Charlie Gordon's Success In Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

The protagonist and author of the progress reports that form the text of Flowers for Algernon. Charlie is a thirty-two-year-old mentally retarded man who lives in New York City. At the start of the novel, he works at Donner’s Bakery as a janitor and delivery boy. Charlie’s friendliness and eagerness to please, along with his childhood feelings of inadequacy, make him the hardest-working student in Alice Kinnian’s literacy class for retarded adults. When Charlie undergoes an experimental surgery to increase his intelligence, his IQ skyrockets to the level of a genius. His obsession with untangling his own emotional life and his longing to reach an emotional maturity and inner peace to match his intellectual authority inform many of the novel’s

In John Milton’s Paradise Lost, he writes,“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven.” Charlie Gordon is a 37-year-old man, fighting between what he sees as Heaven, and Hell. Charlie lives in 1960’s New York with an IQ of Sixty-Eight. Wanting to learn and become smarter, Charlie undergoes an operation to gradually increase his intelligence. Charlie Gordon, the Protagonist of “Flowers for Algernon”, a Science Fiction short story by Daniel Keyes, should not have gotten the operation to increase his intelligence. Charlie’s decision to have the operation ultimately changes his life for the worst, He loses the intelligence he had risked everything for, people and things he cared for no longer appeared

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.

“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.

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 more obvious ways he had changed was his intelligence, and the memories that slowly came flooding back to him after the surgery. He had went from an IQ of 70, to an IQ of 185 and counting. It had a tremendous impact on Charlie, for he was like a sponge, absorbing as much knowledge as possible, refusing to stop. He had exceeded the expectations, surpassing the IQ of the doctors that worked at Beekman University, and even the ones that constructed the experiment that changed Charlie’s life. He had managed to learn French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Hindi, and Japanese in an extremely short period of time. Before the surgery, Charlie wanted to partake in conversations with the college students about politics,

“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.

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.

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.

He is motivated to learn before the surgery, which is why Miss Kinnian suggested him for the surgery. Charlies main goal is that he wants to be smart like everyone else. In “progris riport 6th Mar 8,” Charlie says, “and he [Prof Nemur] said that meens Im doing something grate for sience and Ill be famus and my name will go down in the books. I dont care so much about beeing famus. I just want to be smart like other pepul so I can have lots of frends who like me” (Keyes 12-13). He is trying so hard because he wants to fit in. Fitting in is a big deal to Charlie because he has always felt outside, especially with his family. He wants his mother to be proud of him, he wants her to know how smart he is. After the surgery Charlie’s intelligence increases so much over a period of time that he is now at what is considered the genius level. Ironically, when Charlie’s intelligence increases his relationships and friendships start to be harmed, which is the exact opposite of what Charlie believed would happen. Charlie found his dad’s barber shop and decided to go see him. When Charlie started talking to him though, Charlie knew his father Matt did not recognize him. “I wasn’t his son. That was another Charlie. Intelligence and knowledge had changed me, and he would resent me—as the others from the bakery resented me—because my growth diminished him. I didn’t want that” (Keyes 188). Charlie starts to realize that

Not only could he understand social cues but he began to have feelings for Mrs. Kinnian. “Now every time I see her she grows younger and more lovely” (295 Keyes). In this quote charlie is talking about Mrs. Kinnian, he starts to have feelings for her, this really shows his improvement after the surgery. Overall not only does he become smarter but he has better social

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”.

Charlie had a chance to learn and do things that most people wouldn't have a chance to do in a lifetime, even if it was for a short time. After Charlie's regression he continued to try to become intelligent again, however, Charlie had said himself that he was grateful when he said, "Im glad I got a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned a lot of things that I never even new were in this world and Im grateful that I saw it all for a little bit (Keyes 245) [Sic]." You have to understand that, with a mindset like this, you know you have done the right thing. Charlie was grateful for his chance to be smart and was thoroughly pleased with his decision. Nothing can be more favorable than the joyous feeling of gratitude. It can be compared to getting the gift you always wanted for Christmas, or when someone gives you a sincere smile that will brighten any bad day. This must have been what Charlie had been feeling in order to be this grateful. Another piece of evidence to prove this point is when Dr Nermur had said that Charlie was, "trying to cram a lifetime of research and thought into a few weeks (Keyes 238)." Both Charlie and Dr. Nemur both know that he was capable of this, and so much more. After the operation Charlie was super intelligent and grew the ability to understand more things socially, which is what he wanted the most, to be able to understand his friends and be smart like them, two of his greatest desires in one stone.

In the beginning, he wasn’t very smart, but he was happy. He didn’t understand things, he didn’t know how to spell, he was childish, but he was happy. The story explains, “ She told me this test and the other one the raw-shok was for getting personalty. I laffed so hard. I said how can you get that thing from inkblots and fotos.” (Keyes, 55) The text explains that he was happy, he can’t spell, and that he is childish. Then when he had the operation, he became so knowledgeable that he lost his friends and wasn’t very happy. Being happy is more important than being intelligent, and Charlie lost his happiness because he wanted to be