Question 1: What is the effect on Charlie when Algernon passed?
Answer: For the first time for Charlie he is afraid of the future, Algernon’s death has made everything seem real for Charlie.
Question 2: What are some of Charlie’s concerns from his prediction of the experiment?
Answer: Charlie’s prediction causes him to wonder how much will he be able to hang on to, will he be able to recognize the deterioration in himself, and how can he prevent other from suffering like Alice.
Question 3: What insight does Charlie gain from visiting his home?
Answer: Charlie gains insight on Norma’s old attitude towards him, Charlie learns how she felt he was fussed over all the time and how she was made fun of and the whole Gordon family.
Question
Understandably, this angers and frustrates Charlie. This is probably impacting him more than he writes about, it's a big deal and such a big realization to just suddenly come to. Charlie doesn't quite understand all the psychological aspects and tests of the operation he went through and not being able to learn about it frustrates him too, like when he had to do the Rorschach test again and got very angry. Charlie's co-workers at the bakery are starting to notice a change in him and Charlie feels tension and a hostility between the group. Charlie remembers more incidents involving his parents, and they are argue about Charlie being “normal” or not.
In this novel, Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, a man named Charlie Gordon has an operation done to increase his intelligence. He started as a mentally retarded man and slowly became a genius. He seemed to soak up information like a sponge and he was able to figure out the most complex scientific formulas. The only problem with the operation is that it does not last for ever and in his remaining time he tries to figure out why it is not permanent. He will eventually lose everything he learned and become worse off than when he started, so Charlie was better off before he had the operation.
Sometimes surgery can be necessary to save a life, while other times it is unecessary, and inhumane. Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man with an extremely low IQ of 68. He is introduced to a lab where they decide that they should test a surgery on Charlie that triples his IQ. This surgery was a mistake. Charlie Gordon shouldn’t have had the surgery to increase his IQ because the surgery is dangerous, the surgery could’ve, and did ware off, and Charlie would be overall happier without the surgery.
In “Flowers for Algernon,” Charlie started out very happy, ordinary person with a good sense of humor, people enjoyed being around him. After he had an operation to help him belong, he became very serious and didn't do many fun things, he was not this type of person before the operation. The operation made him smart, but dull. As a result, he turned into someone he wasn’t; his co-workers and friends did not enjoy being with him anymore, in fact, the story says, they made it seem like they hated him. By changing himself, Charlie ended up losing most of the important people in his life and making him less happy as a result.
As a consequence, having the operation created the chance for unpredictable and unwanted outcomes. Charlie was the first human patient for the experiment. Since the doctors have never tried the operation on a human being before, the chances for making mistakes are higher. This was proven as Algernon soon experiences side effects as his intelligence regresses and he eventually passes away. Soon, Charlie also regresses back to his original intelligence state. In conclusion, having the operation created unpredictable and unwanted outcomes. I inferred that Charlie wouldn’t die like Algernon did because the last line in the book in which he asks that someone puts flowers on Algernon's grave shows that he hasn't lost 100% of his memory of what happened. The fact that he remembers Algernon and his meticulous ritual of placing flowers on his grave shows that with repetition and reminders, he does have the capacity to recall details about the time he spent with intelligence. It's there somewhere in his subconscious, just like his childhood memories were before. While Charlie maintains most of his intelligence, 16 days after Algernon bit Charlie, Algernon died. And even after 13 days realizing his intelligence is regressing, he isn't showing signs of sickness, just showing that he is absentminded. Having all these different factors influenced all these different outcomes. In
Charlie was lucky because Algernon got the surgery a long time before so they could tell Charlie if something was going to happen to him. "He was unusually disturbed and vicious."(216). In this sentence, it shows how they found out that Algernon was acting weird, so they researched on him and they found out what was happening. This way they could tell Charlie what will happen to him and if they had any way they could stop it from happening. "Algernon died two days ago. Dissection shows my predictions were right. His brain had decreased in weight and there was a cerebral convolutions as well as the deepening and broadening of brain fissures."(219). This sentence is describing what happened to Algernon and how he died. This shows that this will soon happen to Charlie. And just like Algernon, Charlie will die. This is why Charlie shouldn't have taken the surgery to become
Have you ever been in a situation, where you feel not smart? Well Charlie wasn’t smart enough and his friends Joe and Frank made fun of him because he wasn’t smart. When Charlie wasn’t smart and all he thought was Joe and Frank and everyone playing with him, but they are making fun of him. I think Charlie was better after the surgery because he beat Algernon.
“Anyway that test made me feel worser than all the others because they did it over 10 times with difernt amazeds and Algernon won every time. “ This shows Charlie wants to get revenge on the mouse for beating him, and his attitude toward the mouse changes. “Their going to use me! Im so exited I can hardly write.” This shows he was working toward a goal and finally achieved what he wanted.
2. How does Charlie change through the course of the novel? How different is he from the person he is at the beginning of the novel to how he is at the end? Do you consider the novel’s ending to be tragic or inspiring? How so?
When Algernon stops cooperating and dies, Charlie is left wondering what will happen to him. I think a good theme for this story is that knowledge isn't everything. In the beginning of the story, Charlie isn't very smart. “I had a test today.
People believed that Charlie was artificial, man-made, a lab rat. Professor Nemur thought that he had created Charlie, and that he was nothing before the operation “It might be said that Charlie Gordon did not really exist before this experiment…”. Charlie was a human before and after the operation “I’m a human being, a person with parents and memories and a history and I was before you ever wheeled me into that operating room!”. (p.161) As Charlie began to grow mentally and become intelligent, his understanding of the world became clearer than before. Although he could understand reality, he couldn't understand his feelings. Charlie thought he could understand his feelings but he really didn't, especially love “Something inside is burning me up, and all I know is it makes me think of you.”. Later, as he continues to grow, he decides that he could let his feelings rule him only during his relationship with Alice but not during anything else. He realized that he really loves Alice because his feelings and emotions go wild when he's with her. Also because he sees the old Charlie when he's with her helping him realize he loves her. Charlie loved her enough to let her go because he didn't want her to see him deteriorate. Charlie decided to go to the Warren Home because he
Things are always left broken and destroyed. Charlie is a man who lives his life with a very low IQ. He has a chance in a lifetime to become what he wants to be. Intelligent. Charlie is chosen to be able to go through the operation. When it is all over he will now face the world head on. With help from a white mouse named Algernon, Charlie is learning the good and bad sides of being intelligent. Both in the film and text show Charlie’s journey. All though in the film both Charlie and Mrs. Kinnian fall in love, but in the text only Charlie falls in love with her. The next character would be Mrs. Kinnian. Mrs. Kinnian is a lady who finds a way to help Charlie have a better IQ and see the world around him. As the testing and the operation goes
The scientists at the lab report to Charlie that he and Algernon are to be taken to Chicago for a convention, in which the head scientist will present the findings of his team. Once they arrive, Charlie and Algernon are the prime “exhibits” and Charlie is humiliated by some remarks made. He also discovers that the researchers had not given sufficient time to verify their results of Algernon before performing the experiment on Charlie. Charlie and Algernon run away to New York, and Charlie decides his time is probably short, and begins to try and trace the reasons for his experiments’ failure. Alice and Charlie cannot overcome their problems, and she is forced to move on. He soon gets involved with Fay, his neighbor and unconventional artist. Around her, he is able to defeat his inhibitions. But as Charlie’s work becomes harder and more time constraining, they too break up.