Charlie’s experiences are pretty similar to those of Adam and Eve in the Bible – in which all of them have the desire to acquire more knowledge. However, Charlie works hard to aim for his goals because he thirsts to be a normal person who experiences normal things, while Adam and Eve are blinded by the evils to betray God even though they could have been the most fortunate creatures ever.
First of all, when Eve listened to the snake’s words to eat the very tree of knowledge of good and evil that God had forbidden her to, it is similar to when Charlie hopefully tried his best to perform well the tasks that Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss gave him so that he would be chosen to get smarter. Both Eve and Charlie were looking forward to change themselves, though they had different purposes. According to “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5), Eve was curious and that motivated her to break the rule, wanting to be more powerful than God. Meanwhile, Charlie’s motivation was to become more intelligent and understand the world around him like normal people do. He wanted to be accepted in the society he was living in. That shows that their situations are similar, though their motivations are apparently different. Secondly, because they (referred to Adam and Eve because Eve also told Adam to eat the tree) betrayed God’s trust in them and therefore became less credible, Adam and Eve were sent to Earth to live a less happy live than they had before in the Garden of Eden. They had to work for their food and they would die as the consequence for their sin. By eating the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they felt shameful for being naked – in which they had never experienced that feeling before. That shows that as Adam and Eve had more knowledge, they also started to be aware of things around them. This is similar to Charlie’s situation after he underwent the operation. As Fanny said, “I don’t know. You used to be a good, dependable, ordinary man – not too bright maybe, but honest.” (P. 71), Charlie gradually changed and became smarter, at the same time he became less credible among the people around him. Charlie also felt shameful for his decision to go through the operation because “This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved.” (P. 71) He had also been driven out of the factory, just like Adam and Eve had been dismissed from the Garden – and they all felt lonely. Therefore, if none of the decisions were made, Charlie and Adam & Eve wouldn't be disappointed by how they viewed the world. Now, Charlie had to live and defend himself on his own, just like Adam and Eve had to start all over to build their new life.
In conclusion, it is true that Charlie’s experiences are similar to Adam and Eve’s. Still, they have different purposes and attitude in making a change and acquiring more knowledge. Despite the fact the Charlie’s situation could be more positive than Adam and Eve’s, there’s possibility that his consequence for wanting to be more intelligent might result a similar way to theirs because they have the very one thing in common: they've both experienced the feelings of hurt once they get to open their eyes, to see how the world around them exactly is.
7 comments:
And now i would complete your little desire, Liz. You got a brilliant comparison, and you seem to understand a lot about the Bible, it somehow be proven through the very first paragraph of yours! Nice job!
You back up your points so well. I could see the logic that you used, very logical answer. I can infer that probably through the experience, Charlie became much stronger. He can now face life more confidently because he had the experience of being laughed at, being made fun of, and now he could stand up and this made him a stronger person. However, there is no account of Adam and Eve flourishing in their lives after they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Maybe this could be tangible evidence of how both stories are different. What do you think?
This response, however, still retains the voice that is so original to many of your posts. The words are used mystically and ambiguously (for example credible, maybe you can clarify for us what "being less credible" means, because credible, defined by dictionary.com, is capable of being believed; believable) in a way that is so LISA. Great work, and I hope we can read many thoughtful responses by you in the future.
Very interesting Lisa. I really like the part about trying to gain power. Charlie really wanted to have intelligence, which can also be seen as power.
Wow, that was a very long and nice comment, Alex!
Very thoughtful, Lisa. There is a song about eating the apple and the pain that goes with it, and at the end, the question - would you eat it again, knowing what you know? Do you think Charlie would? And nice use of the word "infer" Alex - I will report to Ms. Martha on her success!
@ Mr. Sullivan: Thank you for you comment.
@ Ms. Marjorie: Thank you for commenting Ms. Marjorie. In my opinion, I assume that Charlie would still want to be smart again even though he returned to his mental disabled state, because he is a person with a very high motivation. He might think that failure is an experience for him - which means there are still possibilities that he can change himself one more time. Charlie is not a type of person who gives up easily, and that shows he's very determined . Trying to overcome challenges is what he would do. Also, if I was him, I would do the same thing for we have similar characteristics and points of view. Last but not least, just my opinion, that eating the apple and gaining the pain is somehow different from this, though I don't know how to explain. ^^
P.S: Can you tell me the name of the song please????
@ Jenny and Alex: thanks for your very nice comments, I will try to improve next time.
Lisa, it's an Alice in Chains song called "Rotten Apple." It might not relate at all - it's been so long since I read that book. BTW, Alice in Chains is a Seattle grunge band from the 90's grunge music movement. Are you familiar with that? The music is very dark...let me know what you think!
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