Writing How to slowly show intelligence?

[CadmarLegend]

Let's say a child goes full-on Tarzan from 2 years old. How the heck do you show his intelligence? Or her. Whatever gender.

And not through time skips, by the way. It has to be slow.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Comparison with others and comparison with the previous actions of a child?

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Let's say a child goes full-on Tarzan from 2 years old. How the heck do you show his intelligence?

I think of a few ways. The character from your example would probably be extremely knowledgeable when it came to things such as survival skills. There are other ways an academically unintelligent character can show their smarts, I'd say mostly by preforming feats of skill. You could demonstrate it by having them trick a pursuer into losing them. Maybe have them steal something that is heavily guarded. Skilled criminals usually come from uneducated backgrounds.

 

[Lloyd]

I'm a well known genius. The best way to show intelligence is through solving problems, although it is a pretty quick way to do it. Not sure why or how you would do it slowly, unless they are pretending to be retarded. Personally, I can spot a dummy from a mile away and, in general, figure out people's mental acuity pretty quickly.

I think of a few ways. The character from your example would probably be extremely knowledgeable when it came to things such as survival skills. There are other ways an academically unintelligent character can show their smarts, I'd say mostly by preforming feats of skill. You could demonstrate it by having them trick a pursuer into losing them. Maybe have them steal something that is heavily guarded. Skilled criminals usually come from uneducated backgrounds.

Conflating knowledge and intelligence is the mark of an idiot.

 

[D.S.Nate]

Intelligence is not a one-way track. It's essentially discovering patterns and problem solving using said patterns. A man can be an expert in flinging a plane but it does not mean he will know how to fix the components that made a plane thus if you put him in a mechanic setting he will come off as not that smart. Since smart is relative and the only real factor to measure it is IQ which is just holding and understanding patterns in a way that you can apply to things that are alike then it's more about who they are, are they in a place where their skill can shine and how fast can they learn that skill.

 

[SakeVision]

Rob them of it piece by piece, and then contrast the former smart self with the newly made stupid self.

 

[Kilolo]

from 1st PoV or 3rd PoV?

if it's from 3rd PoV or from another character PoV, then one way to showing it is by having them doing some obscure behavior.
it could be staring at same place for a very long time, or arranging object into the same pattern every time, or whatever it is.
and then ; slowly expose it bit by bit that the character are actually realizing something that even adult around him didn't, that's why they're doing those obscure thing. like this child know that this particular chair are about to break. so they plastering it with a dutchtape to enhance the durability. but the character didn't elaborate anything to everyone because they're not capable of explaining yet.

if it from 1st PoV, then start from simple curiosity and then proceed to figuring out how things work little by little. but it has to be a very simple thing like how a door could bent, how this bell could make a sounds, etc.


but well, all of this are assuming that you're writing a future intelligent character. if it's not, then just tone it down even more.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

Let's say a child goes full-on Tarzan from 2 years old. How the heck do you show his intelligence? Or her. Whatever gender.

And not through time skips, by the way. It has to be slow.

You’ll get an idea from veggie tales

 

[ThrillingHuman]

Make them know something not obvious, maybe? Have them do something, at first glance, dumb, but then turn it around and show they were right.
Finding such situations and making them seem plausible is a creative challenge, however.

 

[AliceShiki]

Do you need to show a character's intelligence?

I'd rather just write whatever scenes I wanna write for my novel, without really needing to bother with showing if X character is intelligent or not.

Or rather, I think everyone (mental disabilities aside) is about as intelligent as other people, so like... Just make everyone on the novel behave like sensible people and all is good?

 

[atgongumerki]

in my worldview Intelligence is not some kind of inherent trait of humans.

It is something that grows, depending on your activities and the information you gather.

Sadly the info you decide to believe also factors in because certain information or facts build on previous facts. If you don't believe the previous facts, you will be unable to believe the new ones, limiting how "intelligent" you can become.

 

[CadmarLegend]

I may have been too generic.

Basically, how do I get the little guy to be able to speak? Do maths? Sciences? Process human emotions?

If a person is raised in the forest with only animals as companions, learning to speak might be awkward.

I googled how the man himself, Tarzan, learned to speak, but I want to see if there's a way to get another original idea.

 

[JohnDoe9838]

If a person is raised in the forest with only animals as companions, learning to speak might be awkward.

That person will not learn to speak, ever, even if he or she is taught later.
They may be able to teach him or her to speak in sign language, but that's it. After a certain point, if a child did not learn a first language, they will never be able to learn.

Sadly, we know these things from cases of children who have been terribly abused and neglected.

Damn, I'm a party pooper.

 

[Agentt]

Let's say a child goes full-on Tarzan from 2 years old. How the heck do you show his intelligence? Or her. Whatever gender.

And not through time skips, by the way. It has to be slow.

Hmmm, interesting, let's see,
We need decorations!

Have the mc not just barely surviving, but show him as a connoisseur when it comes to arts. Sand castles, extracting pigments from flowers, stone tools, clay pots, wall paintings, planting flowers, keeping a note of everything.

If you are making your story in a diary format, it would be best to end every entry with a little philosophical thing, like the moral of the story kind of stuff.

I just got reminded of Pickle, a stone man from the Baki series who had quotes like that, paraphrasing him:

"I once ate a bee, and that set my mouth on fire. I felt like I was going to die. No amount of water could quell that heat. On that day I learnt that some things can kill you even when they are dead."

"The Nature's order is that big eat strong. But I hunt the big, I am an anomaly, hence I am alone in this world."

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Use of tools, making things from what is present in the environment.

 

[Deleted member 22388]

Let's say a child goes full-on Tarzan from 2 years old. How the heck do you show his intelligence? Or her. Whatever gender.

And not through time skips, by the way. It has to be slow.

If the child were to lost in the forest, but has a place to stay there. They can come back home with a fish in their mouth during the falling dawn.
A roar signals distress to the kid and so he hides under the tree bush. Smells will be there but the creature couldn't reach him and so it ignored and find another prey.
It can talk with creatures like that of a hyena and bears and understands their language through observation and hearing.
Both the creature and human are considered in love/playful that of like brothers and sisters not man and woman.
The kid avoids weird food colours that of white and just prefer yellow/orange flesh.
And many more.

My skills are observing creatures so to put this knowledge to a story is my favorite expertise although I'm always assuming and calculating on what they do without a help from the reference. The same way I understand those that gone mentally insane, eyes that shrink, screams that are crazy and hairs and skin that scarred everywhere.