Charlie Gordon In Daniel Keyes 'Flowers For Algernon'

Have you ever thought about being smart? Well, Charlie Gordon did. Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old male with an I.Q. that is not very high. In the Science FIction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel keyes. Charlie Gordon wasn’t very smart, he has a low I.Q. of 68. Charlie wanted to be smart so he would be liked by people. Charlie had the opportunity to have the A.I. surgery to triple his I.Q. Charlie Gordon should have had the A.I. surgery.

Did you ever want to be smarter than your friends or even just a little bit smarter? Well, so did Charlie Gordon. Being a mental 37 year-old man, life is hard and you can’t be always happy, but after a major surgery he is a little better off.

Imagine the possibility of a surgery that could dramatically increase your intelligence. Imagine what a change of life that could mean if you were a mentally handicapped person. This is exactly what happens in the story, Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes. Charlie Gordon is a mentally handicapped man living alone in New York City. He undergoes an operation that increases his intelligence he realizes how poorly people have treated him including his family and friends. Although most folk mistreated Charlie there was one who was kind and caring towards Charlie and that was his teacher, Alice Kinnian. This story follows the rise and gradual fall of his intelligence and with that the awareness of how poorly people have treated

Many people think of change, like hey, that man needs to grow up, he acts like a kid. In the story, “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keys, Charlie Gordon wanted change too. He was a 32 year old with an intellect of 68 (he is mentally impaired) and his parents got a divorce when he was a kid and lived with his uncle until he was seventeen. When he was in his early thirty’s, an opportunity to get brain stimulation surgery was presented to him to help make him smart. The overall theme for this story should be changed. To begin, Charlie was presented an opportunity he could not turn down. Charlie had received word that he could have a second chance of getting brain stimulators. Dr. Strauss instructed Charlie to write down everything that happened

Could you imagine what it would be like to become what you’ve always wanted to be? Or to have your I.Q be tripled? In the Science Fiction story, “Flowers for Algernon” written by Daniel Keyes, a 37 year old man named Charlie Gordon, whose mind is impaired, undergoes a surgery to triple his I.Q. After the surgery, Charlie Gordon’s life became much better for him. Charlie was able to make true friends, along with that he felt emotions, but most importantly, he was able to see the world through a different a different perspective.

Charlie Gordon, a mentally compromised man, should not have received the surgery to increase his numerical intelligence-as judged by an IQ-and to become a normal man. While Daniel Keyes in “Flowers for Algernon” conveyed hope for psychologically impaired individuals, the surgery failed with countless devastating consequences. In all actuality, the complications that Charlie faced were genuine. As far as society was concerned, Charlie-having a lesser IQ than the average person-was regarded as unacceptable. The surgery was seen as a cure for this; nevertheless, it did not amount to any change in the way he was treated. Harnessing the insights from Algernon’s case and his own cognitive abilities, Charlie deciphered the effects and predicted the

Estimated 26% of people 18 or older are diagnosable with a mental disability. Charlie Gordon, a 37 year old man, has a mental disability and undergoes an operation to make him smart, but the result is that he becomes too smart and then hostile and eventually dies. Daniel Keyes portrays a theme in Flowers for Algernon that since some situation can come back and bite a person, be careful what you wish for.

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

Many people believe that achieving great intelligence will bring them great happiness. This was what Charlie Gordon imagined for himself, that if he could only get the surgery that was supposed to make him smart, then he could finally fit in and be really happy. In the end, though, was Charlie really better off after he got the surgery? No, he wasn’t. Charlie was ultimately better off before he got the surgery to make him intelligent because if he had never done the surgery, then he would never have had to experience the trauma of having to go back to not being intelligent after knowing what intelligence felt like. Also, before the surgery, Charlie didn’t realize how un-faithful his friends were, and how naïve he actually was, which ultimately caused him a lot of shame. Finally, if Charlie had never gotten the surgery, he wouldn’t have had to leave New York.

Throughout the novel Charlie’s personality and intelligence level changes a lot. In the beginning Charlie is happy, has friends, he’s retarded, and can’t remember a lot of things. “I fergot his last name because I dont remebir so good.” (Keyes 2),

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).

Initially, Charlie was not aware of what was going on around him. He thought that everyone liked him and was his friend. He also was not very intelligent, which is why he was oblivious to what was happening around him. After Charlie had the surgery he was able to now notice that the people he worked with at the factory were not actually his friends. He found out April 20, “I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me” (33-34). Now that he got the procedure he can now tell that his so-called friends, just liked him because they could make fun of him. Another example of him noticing things for the first time is when the doctors were arguing Charlie felt that he know saw them for the first time. He realizes about their personal life, how one has a wife that wants him to be successful and the other wants some of the glory to. Once again, due to his intelligence, he notices more about the people he interacts with almost every day. He noticed things that he has never realized, let alone thought about.

One thing Charlie repeated many times before the surgery was “I want to be smart” (Keyes 225) also that he would do whatever it takes to become smart he would work really hard so he could be smart and fit in. That is why Charlie should have had the A.I. to give him what he really wanted even if it wasn’t permanent. A common argument against this position is that the surgery wasn't permanent and that it is not worth being smart for a few weeks. But i argue that Charlie was very grateful for being smart even for just a little while. While he was smart he was able to make scientific advances that most people could not od in a lifetime And he did it in a few weeks and he was grateful to give back to the people who made him

Therefore, intelligence does not bring happiness. For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so- called ‘friends?’ were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was fired from the job that he loved because his new intelligence level. This promotes Charlie into a short depression. This short depression made it clear that Charlie’s life prior to the experiment was better than his current conditions since he had a job which he looked forward to and so- called “friends”.Charlie says on May 20th "Now I'm more alone than ever before” (Keyes, 108). He had nobody to relate to at this point of the story because his intelligence grow to overpower other surrounding him. Charlie’s intelligence has already exceeded his teacher and the doctors. Before Charlie gained intelligence, even the simplest things in life were good enough for him. After he gained intelligence,none of those things mattered to him because his mind grew more complex. As a result, he felt alone and buried himself in his work.

Science is everywhere around us. It is all the little things from your alarm in the morning to big things like cures for diseases. In the story “Flowers For Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur have a patient named Charlie Gordon to see if a brain operation could increase your IQ level. I don’t think Charlie should not have gotten the operation done because he was told the results would be temporary, the operation put his life in danger, and the operation caused him to become depressed.