Daniel Keyes science fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon, is about a man, Charlie Gordon, who is the subject for an experimental surgery to help raise his intelligence. The operation was highly successful for a lab mouse, Algernon, until his intelligence starts to rapidly decline. Unfortunately, the operation ended up being ineffective for Charlie Gordon as well. His IQ drops again and he does not understand what happened and can not remember anything he learned before. Charlie Gordon’s journey started with a surprisingly low IQ with hopes to gain intelligence, surpassing his doctor's intelligence and learning about himself, and ending with the operation failing and him being back to his old self. First, Charlie started with a surprisingly …show more content…
After Charlie successfully went through the operation, his doctors, Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss, require him to keep writing his progress reports and to come to the lab every day. Although the operation was not immediate, Charlie drastically raised his IQ in a short period of time. He spent his time reading, spending time at Beekman University pretending to be a student, and remembering childhood events. Charlie realizes exceeding everyone's intelligence has some downfalls. He got fired from his job at the bakery because he made his co-workers feel unintelligent and his relationship with Alice Kinnian failed. “Charlie, don’t push me. I don’t know. Already, you've gone beyond my intellectual reach. In a few months or even weeks, you'll be a different person” (Keyes 92). After spending a lot of time with Alice, Charlie tries to have a romantic relationship with her and because of his intellectual level, he makes her feel like she isn’t smart enough to be with him. As Charlie starts to realize more about himself and his past, he struggles with maturing emotionally. He tries to have intimate relationships with Alice and his neighbor, Fay, but imagines his older self looking at them and telling him that what he is doing his wrong because as a child he was told looking at women was a sin. “I jumped up and turned of the light. I almost expected to see him standing there. But of course not. We were alone. It was all in my mind. Alice was just lying there” (Keyes 205). Because of what Charlie was told as a child and he is still learning about himself as his intelligence increases, it is hard for him to have emotional relationships with people. As a part of his journey, Charlie Gordon soon surpassed his doctor's intelligence and learns about
Have you ever wanted to have an IQ of 200+ and be considered a genius. That’s exactly what Charlie Gordon got but it didn’t last as long as he wanted it to. Charlie was selected to be the only human to undergo this experiment. First it took a while for his intelligence to start to increase and Charlie thought it wasn’t working. Then Charlie saw a huge difference in his spelling. Charlie’s IQ sat at 300+ plus for a couple of months and then he realized that Algernon, the mouse, was starting to be vicious and biting people. That was the first clue that the surgery may not last forever. Charlie had some very difficult times because of the surgery and because of that I think he should have never have gotten it.
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.
After Charlie had his operation, his intelligence levels began to rapidly increase, which allowed him to reach the goals he set beforehand. He achieved so much in such little time due to the surgery. But, as rapidly as he grew, his intelligence began to quickly deteriorate and he became his old self. Even still, Charlie Gordon’s
Charlie Gordon was fighting, working hard, and struggling for being smart. Charlie had a once in a lifetime to increase his I.Q. three times as much. In the story “Flowers for Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes, the genre is Science Fiction. Charlie has a low I.Q. of sixty eight, and wants to be a genius. Charlie Gordon’s life is better with the A.I. Surgery.
Flowers For Algernon Essay In Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the main character Charlie Gordon under goes in an operation to increase his intelligence as a mentally disabled person. Later on in the story he looses the intelligence he gained and could be on the road to dying. He is better off with the surgery because he gained so much such as, social cues and intelligence. Before the operation Charlie could barely say complete sentences let alone spell, but after the operation he was becoming smarter than his teacher, Mrs. Kinnian.
Because of this Charlie gets a procedure done to make his intelligence grow and make him smarter everyday. When the procedure begins to fade away he realizes that by having hope you learn later
A high Intelligence Quotient may not always correlate with one's happiness. In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is a mentally challenged man with an I.Q. of sixty-eight. Due to his motivation, and desire of becoming “smart,” he attends an adult night school class with his teacher, Miss Kinnian where “[he tries] the hardist and reely… [wants] to learn” [sic] (6). Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur select Charlie upon the proposition by Miss Kinnian. The doctors will perform an operation which may triple Charlie’s I.Q. and “make [him] smart” (5). The operation on Charlie made; him into a social outcast, lose his routine and income, and bring him to an early death. Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss’ operation on Charlie Gordon should not be performed.
