Preview

Genie: A Scientific Tragedy Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
680 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Genie: A Scientific Tragedy Analysis
Genie: A Scientific Tragedy analyzes the psychological journey of a child whom had been severely deprived of socialization in addition to unethical maltreatment. The novel examines the actions taken to try and potentially aid Genie in integrating herself into our common civilization, if that was even possible. Genie had spent her whole young life until she was thirteen years old stuck in isolation. Her father, Clark, had taken it upon himself to protect Genie from the outside world when he had learned that she was mentally retarded, thus keeping her in a constantly dark room, strapped daily to an infant potty chair, so she would not have the need to move or interact with anything whatsoever. Though Clark had made it clear to Irene, Genie’s mother …show more content…
I have also learned to be less judgmental of my peers, since it is unknown what path they have taken or what shoes they have walked in to arise to the person they are today. As Genie’s father had lost his mother in a sudden and traumatic way, this had caused him to, "…quit his job and move[d] his family into his mother's two-bedroom house on Golden West Avenue, where he would live out the last decade of his life as a recluse, with his family as virtual prisoners" (Rymer 16). All of those years, Clark believed that by keeping Genie prisoner, she would be completely well protected and guarded, but it had adversely left her mental retardation running ramped through her damaged life. What exactly would Genie be like if she were not abused and isolated from life itself? The true question at hand is, would she still be mentally retarded, and if so, would the severity level remain the same? Genie: A Scientific Tragedy journals Genie's life, leaving the reader with a story that is both tragic and considerably scientifically

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Curtis’ (1977) study of Genie gives much information about the privation we know today. Genie was a feral child, victim of severe abuse, neglect and social isolation caused by her father. She was locked alone in a room from the age of 20 months until she was 13 years and 7 months old. During this time she was almost always strapped to a child's toilet or bound in a crib with her arms and legs immobilized. Genie was never exposed to a significant amount of speech therefore she did not acquire a first language. Due to all this treatment she was undersized, she never focalized, continually sniffed, salivated, spat and clawed and was also very interested in exploring environmental stimuli. After Genie was rescued psychologists, linguists and other scientists focused a great deal of attention on her case. Genie was cared for initially at a childrens hospital in Los Angeles but subsequent placements eventually gave rise to debate. She was moved after 8 months to a foster home for a month and a half. After this move she was then again moved to multiple foster homes before returning to her mother, who at this point didn’t care for her, this led to her being put into a disabled adults hospital. Genie never made a full recovery, she lacked social responsiveness. Her lack of recovery may be due to the fact that she was found beyond the ‘sensitive period’ or because of the physical deprivation she experienced. However, there are many…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mia Winchell is a 13 year old girl who lives in the countryside down South with her family and her cat, Mango. Mia has a special secret that she has been hiding for 13 years. This secret keeps her apart from her classmates, her friends (including her best friend), and even her family. The book opens during the summer between 7th and 8th grade, and the story unfolds over the next few months. As she begins her final year of middle school, Mia decides that she no longer wants to keep this important detail about herself private. She decides to tell her family and friends this unusual fact about herself - that sounds, numbers, and words have color for her. Her courageous journey towards sharing this private information, as well as the responses and reactions of those around her, comprise the rest of the story.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book’s focus is around a 12 year old girl named Melody. She is living with the disease Cerebral Palsy. She can’t walk, talk or feed herself. But the disease does not limit it her like everyone thinks it does. She has a photographic memory, and is a very intelligent individual. But she has no way to ever show any of this. Her disability stops her from communicating her emotions and thoughts, but it does not stop her from learning. Most of all this little girl is simply a girl. She worries what she looks like, and what other people say about her. Through her positive attitude, she is able to prove everyone wrong in the end.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bus Driver, Howard Dully, in his memoir, “My Lobotomy” recounts his heartbreaking life after receiving a lobotomy when he was just 12 years old. Dully’s purpose is to raise awareness and share his riveting story about the after effects of having ice picks stabbed into his brain. He adopts an effective tone in order to aid, and inform readers of all ages about mental illness, family abuse and the corrupt past of American Psychiatry.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While reading this essay I found myself emerged in a lifestyle unknown to me. As Mairs goes through her experience with being a cripple she use multiple types of rhetoric to achieve her goal of explain how she is able to live with her handicap.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nancy Mairs starts her essay by describing herself as a crippled woman with multiple sclerosis. She talks about her condition and how she’s never seen a crippled woman like her in the media. Then she mentions some television shows about disabled people that focus almost entirely on disabilities and neglect the person’s character. Mairs states that although disability changes a lot in one’s life, it doesn’t kill him/her. She for example, can do what every other woman her age can do. And although she’s a great consumer, advertisers never choose someone like her to represent their products publicly; and the reason for that, according to Mairs, is that people cannot yet accept the fact that disability is something ordinary. The consequences of this situation are hash on disable people, for they might feel like they don’t exist. Finally, Nancy Mairs says that anyone might become disabled. But if one sees disability as a normal characteristic then it…

