Phineas Gage went through a very horrible accident. He was a railroad foreman who many people respected, especially in his field of work. But, after his accident at his work site in Vermont in 1848, it changed him in many ways. A tamping iron that went through his skull in the process of preparing for an explosion was what injured him forever, not just physically, but also mentally. Tamping means packing a blast hole full of clay or sand to concentrate the force of an explosion. He was a completely different person after this incident. Phineas Gage’s brain and his behavior are both similar and different compared to an adolescent’s brain and their behaviors.
Phineas’ brain is like that of an adolescent’s because both have difficulty making
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He does not know when the right time to say something is, or how to stop himself from saying it, which is like an adolescent’s behavior of doing harmful things. Fleischman included details of Phineas’ behaviors after his accident, saying “he is… irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity” (Horrible Accident in Vermont, 33). This proves my reason and claim to be true because it defines what both sides struggle with in terms of self-control. Adolescents struggle to stop themselves from doing harmful things, while Phineas cannot control what comes out of his mouth. Despite this, Phineas and the adolescent’s behaviors also have differences. One way Phineas’ behavior is different compared to an adolescent’s is that Phineas’ behavior changed suddenly, unlike an adolescent’s, which is still developing. After Phineas’ accident, Fleischman added more details as to how he acted, such as the fact that the “new Phineas is unreliable...downright nasty” (Horrible Accident in Vermont, 32). This piece of evidence proves my reason and claims to be true because it tells us what Phineas’ behavior was like and how an adolescent’s behavior is not completely alike compared to