Charlie Gordon's Flowers For Algernon

Originally published in 1959 as a science fiction short story for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the novel Flowers for Algernon by an American writer Daniel Keyes is more relevant today than at that time. With more than five million copies in print, this book with its great depth of meaning is still considered to be the most acclaimed author‘s work.

Charlie shares the whole experimental experience with Algernon and Charlie discovers his own future through Algernon. However when Charlie falls intellectually we see the strength of friendship at the end of the novel and Charlie’s last words are “put some flowers on Algernon’s grave in the bak yard” (Keyes, 311). This shows that Carlie understood the true meaning friendship, that it can take place between anyone and anything as long as it’s unconditional.

Flowers for Algernon shows how Charlie isn’t any less human than the rest of us. He had ambition, a goal, he wanted to fit in. He can feel the pity showered on him, he even said that he didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for him when Miss Kinnians cried after Charlie forgot that he wasn’t in her class anymore. Charlie’s mind was clear, he wanted to be smart like everyone

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman. Charlie Gordon is a very welcoming, playful, and genuine man. He attends Beekman College for Retarded Adults and has a strong motivation to learn and to improve his intelligence. He dreams of being popular, and making friends. Throughout the novel Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon changed in many ways. Prior to his life changing operation, he was not able to grasp that the people at Donner’s Bakery were not his friends, they only spoke to him to make fun of him. Charlie acknowledged their harsh actions, and started retaliating. Charlie is a very open

Flowers for Algernon is about a man named Charlie who is mentally slow and not smart. Charlie had an operation to make him smart. What the doctors did was unethical.

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

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

Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes is not your average book. It is written in a progress report format, and from the point of view of a mentally challenged man named Charlie Gordon. During the book, you follow Charlie's life before, during, and after he has an operation to make him smarter. It contains a lot of themes, but the theme that stuck out the most was both harm and good can come from technology.

However, that's still not acceptable for doctors to do, especially with experimenting certain tests and operations on the patient. Also, Doctor Nemur and Strauss did proceed with the operation, but later gave him an unstable limbic system and failure in the nervous system. Which shows that the doctors weren't thinking of any future conflicts that would put Charlie in a harmful state of mind. They also kept Algernon dying confidential to Charlie since they both got the same operation, and the doctors weren't thinking ethically if they couldn't even share it to Charlie (Dobrin). Overall, Doctor Nemur and Strauss did motivate him to start making himself smart again in the end, but they should've thought about future conflicts that the operation would put on Charlie that would effect his mental health.

Flowers for Algernon has a difficulty with technology when Charlie’s brain begins to deteriorate. Scientist Dr. Nemur and neurologist/psychiatrist Dr. Strauss did an operation on Charlie to higher his I.Q. At first, the surgery seemed to be a huge success making Charlie even more intelligent than themselves. Later in the novel, Charlie realizes his intelligence deteriorates and names it the “Algernon-Gordon Effect”. The operation did successfully able him to learn at an extreme rate although, the more he learned, the faster his new intelligence would disappear. The technology made Charlie smart for only a limited amount of time, this becomes burden on him. Charlie realized how his colleagues truly

One of the most significant themes of Flowers for Algernon is Change in yourself changes everyone around yourself. Charlie's odyssey of growth begins from March and ends in November. Between these two months, you can spot an obvious transformation in Charlie. At the beginning of the story, despite the fact that Charlie was 37, he was not fluent in his only language, English. His progress reports all seemed structured by a second grader, and there were multiple crucial spelling mistakes. Since he wasn't intelligent as others, his co-workers mocked him. They used his name to offend people. In fact, on page 4 it says " Ernie for god sake what are you trying to be a Charlie Gordon." However, Charlie had people who complimented him for having the motivation to learn too. For Example, Ms. Kinnian, Charlie's English teacher said on page 2 that he was her best pupil.

Flowers for Algernon Everyone is who they are and no one can change that no matter what. Charlie Gordon is a thirty-seven year old man who has an IQ of sixty-eight and wishes to be smart. He was chosen for the intelligence-altering surgery to become smarter and triple his IQ. After the surgery, there were huge changes in his life.

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?

Differences between the “Flowers for Algernon” book and the movie Charly essay. The book and the movie are both by Daniel Keyes, both of these are mainly focused on the character Charlie Gordon. Charlie suffers from dyslexia and other mental illnesses when an opportunity to get rid of his mental disabilities comes up. In the movie, Charly, changes the point of view, foreshadowing, and characteristics of the story, “Flowers for Algernon,” which makes the point of view more effective.

In Daniel Keyes’ compelling novel, Flowers for Algernon, the main character undergoes both important emotional and physical changes. The book has an interesting twist, as it is described in the characters “progress reports”. This book has a science fiction undertone, and takes place in exciting New York City. As the novel begins, the main character, Charlie Jordan is thirty-two years old, but cannot remember anything from his childhood.