Analyzing Daniel Keyes 'Flowers For Algernon'

The “old Charlie” was a person that lived a life of ignorance and was completely happy with the way that he was living. He worked at a bakery, making barley enough to scrape buy, however, he was happy. But once he got his first taste of intelligence, he was immediately hooked and wanted more than just an appetizer. After a couple of tests and procedures later, and Charlie got his wish. But his wish wasn’t all that he expected as all of his knowledge soon took a toll on

Before Charlie had the operation preformed on him, he had friends at the bakery he worked at. They were not really his friends because

“I said Miss Kinnian never gave me tests like that one only spelling and reading. They said Miss Kinnian told that I was her bestist pupil in the adult nite scool becaus I tryed the hardist and I reely wantid to lern” -Charlie. Concluding that if you could feel smarter than you are now, would you. That's what Charlie feels like until he has an operation that makes him smart. The theme of this story I think is that people change over time. Like charlie changes throughout the story. In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes Charlie patarys the theme that people changed overtime.

When Charlie was intelligent he often got irritated at the doctors because they weren’t as smart as him. He had also dealt with a lot of emotion with Miss Kinnian, Charlie was in love with Miss Kinnian. When he regressed, he was embarrassed to see her because he thought she would think he was dumb. When Charlie was at a diner, he saw a kid with disabilities, and everyone was laughing at him and so was Charlie. He was upset with himself that he laughed at him because that kid was him before he had the surgery to make him smart.

He wears glasses but only for watching T.V. and movies. Charlie has a great motive because all he wants is to be smart for example, "After the operashun I'm gonna try to be smart. I'm gonna try awful hard. (p.11)". Charlie, being intellectually disabled, doesn't understand things, making him constantly happy. This is because he doesn't think about life. Charlie gets bullied but thinks they're being nice to him when they do things like "He really pulled a Charlie Gordon that time. I don't know why they say it but they always laff and I laff too. (p.23)". After the operation, he had a different outlook on life. He wanted to become smart so that he could talk with his coworkers about intelligent things like politics. Although, the operation made him too smart. His way of thinking was based on facts and intelligence, rather than emotion, feelings and instinct. Charlie was a genius and they weren't. He didn't know how to control his emotion because he never knew he had them, often making him go into depression and be

The award-winning short science fiction, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, digs deep in how society reacts to different levels of intelligence. The book covers a wide variety of society from the creative minds to world-renowned scientists. When a retarded adult becomes one of those brain maniacs through a scientific operation, you get the full spectrum of what it is like personally as a handicapped person and through the minds of a genius. In the reports, you can see the progress and comparison of Charlie’s realization towards other people’s capability of intelligence.

He is functional, but moderately mentally disabled. Charlies main goal is to learn so he can be smart like everyone else. When he was suggested by his teacher for an operation that could make him smarter, he got excited because he actually had a chance. Before the surgery Charlie is completely innocent. Being innocent is defined as simple and naive. He has no experience because he has been under circumstances that did not allow him. He is a generally happy person that values companionship. Charlie sees the good in everybody and is nice to all, even when some are not particularly nice to him. Before the surgery Charlie is very ignorant to the jokes and slurs his “friends” express to him. He always enjoys going to work to see his friends because he likes how they joke around and laugh with him.

A neurosurgeon asks you to agree with getting an Artificial Intelligence(A.I.) procedure, to increase your I.Q. by three times. Would you do it? Charlie Gordon, a thirty seven year old man with a mental disability, faces this exact question in the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. He goes through with it, but afterwards, he discovers good and not-so-good things about life ,that he never knew. Carlie was better off before he had the A.I. surgery, because he lost friends, he regressed lower than before the surgery,and he developed new emotions, negatively affecting himself and the people around him.

