Charlie Gordon's Flowers For Algernon

“Eagar, Determined, and Motivated:” these three words describe Charlie Gordon in Daniel Keyes’s story “Flowers for Algernon”. Daniel Keyes writes about a thirty two year old man with a low IQ (Charlie Gordon) who strives to become “normal”. Charlie will do anything to become smarter even letting two doctors preform brain surgery to enhance his learning capability. Charlie evolves throughout the novel and by the end of his journey although his IQ is low he is a more complete person. He learns the true meaning of friendship and demonstrates intellectual growth as a person by overcoming obstacles and understanding various lessons.

“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.

The book that I have read is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. This book was published in 1966 and 1959.

How would you feel if you were developmentally delayed do you think it would be ok for your parents to sign off for you to have a possibly life threatening surgery? In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes a thirty-seven year old man named Charlie Gordon has to face this challenge. He wanted nothing more than to be smart and fit in. He had the opportunity to have an Artificial Intelligence surgery to triple his I.Q. Charlie Gordon should have had the A.I. surgery because it made him feel he had a purpose in life. After Charlie had the A.I. surgery he saw the bad things his friends did to him he felt he had a purpose and he became smart even if it wasn't permanent.

* Students should work through the idea that different levels of intelligence, emotional and intellectual, lead to different types of interactions with people and society.

In the short story “Flowers for Algernon,” Daniel Keyes leaves the reader saddened, stunned and ultimately forming questions. Keyes also highlights several characters, a particular character is a mentally disabled janitor named Charlie Gordon. He has a sixty-eight IQ, works at a paper factory in New York, and is oblivious to his surroundings. Gordon’s deepest desire is to increase his intelligence by doing an operation that has only been done on a mouse, whose name is Algernon. Soon after the operation is done, Gordon starts becoming a super-genius with more knowledge than most doctors. He understands elaborate mathematical equations and can read and write at an age beyond his years. However, his increased intelligence starts to “ware off,” Gordon starts losing huge chunks of intelligence, he is unmotivated and is overall ashamed. His three stages which include his wanting to be the one for the operation, his super genius self, and his deteriorating self-are important in Charlie Gordon’s character development.

Flowers to Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, is a novel that takes readers on an emotional journey. Throughout the novel the experiences of the main character Charlie Gordon are ethically blurring. Keyes’ novel follows a man who is simple-minded and explores a life where he becomes a literal genius. This drastic change to Charlie’s life allows the readers to see his struggles and times of joy. However; is Charlie’s new life ethically accepted?

His awareness of how things really are, causes others to draw away from Charlie and Charlie to draw away from others. Pre-surgery, Charlie links intelligence to a talking point, leading to more friends. His intelligence has the opposite effect that he imagines. He states at the beginning, “I hope I get smart soon because I want to lern everything there is in the werld like the collidge boys know…about art and politiks and god.” (p15) However when he’s at a high stage intelligence, he views these activities as ‘childish’, providing ‘no pleasure’ and ‘elementary’. As his intelligence increases, he falls out of touch with his few friends at the bakery. He feels that he causes them to ‘shrink and emphasize their inadequacies.’ (p.74) Charlie writes, ‘I have betrayed them and they hated me for that’. From his colleague’s viewpoint, Charlie’s spontaneous intelligence is something ‘forbidden’ and portrays them as ‘a bunch of dopes’. (p.75) His rapidly growing intelligence eventually surpasses that of professors, scientists and doctors, including Dr. Strauss, Burt, and Professor Nemur, who designed and performed his surgery. With no one to relate or compete with intellectually, Charlie grows critical and uncompassionate. Charlie’s attitude causes Alice Kinnian to angrily remark, “You're different. You've changed. And I'm not talking about your IQ It's your attitude toward people.” (p85) This change of attitude is evident when Charlie describes Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur as ‘frauds’, ‘phonies’ and ‘ordinary men working beyond their abilities’, descriptions all contrasting with how he originally viewed them. (p105,108) Although he strives to ‘guard against the natural tendency to look down them’, Charlie continues with his uncaring attitude towards those below him. (p107) Thus, his awareness resulting from intelligence, is

“Flowers for Algernon” is a story about 37-year-old Charlie Gordon, who has to write [progris riport] for Dr. Strauss concerning his everyday life to keep up with how he is progressing. Charlie has a disorder where he spells things the way they sound. For example, instead of important Charlie world spell it [importint] . Charlie is a hardworking man, in [progris riport] 3 Charlie states “ I [tyed] the [hardist] and I [reely wantid] to [lern]” this shows the reader more about Charlie’s personality and saying how he does not want to give up. Algernon is a mouse who had the same problems Charlie did, but he had surgery and now he is smarter than what he used to be. Charlie and Algernon compete in a maze and Charlie lost Algernon over ten times that brought Charlie’s confidence, low a lot and made him feel upset.

Charlie was always happy and never saw the actions people were exhibiting as rude, but more as funny and playful; they just wanted to have a good time with him. The reader must consider that, “…there are everyday satisfactions, too, that we often overlook like offering a kindness, telling the truth, having a good idea, paying our bills, learning something new... In their own way, these moments bring a kind of bliss, too…" (Kunst 1). For Charlie, things conformed differently, and stuff that seemed so simple like paying the bills and irrelevant like telling the truth meant everything to him. Charlie Gordon didn’t understand the way people were treating him because of his mental disability. Charlie lives alone and doesn’t understand that the reason he doesn’t have contact with his family anymore is the result of his disability. The people around him ignored him, and he never understood the concept. In the article “‘You're Not the Same Kind of Human Being’: The Evolution of Pity to Horror in Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon”, it is pointed out, "if Charlie is unaware of his powerlessness in the midst of science, he is also unaware of his isolation in the midst of society. His family has previously abandoned him, something Charlie is only vaguely aware of... " (Cline 2). This quote challenges ignorance because if Charlie would’ve known all of this information before his operation, then he possibly wouldn’t have put as much effort into maturing and becoming intelligent or even gone through with the procedure caused from his lack of drive and

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.

In a large science lab in New York one man is trying to make his life how he always wanted.One man is out to change his life forever Charlie Gordon a 37 year old man with a I.Q. of just sixty eight is trying to do in the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon”. All Charlie wanted was to be smart and be liked by everyone he just wanted to be a normal person he wanted to be like everyone else but it went very bad.

Charlie should never had the distressful surgery. While Daniel Keys in “Flowers for Algernon” portrayed the hope of a mentally impaired man, Charlie Gordon, the operation failed with devastating consequences! The conflicts in society were seen through a new perspective, what was perceived was reality. We, as a whole, as humans, fear the unknown. Charlie was the unidentified.

Flowers for Algernon is a novel written by Daniel Keyes and first published in 1966. It was originally a short story and, in the year 2000, was adapted into a film of the same name.