Charlie Gordon's Flowers For Algernon

Have you ever attempted something that you were really looking forward to? Something that would be a life-making opportunity for you? Well, Daniel Keyes writes about a retarded man who has a potent dream of becoming smart. This man is Charlie Gordon, or the main character in Flowers For Algernon. Becoming intelligent is Charlie's most important desire! He does not care about having to cope with any operations to make his dream happen! He struggles and perseveres throughout a big portion of his life in order to improve upon his limited abilities. Surely, the chance to become more intelligent, even if only temporary is not an evil act. It is an opportunity for him to experience a snapshot of a life with intelligence and make contributions to

Before the operation, Charlie Gordon, from Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, is happy. He may have a simple, pitiful existence, but he thinks his friends like him, and enjoys being with them and Miss Kinnian at the Learning Center for Slow Adults. However, Charlie wants to be smart, the one dark cloud in his sunny sky of life. Because of this, Charlie volunteers for an operation to triple his IQ of 68. With a high IQ comes awareness of the world around him, so Charlie suddenly becomes conscious of his previously pitiful existence which leads to a slew of feelings such as embarrassment, shame, and superiority. Charlie thinks that becoming smart will make him happy and well-liked, but the operation works the opposite effect. Charlie starts to look down on everyone, and cannot socialize with others because of his IQ. As a result, Charlie becomes almost depressed. His depression deepens when Charlie discovers that his intelligence will not be permanent. Soon, Charlie regresses to his former childlike mentality. Although at the end of the novel, Charlie does not find himself any worse off after the operation, the few months he spent smarter are not terribly enjoyable for him, and his changing mentality negatively impacts those he is close to, namely Miss Kinnian. Because the effects are not permanent, Charlie would be far better off without the operation.

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.

In the novel, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, it is focused around the ironically unforgettable journey of Charlie Gordon. He is a 32 year old man who has an extremely low IQ, that qualified him to be a subject for an experimental surgery to help him raise his IQ, by a lot. Before the surgery, he had very little memories of his childhood, was very forgetful, and his inability to read or write made his want for knowledge even stronger. I picked this character because not only was he the main focus throughout the book, he has changed and has not changed at the same time and I found that rather unusual.Charlie has changed because after the surgery he got what he wanted, to be smart. But by the end of the book he lost his intelligence, along

“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

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things”, -Henry Miller. When one reads this quote, it may have a different meaning to them than to others. To Charlie Gordon, it practically defines his life journey. In the shorty story “Flowers for Algernon”, Charlie Gordon is a main who obtains an IQ of 68, and desires to be smart. Charlie finally gets his dream one day by partaking in an intelligence enhancing operation. His perspective of life is much different before and after the surgery. Although Charlie seems happy before the surgery, Charlie is able to apprehend reality through a “pair of new eyes”, regarding the operation. Three arguments why Charlie’s emotions are happier following the surgery are: He learns about lies he had in life, Charlie had a positive learning experience, and Charlie discerns his full potential.

Have you ever wanted to know several languages, be able to learn everything easily, or even have an IQ of at least 200? Charlie Gordon, in the story “Flowers for Algernon,” was a man who had an IQ of 68, but he went through a surgery that made him smarter than his own teacher at a school for the mentally challenged, and his own doctors. Charlie’s IQ was tripled after the surgery once he began to practice different languages as well as the English language. Charlie soon reverted to his former self at the end of the story, and this tripled intelligence that he possessed once before was soon back to the IQ of 68 Charlie had it easier in life after the surgery.

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.

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

“The true method of knowledge is experiment.” — William Blake. Charlie Gordon was an adequate choice for the scientists, Dr. Strous and Dr. Nemur, to choose since Charlie’s gains from the surgery overrides his loses. The surgery was to try and triple Charlie Gordan’s IQ from 68 to 204, which was a success. Charlie indeed gained several things from his surgery including: understanding of true friendship, emotional maturity, and he finally got his dream come true. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the doctors made a great choice for picking Charlie Gordan as their test subject.

In the short story “Flowers for Algernon”, by Daniel Keyes, the author creates a character named Charlie Gordon who has a learning disability. Charlie has a very low IQ and wants to raise it, so when the doctors gave him the opportunity he did all he could to get the surgery. He wants to triple his IQ by getting a surgery that will make him smarter. In this story, Charlie is a determined but frustrated character.

Emily was not the smartest pencil in the drawer, and she always made other people laugh by her stupidity. However, later she realized that they took the laughter and made it into jokes about her and were actually always making fun of her. Charlie Gordon wanted to become smart like other people so he had a risky surgery on his brain, but the surgery worked for period of time and after a while he started to lose progress and fall back to where he started, so Charlie became a recluse for the rest of his minimal days. In the short story “Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes, the author, portrays the theme, Because of compassion, positive and/or negative consequences can occur.

if u had a chance to be smarter would you take the chance would you risk everything just to be smarter at your job ,? I the story flowers for algernon charlie gordon by Daniel Keyes charlie gordon is a 37 year old is a man who is going to get an operation. I don't think charlie should’ve had the operation because he will be dumb the operation will go away and he won't find love

After the surgery, it was apparent that nothing happened immediately. But after a while, you could tell that something has changed about him. He was spelling words correctly, able to comprehend, and became very creative. Before the operation, Charlie is able to learn but still is mentally retarded. He is able to take care of himself and do his job well even with his condition. He would sometimes race a mouse named Algernon. Algernon is a mouse that got his intelligence level raised by brain surgery. Slowly but surely, he became super smart. "I beat Algernon!" said Charlie. Charlie even made and researched the "'The

In the story “Flowers For Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon, a man with an IQ of 68, gets an operation to triple his IQ and make him a genius, but after a few months, his brain starts deteriorating and he becomes dumb again. So, was Charlie better off before or after the operation? Well, before the operation, Charlie had his friends, not knowing that they were laughing at him; he hadn’t known what it felt like to be smart and how it felt like to lose it; and he was overall happier and more innocent, so even though the story doesn’t show a lot about his life before the operation, it seems like he was happier before the operation.