“Flowers for Algernon” contains numerous themes throughout Charlie Gordon’s journey. Charlie Gordon the story’s protagonist is a 32-year-old mentally disabled man who has the opportunity of a lifetime to undergo very special surgeries which will most likely change his life for the better, hopefully. This operation has already been preformed on a laboratory mouse named Algernon, who received astonishing and outstanding results so the doctor is convinced it can alter a human’s disability and help millions of people. The reason Charlie was chosen for this operation is his teacher Miss. Kinnian who said he was a very hard worker and valuable aspect. After the operation Charlie’s intelligence increased rapidly and soon became a genius. Charlie
Flowers for Algernon the two main characters a mouse named Algernon and a young man named Charlie Gordon a thirty-two year old who has a very low I.Q. of sixty-eight from any other thirty-two year old man. Charlie Gordon works at Donner’s Bakery Charlie isn’t just any oh employer Charlie has very poor Intelligence Quotient. And he knows that he is different from everybody else, that’s why he has being seeing Dr.Strauss about is condition. What can he do to make his I.Q the same as everyone else? Charlie’s intelligence is an important role of Dr.Strauss and Prof.Nemur to, be able to perform this important surgery on him. He writes seventeen progress reports. Charlie Gordon is not just a thirty-two year old man that works at Donner’s bakery.
“Before, they had laughed at me, despising me for my ignorance and dullness; now, they hated me for my knowledge and understanding… This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I knew and loved…” (Keyes 108) . Charlie finds that even after his operation, there are still barriers between him and his coworkers, acquaintances, and family. “...language is sometimes a barrier instead of a pathway. Ironic to find myself on the other side of the intellectual fence.” (Keyes 114). This idea that language is also a barrier is significant because it shapes Charlie’s relationships with Professor Nemur and Dr.Strauss. “... he has succumbed to arrogance and superiority over those who have provided the opportunity for his intellectual development.” (Wroble). This criticism describes the effects of the growth of Charlie’s ego as his IQ grows too. Not only does Charlie face an intellectual barrier, but also faces an emotional
Flowers for Algernon is a short fictional story that is written in the form of a journal by Charlie Gordon, a man with a clearly illustrated learning disability. In this story Charlie Gordon was picked as the first human and second test subject for an experiment that was meant to triple any ones IQ level. Dr. Strauss tells Charlie Gordon to write Progress Reports about his days and this is how the story is presented to the reader. When Charlie Gordon has his surgery that was meant to make him starter, did he actually get smarter, or does he only perceive that he gets smarter?
Intelligence is like a key, opening new doors and passages, unique ways of seeing the world. Intelligence makes people aware of their surroundings. Charlie Gordon, the main character in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, started the story as an intellectually underdeveloped man who had an Intelligence Quotient of 68. He attends a night school for “ slow adults”, which is taught by Mrs. Kinnian . When Charlie is offered the opportunity to receive an experimental surgery, which claims that it will triple the participant’s Intelligence quotient, he accepts it.
He is therefore is a very different person. He no longer innocently gawks at people who are mean to him. He is able to have a decent conversation with others, and continues to be very analytical. Due to these personality traits and changes, at this point Charlie is ISFJ on the MBTI scale. This is shown when Charlie is consoling himself about his feelings for Mrs. Kinnian and he remarks, “I kept telling myself that the sweating palms, the tightness in my chest, the desire to put my arms around her were merely biochemical reactions.” (Keyes 95) He is analyzing his feelings and then taking action in a way that he never would have before the operation. With his new-found intelligence, Charlie realizes things about people and subjects that change who he is as a person. The flood of newfound knowledge makes him act differently around other people and think differently. Charlie also is now introverted and spends much of his time at the library and reading
Flower for Algernon is based on a novel, the novel is written by Daniel Keyes. Charlie Gordon is the main character. He is a kind and gentle man with an IQ of 68. He decided to do a mettle operation that will increase his intelligence. The same operation was done on a mouse, Algernon, that was the instrumental part since he was one of the animals who lived the longest. Charlie received a chance to be the brightest star in the sky, and he reclaimed his family at the same time he discover love. As Charlie gets to go on adventures; Algernon starts to lose his IQ. Will the same thing happen to Charlie? Or will he be a scientific miracle?
Charlie has a desire to become more intelligent like his “friends” and understands that he has a mental illness that makes him inferior to them. This leads to Charlie having a superior perspective of his friends/coworkers which leads to them treating him incompetently because they have an inversely proportional perspective to Charlie’s. Charlie does not know this, but the formula that is fixed in his mind is more knowledge equals more friends. To show this, Charlie states,“I just want to be smart like other pepul so I can have lots of frends who like me.”(Keyes 13). Consequently, he goes to classes to try to increase his intelligence for mentally impaired adults, but the reader, then learns that he was inquired to partake in a surgery, as a test for future operations, to proliferate his intelligence. This offer, that Charlie views as an opportunity, is accepted by himself and his sister, who does not live with him, who gave permission to the scientists that allowed them to perform the surgery on Charlie. Once the surgery was completed, Charlie views it as a revelation of his life, but others incorporate the idea of the surgery being a mark against God and that even God gives you only a certain amount of intelligence for each person to expand on. For example, Charlie showed that his nurse, who looked after him subsequently to the operation, elucidated,“And she said mabey they got no rite to make me smart because if god wantid me to be smart he would have made me born that way.”(Keyes