Flowers for Algernon Symbols and Motifs - 1629 Words

Symbols and Motifs By Amber Wang In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, there are many motifs and symbols. According to Dictionary.com (2013), a motif is: â€Å"a recurring subject, theme, idea, etc., especially in a literary, artistic, or musical work.† On the other hand, a symbol is, according to the same website: â€Å"something used for or regarded as representing something else; a material object representing something, often something immaterial; emblem, token, or sign.† However, unlike motifs, it is usually not recurring. Both motifs and symbols are literacy devices commonly used by authors to help develop and add shape to the major themes within a text. In a way, they are similar to metaphors. For example, in Flowers for Algernon,†¦show more content†¦One of these characters is Hilda, a nurse who tended him at the hospital: â€Å"She said mabey they got no rite to make me smart because if god wantid me to be smart he would have made me born that way. † Keyes (1959, p.16) showing a traditionalist outlook that what the scientists were doing to Charlie was against God’s will. Fanny Birden, a woman who also worked at the bakery, shared Hilda’s opinion and considered Charlie’s intellectual growth similar to Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit and the tree of knowledge, therefore evil. She believed that: â€Å". . . its not meant for man to know more than was given to him to know by the Lord in the first place. The fruit of that tree was forbidden to man.† Keyes (1959, p.107) Eventually, Charlie was punished by not only losing everything he learned, but regressing to a level lower than what he was before the surgery. The Bible was an important motif within the novel that foreshadowed Charlie’s intellectual journey in a way similar to another motif, Algernon. Algernon, the white lab mouse, could be considered as a parallel alter-ego of Charlie. He symbolised Charlie’s position as a toy of the scientists’ whim to be used in whatever way they liked. Algernon was allowed almost no dignity or individuality. At first, Charlie hated Algernon for beating him at mazes, but he eventually grew fond of the mouse and was upset when he learnedShow MoreRelatedA Streetcar Named Desire: the Importance of Being Earnest9437 Words   |  38 Pagesboth as a primary force motivating the plot and as a subject for philosophical speculation and debate. The question of the nature of marriage appears for the first time in the opening dialogue between Algernon and his butler, Lane, and from this point on the subject never disappears for very long. Algernon and Jack discuss the nature of marriage when they dispute briefly about whether a marriage proposal is a matter of â€Å"business† or â€Å"pleasure,† and Lady Bracknell touches on th e issue when she states