Charlie Gordon's Flowers For Algernon

When he finally got smart, his friends were scared of him. If he knew that his outside life could be affected by the operation, he might not have done it. The doctors just wanted Charlie

In the story "Flowers for Algernon," by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon had a brain operation that would boost his IQ by 3x the amount he had already had. Charlie, being a man with an IQ of 68, had a major change in thought. He not only grew intellectually, but he grew emotionally too. That is what I am here to prove to you today. Now there may be some controversy on this topic but, based upon the context we can only assume that over all, the operation was more beneficial to Charlie than it was harmful, this is mainly because it gave Charlie a chance to have a taste of intelligence, which is what he had always wanted, and it strengthened his friendships, that is beneficial because any strong relationship is worth so much more than a simple one.

Before the surgery Charlie's “friends” could laugh at him without him even realizing it. “Joe Carp said I should show the girls how I mop out the toilet in the factory and he got me a mop.” (Keyes 290). This quote shows his “friends” being able to make fun of him without him even realizing it. After the surgery he learned his “friends” where not really his friends.

First of all, why Charlie shouldn’t have gotten the surgery is because he started understanding everyone and how they felt. This stressed him out a lot. He felt like he didn't belong with others. “Now I know what it means when they say “to pull a Charlie Gordon.” I'm ashamed.” (209). In this sentence, Charlie recognizes why his friends liked having him around so much. It was so that they could make fun of him and play tricks on him for their own fun. Also Charlie had felt bad about a kid at a restaurant. “I jumped up and shouted, “Shut up! Leave him alone! It's not his fault he can't understand! He can't help what he is! But for

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”.

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.

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

One reason as to why this is the theme that sticks out the most is because the operation harmed Charlie’s social life. He had a lot of people to call friends, like Joe Carp, Frank Reilly, and Gimpy, but after he had the operation, he realized that they weren’t really his friends. “April 22- People at the bakery are changing. I can feel the hostility.” Charlie had become smarter than the people who worked at the bakery, and they started to push him away, and Charlie started to feel upset and hurt by their actions. He thought that he had lost all of his friends were lost, and that upset him. This is one of the many reasons why technology was a bad thing for Charlie.

In the book "Flowers for Algernon" a man named Charlie, who's intellectually disabled, wants to become smart. Since that's the only thing he wants, and he'll do anything to do it, two men choose Charlie to have the operation done on, which will "open up the gates" to him learning. Before they did it on a human, they did it on a mouse named Algernon, who became very smart. After Charlie had his operation, he was frustrated because he wasn't smart. The two men, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, had Charlie do many things such as read and write down progress reports. Charlie was learning at a very fast rate. He read

“They were laughing at him because he is mentally retarded. And I had been laughing at him too. Suddenly, I was furious at myself and all those who were smirking at him,” Charlie said [page 369]. He noticed how mistaken he was and stood up for the young man. “I jumped up and shouted, ‘Shut up!

He decides to take the opportunity and his life drastically improved after the surgery. Charlie becomes aware that his so called friends had been bullying him, his intelligence level skyrocketed and Charlie made a huge contribution to science. After the AI surgery, Charlie became aware that his so called friends had been bullying him and were not true friends. They only liked to have Charlie around so they could laugh at him. An example from the text is “it's a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and all the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me,” (Keyes 231).

One reason why I think the surgery was a bad idea was because, no one was expecting him as a friend. When Charlie got his surgery, some people at his work were realizing that Charlie had changed, and was starting to have feelings. “Look at him. His face is red.He's blushing. Charlie is blushing.Hey, Ellen, what'd you do to Charlie? I never saw him act like that before”. In this sentence Charlie's workmates realized that Charlie's operation was actually working, and that Charlie was

In the book, Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is an adult in his thirties, who has an IQ of 68. Unlike most adults in his situation, he is really motivated to learn new things and to get more intelligent. Eventually, he gets the attention of Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss, who think that Charlie is the perfect candidate for an experimental operation that will triple his IQ, making him a genius. Charlie goes through with the procedure, but eventually it backfires and he starts regressing, until he is as dumb as he was before the operation. I think that Charlie should definitely have the surgery for a couple of reasons. Charlie wants to become smart, and thus he deserves it, and he can use his knowledge in the subject to

Charlie wanted to be left alone because he is not a “guinea pig any more. I 've done enough. I want to be left alone now.” (Keyes 288). Charlie is fed up with how he has been treated by the doctors. He wants to be left alone, so he can do whatever he pleases. He “can’t afford to spend my time with anyone-there’s only enough left for myself” (Keyes 292). Charlie is beginning to shun his peers, and the people that love him. He has become devoured by his work, and is not able to give up any of his time to spend with loved ones. Charlie does not value the importance of having his loved ones around him, but prior to the operation, he had a strong motivation to have friends, and to be loved by his peers.