Every day, people go through operations and sometimes experience unpredicted and unwanted outcomes. The story, Flowers for Algernon, is exactly like that. In this story, a 37 year old man, named Charlie Gordon, has a mental disability and participates in an operation/experiment to increase his knowledge. After taking part in the operation, Charlie’s intellect gradually escalates to a genius status. Charlie, the man who had an IQ of 68, was slowly maturing mentally and he started seeing the world with a whole new different perspective. However, near the end of the story, his brain regresses back to where he started from. Charlie shouldn't have taken part in the operation: he started seeing the world in a different perspective, he

At first he thinks it is a mindless job that he can handle. But then he goes to the hospital for the surgery. After the surgery, he becomes very smart. Then once back at work he changes the way the machines work. He says, "I figured out a new way to line up the machines in the factory, and Mr. Donnegan says it will save him ten thousand dollars a year in labor and increased production." (Keyes, 200) Charlie used his raised IQ to help make the company work in a smarter and more efficient way. He left what he knew becuase he was promised the chance to be smarter than he was before and it

Before the surgery, Charlie was a person that was liked by all. The people in his life knew him from his benevolent smile with a sense of humor. Now, his intelligence seems to have taken over the emotional side to him, and transform it for the worse. For example, the people at the bakery are what Charlie considered as family. As a young child, Charlie’s family life was not adequate. His parents—especially Rose (Charlie’s mother)—wanted to put him into a mental institution. Before the chaos would take place, Charlie’s uncle had taken him in and offered a job, and other necessities. Since Uncle Herman died, Mr. Donner seems to have a reason to let Charlie go, especially since he along with the other coworkers are confused at what is happening to Charlie. For example, “But something happened to you, and I don’t understand what it means. Not only me. Everyone has been talking about it” (Keyes 104). After the surgery, everything seemed to go downhill for Charlie; everything in his life was not the best because of his increase in intelligence. His emotions are taking a toll from his life at the expense of the decision he made. Furthermore, changes cannot always be beneficial. Charlie would have been fine without the procedure because his life was just right. A change in one’s life can because the biggest break in

In the story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon a 37-year-old mentally disabled man is better off before his intelligence enhancement surgery as opposed to after the procedure. This is because he is happier and does not understand flaws in others. And after the surgery, he is less happy and realizes the flaws in others. He even moves away at the end of the story to get away from everyone who knew he once was smart. Also, before the surgery, he is employed and enjoys his job. After the surgery effects wear off and he is mentally disabled again he is unemployed and just lounges around not liking someone near him, until Ms. Flynn forces him to get his job back. Although one might object that he is better off after the intelligence enhancement surgery because his friend is nicer to him and respect him more.

It is often debated whether ignorance is bliss. Is not being conscious of one's surroundings truly happiness? In the novel entitled Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, ignorance is Charlie’s peace. Not realizing that, he undergoes a procedure to make him knowledgeable. As his intelligence progresses, relationships begin to deteriorate with the ones he cares for most. Furthermore, his brain began to process memories, leading to anxiety in sexual situations. Finally, because his blindfold disappeared, he sees the truth behind all of his encounters, which ends up being too much for Charlie to withstand. He did not have the capacity to understand the sorrow that would come with knowledge; therefore, Charlie was better off before the surgery.

Rose kicked Charlie out of the house and he went to live with his Uncle Herman, who took care of Charlie; once Uncle Herman died Charlie went on to work in a bakery and he began taking classes to aid him in getting smarter. Alice Kinnian taught Charlie in these classes at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults before he underwent the operation, and after the operation they formed a romantic relationship. Throughout Charlie and Alice's relationship Charlie was unable to become intimate with her as a result of "Old Charlie", a form of his past self that instills fear in his present self, showing up. Events from the past can have a prominent effect on a person's later life, no matter how much time has passed, which Keyes portrays with the help of several literary

Imagine being 37 years old, and being told that you couldn 't do things that other people could just because you had one thing that was "wrong" about you – being "mentally retarded". This was Charlie Gordon 's reality. He was an innocent, responsible man that did anything that he could to survive with his special need. One day, this all changed for him when he was told that a special surgery would be performed on him, and that he would become smarter. Unfortunately, Charlie learns a few things that he wished he hadn 't, and his ability to cooperate with the outside world starts to decline, along with his intelligence. Unfortunately, during this operation, Charlie Gordon 's doctors did not perform ethically when they performed surgery to make him smarter.