    • 1019 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hunchback and Laura

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the U.S. about 2% of all babies are born with physical disabilities. Physical disabilities are not only a very important talk in the population of babies; they are also very important topics in literature. Two of the most well known pieces of literature that are about physical disabilities are “Hunchback Girl” and The Glass Menagerie. The characters that have disabilities in these stories are Laura and the Hunchback Girl. They both have similarities and differences including their physical disabilities and how they feel about them, their parents, and the way society treat them.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nancy Mairs: Cripple

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maris presents three distinct definitions of “disabled”, “handicapped”, and “crippled” and why she believes that she falls in the last. She advocates that the word “cripple” accurately describes her because it’s a “straightforward and precise” way of stating that she’s “lost the full use of limbs.” On the other hand, “disabled” alludes to “incapacity, physical or mental” and “handicapped” is defined as being “put at a disadvantage.” The distinction between the three words is crucial to Mairs’ presentation of herself as individuals have a tendency to categorize “disabled”, “handicapped”, and “crippled” under one brand of rejection. Mairs’ contrast between the three words assists in helping herself differentiate between who she presents herself as and who society assumes she is.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although Daniel Keyes wrote “Flowers for Algernon” with hope for mentally impaired Charlie Gordon, the operation failed with grotesque consequences! After the surgery, Charlie was blown away by the concepts and uncertainties he now understood, negative and positive. He was a human experiment to fix mentally impaired people like himself. He understood the failure and cruelness of the surgery. Charlie suffered the consequence of losing his care-free, stress-free, worry-free nature.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Blanche hid from the light to disguise her age, hide from her flaws, and avoid the truth. The light was once a symbol of love for Blanche, but it became a destructive element for her. The light revealed not only her age, but her past, imperfections and the truth. In addition, she recognized her own tragic flaws by claiming that she doesn’t want realism, is dishonest to others, and is deceitful. Blanche is vulnerable and frail to confront the reality and instead looks to find ease in her illusions. However, it is not too far before she has to face the real world in front of…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    She explains how disabled people were denied rights in the early days, the media’s influence and the current dilemma many of them face. One example was her explaining on how she was told about “a boy with Down syndrome” (pg. 445) “who wasn’t allowed to go to school” (pg. 445) in a small town Georgia neighborhood. Later we see the passing of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in 1975 followed by Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990. She explains the promotion of Tropic Thunder and its exploitation of the word “retard”. Bauer also used statistics to back her claim of stigma that America has on those with people with disabilities even in the modern era. Research was conducted by University of Massachusetts found that “half of young people wouldn’t spend time with a student with an intellectual disability”. (pg. 445) “More than half of parents didn’t want such students at their children’s school” (pg. 445) Towards the end, she argues against the stereotype or predictable future of a person with disability. She explains the surprising success her daughter has had despite the fact she has Down…

    • 735 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On Being A Cripple

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Being handicapped or disables isn’t always the best lifestyle to have, but it isn’t up to you on what “gifts” you get. Nancy Mairs knows a lot about that, because she is crippled. In the essay, “On Being a Cripple, Mairs writes for readers, disabled or not, about what it’s like to be crippled. She describes it in a sarcastic tone with seriousness and repetition with some very interesting word choice.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What areas of development did Genie struggle with? What aspects of socialization were missing that impacted her lack of development? She struggled with talking and communicating with others.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Disability has been a struggle for many people. Easter Seals once said, “The worst thing about disability is that people see it before they see you.” Easter Seals believes that when people have disabilities others see what is on the outside or they notice your disability first. Furthermore, there is more to a person than their disability. They have personality and feelings like everyone else. Dealing with a disability is hard, for those reasons, but if people are treated only by their ability. things are not better. In both stories, Out of My Mind and The War That Saved My Life, the authors Sharon M. Draper and Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, gets a thought to the reader that people with disabilities are misunderstood or mistreated. Melody, in Out of My Mind, is smart, but nobody cares to realize because most people think people with disabilities are…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Adapted physical education

    • 4402 Words
    • 15 Pages

    Lavin, D. (2013, February 8). "A disability does not define who you are" - Donna Lavin discusses the new series of The Pursuits of Darleen Fyles. Arts and Culture Radio Four. (r. BBC 4, Interviewer)…

    • 4402 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Best Essays