Technology In Flowers For Algernon, And Romeo And

There is a popular judgement that technology is one of humanity’s greatest successes as it continues to assume new spheres of society. Although this may be true, as technology takes a position in the literary world, with an improvement in access to an unimaginable amount of information, the need for fiction and nonfiction books has begun to decline. However, literature needs to be kept alive for a multitude of reasons. Lessons, opinions, and information lie throughout hundreds of books that cannot be found by simply surfing the web. The works Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes and Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, as well as the short stories “Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant,
This influence comes from his Puritan neighbors, who were also present at the satanist ceremony that night. The story takes particular notice to those who were there and yet, continue to live their days through the Puritan religion, as if nothing had happened. The dangers of staying silent are clear as seen when, “[Young Goodman Brown] had lived long, and was borne to his grave a hoary corpse….they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom” (Hawthorne 9). Hawthorne clearly portrays Young Goodman Brown falling into depression from the deep feeling of hatred for the way he has lived his life, as he never attempts to rewrite the wrongs of his fraudulent community, but rather sits silently in order to conform. This conformity is symbolized throughout the short story, as “characters seem to blend together in both their features and their actions...Brown’s own identity seems to mingle and be caught up in identities of the others who are present” (Klevay). No one is an individual, but rather, the church decides each person’s life and fate, as even Brown is portrayed as analogous with those around him. He has no opinion, and furthermore, no real morals, despite the community he lives
In Romeo and Juliet, two young lovers fall for each other, despite their familial rivalry. After a rollercoaster of emotions and predicaments, Romeo and Juliet die, unable to live without the other. The primary cause of this tragedy is their parents, who refuse to make amends or move on from the forgotten strife that started the conflict between their families, the Montagues and Capulets. As they realize that their beloved children have deceased at the conclusion of the play, Juliet’s father says, “As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady's lie,/Poor sacrifices of our enmity” (Shakespeare V.iii.314-315). People often lose sight of what is important in life and texts such as Romeo and Juliet act as powerful means of bringing readers back to what is truly fundamental. Holding grudges results in no happiness or virtue, but rather takes away from the families more than they ever expected. The same is true in “The Necklace,” as the readers watch Mathilde attempt to attain a sense of wealth, only to have more taken away from her. The text explains how she often thinks to herself, imagining “what would have happened if she had not lost that necklace...How life is strange and changeful!” (de Maupassant 5). De Maupassant reveals Mathilde’s realization of the true luxuries she had taken for granted and lost. This gives the