them, everyone is unique and should embrace that. No one should have to change themselves for anyone else. Whether it’s to show the capitol why you should win the Hunger Games, whether it’s to impress some scientists so they can use you as an experiment or if if its for some new people you want to make a good impression on. Everyone should embrace who they are, if the people do not like who you are, they just are unable to see how special you are.