Charlie Gordon Algernon

To begin, one of the biggest reasons that Charlie would’ve been better off having never gotten the surgery is so he wouldn’t have to deal with knowing what great intelligence is like, but then having to go back to being naïve and dumb again. In the story Flowers for Algernon, Keyes says, “I learned so much so fast. Now my mind is deteriorating rapidly. I won’t let it happen. I’ll fight it. I can’t help thinking of the boy in the restaurant, the blank expression, the silly smile, the people laughing at him. No- please- not that again…” (303) This shows that Charlie realizes his mental capabilities are deteriorating and

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

Before the enhancing surgery, Charlie Gordon seemed to have depend and trust others, while those people didn’t have his back. This could be a problem in the future, because people have to learn to be independent so when they lose someone important, they don’t crack under pressure. In the story, Keyes writes, “Sometimes somebody will say hey look at Joe or Frank or George he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I dont know why they say that but they always laft” (Keyes, 289). Daniel Keyes uses dramatic irony as a way of displaying Charlies perception of his friends. Charlie assumes he has very nice friends, but the audience knows that his

After the operation, in only a couple of months, Charlie starts showing signs of new intelligence. His grammar, improved, and he is able to reflect on what his does in the past something he wasn’t able to do before. He had finally gotten something use had always desired. Then, everything and everyone turned on him. In “PROGRESS REPORT 12” April 30th (pg. 60) Charlie writes: “now, they hate me for my knowledge and understanding. What in the name of god do they want of me? They’ve driven me out of the factory. Now I more alone than ever before…” Charlie got what he always wanted, and now he lost everything he had. It was a sacrifice it sounded like he didn’t want to make. I can tell just be the tone of his writing. This shows that we should embrace everything that we have. Charlie didn’t embrace everything, although he appreciated most of the thing he never became happy not being able to just enjoy life as it is.

One of the reasons Charlie is better off after the experiment is because he becomes more self-aware. One part of the story that shows this is when Charlie goes to a party with his friends Joe and Frank, and everyone laughs at Charlie trying to dance. Charlie is now smart enough from the experiment to realize Joe and Frank just keeps him around for some entertainment, and not as real friends, so now he knows “what it means when they say ‘to pull a Charlie Gordon’” (7). Here, Charlie is benefiting from the surgery because he is now intelligent enough to be able to tell whether he has real friends or not. He realizes that they are just making fun of him, because he knows he used to be very unintelligent, which is why they say he can pull a Charlie Gordon. Now, Charlie can be more aware of who he chooses to be with, and know whether or not they are actually caring of him. He has become more self-aware in his choice of friends, and by doing so, improve his emotional situation. Another

I believe that Charlie is happier when he is less intelligent before the operation. You know the saying ignorance is bliss? That's what I think this is. Sometimes when I get bored I think about things. This is one of them. Would you rather be happy and not know something bad is happening? Or would you rather be unhappy and know that something bad is happening. Charlie was happiest before the operation. He didn't know that his "friends" weren't really his friends. He didn't know that his whole work place was making fun of him. He was happy though. Then he was intelligent, and knew what everyone was doing, he wasn't happy. He knew his "friends" weren't his friends. He knew everyone makes fun of him. He wasn't happy. In fact, he was so upset that

After the surgery, Charlie’s mind thought completely different than what it had before the A.I. surgery, obviously,

Charlie is better off before the surgery because he is more friendly and social. Charlie is more friendly and social before the surgery because he doesn’t have the ability to comprehend or understand how depressing the world is around him, so he just focuses on what happens to him and the job at hand. However, after surgery Charlie is so depressed and down with his intelligence declining that he doesn’t want to do anything. Charlie stated in his progress report that, “I lie in bed for days and I don’t know who or where I am.” Before the surgery Charlie never got so depressed that he just lied around all day not wanting to do anything, so that is why he is better off without the surgery.

Charlie was better of after surgery because he was given a twenty-five dollar bonus. At first he didn’t get any bonus because he didn’t get anything in the factory. When he got the twenty-five dollar bonus he wanted to go out with Frank and Joe, but “Joe said that he had to buy something for his wife and Frank said he was meeting his cousin for lunch (127).

There was no point to the surgery in itself knowing that it was probably gonna ware off. The scientists who thought that the surgery was gonna wear off should’ve at least tried there best to perfect the surgery before preforming it. Most of Charlie’s heartbreak came from the wear off of the surgery. The surgery was a complete lose-lose situation for the lab, and Charlie. After the surgery, Charlie stated “I don’t know why Im dumb agen or what I did wrong maybe its because I dint try hard enuff”.

The surgery made Charlie see the things his friends did to him. Before Charlie had the surgery people at work picked on him and he didn't understand what was happening “Sometimes somebody will say hey look Joe or Frank or George , he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I don't know why they say that but i always laff.” (Keyes 227) if Charlie wouldn’t have had the surgery he would have been made fun of and picked an and even hurt by his so called “friends”.

When Charlie Gordon took the operation he started to feel and show emotions. First came anger when he saw people treated the boy working in the dinner with no respect. Next came love and happiness when he fell in love with Miss Kinnian and felt full of joy. Finally came sadness when Algernon died he felt sad because Algernon was a friend to him. In the story it said “P.P.S please if you get a chance put some flowers in Algernon’s grave in the backyard” (p.341). Charlie still feels sad that his friend Algernon is dead so he wants to show that he will always remember Algernon as a friend. If it wasn’t for the surgery Charlie would have never felt these

Furthermore, Charlie Gordon was able to unlock a more emotional side to himself. Before Charlie had the surgery, he was very limited to his expressions and his creativity. “Then I don’t remember so good, but he said there were pictures, there other people saw some pictures. I couldn’t see any pictures (Progress Report 2).” Charlie was only able to think concretely rather than think of ideas that go so much deeper and because of the surgery, he was able to use that side of him, to think more abstractly and find emotions he didn’t know he had.

Charlie Gordon was not fully aware of the surgery. All he was fully aware of was that he was going to be smarter and that’s all he wanted. Also, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur should have waited to give Charlie the surgery. Instead of giving him the surgery the same time as Algernon, they could have waited, saw Algernon died and then this wouldn’t have happened to

The surgery was worth the experience because it helped him contribute to the world of science. He contributed by desperately wanting to be in the experiment and wanting to make discoveries, “I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” (Keyes190). He was the first human to really want to contribute to this experiment. Just by getting the surgery he helped science. Without Charlie they couldn’t have gotten the results and shown