Charlie's Life Better Before His Operation Analysis

Was Charlie better off before or after the surgery had happened? Although Charlie did gain more intelligence after the surgery, there are many reasons why Charlie was better off before the surgery. One of the reasons why Charlie is better before the surgery is because Charlie was always happy no matter what people would say about him, but after the operation Charlie would always get angry when someone would say a rude comment or when Charlie would not think he was smart enough.

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.

I believe that Charlie is happier when he is less intelligent before the operation. You know the saying ignorance is bliss? That's what I think this is. Sometimes when I get bored I think about things. This is one of them. Would you rather be happy and not know something bad is happening? Or would you rather be unhappy and know that something bad is happening. Charlie was happiest before the operation. He didn't know that his "friends" weren't really his friends. He didn't know that his whole work place was making fun of him. He was happy though. Then he was intelligent, and knew what everyone was doing, he wasn't happy. He knew his "friends" weren't his friends. He knew everyone makes fun of him. He wasn't happy. In fact, he was so upset that

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

He wears glasses but only for watching T.V. and movies. Charlie has a great motive because all he wants is to be smart for example, "After the operashun I'm gonna try to be smart. I'm gonna try awful hard. (p.11)". Charlie, being intellectually disabled, doesn't understand things, making him constantly happy. This is because he doesn't think about life. Charlie gets bullied but thinks they're being nice to him when they do things like "He really pulled a Charlie Gordon that time. I don't know why they say it but they always laff and I laff too. (p.23)". After the operation, he had a different outlook on life. He wanted to become smart so that he could talk with his coworkers about intelligent things like politics. Although, the operation made him too smart. His way of thinking was based on facts and intelligence, rather than emotion, feelings and instinct. Charlie was a genius and they weren't. He didn't know how to control his emotion because he never knew he had them, often making him go into depression and be

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.

After Charlie goes through the surgery to improve his intelligence, he begins to see the world as it truly is. Charlie is not very intelligent. He is aware of his mental deficit and wants to become smart. When asked about the reason he wants the surgery, Charlie states, “I told them becaus all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb (Keyes 286). Charlie, “Cant wait to be smart like my best frends Joe Carp and Frank Reilly (Keyes 290).” Therefore, he was not satisfied with his life before the surgery. Furthermore, Charlie’s mental deficit makes him not very smart about his relationships with his coworkers. He is unaware that his coworkers make fun of him. At first, Charlie believes, “Their really my friends and they like me” (Keyes 289). Others, however, realize that the coworkers aren’t treating Charlie well. Referring to his kind teacher, Charlie says, “I said all my frends are smart people but there good. They like me and they never did anything that wasnt nice. Then she got something in her eye and she had to run out to the ladys room” (Keyes 291). After the surgery, Charlie comes to understand people more and to understand what is a true friend. Charlie later learns, “Now I know what it means when they say ‘to pull a Charlie Gordon.’ I'm ashamed” (Keyes 293). Charlie also sees his doctors in a new light when he says, “It was as if I'd

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.

Have you ever known anyone one that was slow but became smart? In or story it showed when he was not smart people like him but when he was smart no one liked him anymore. I think that Charlie was better off after the surgery.

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”.

In my opinion I believe that everyone has to go through a bad experience to learn more about life. I think that even though most of his memories are bad, that he now knows what to do when he feels anger, love, or when he is scared. Now that Charlie is more intelligent than he was before, he could prove to all of the people that hurt him, that he is smart and knows how they have been treating them in the past. In one of Charlie’s progress reports it states that “When I went up to Gimpy he jumped and dropped his coffee.” This is proving how people that have treated him badly in the past are now afraid of him and the amount of brilliance that he has after his surgery. The bakery boys don’t know that he got the surgery so all they know is that Charlie has been acting very strange and they are scared of what he knows about his past. I envision that this surgery has helped Charlie understand what life is and the feelings that come with it. I don’t think that Charlie would have survived life not being able to recognize everything around

Now I know what it means “to pull a Charlie Gordon.’’ I’m ashamed.” (Keyes201). He always saw everyone as being his friend and everyone seeing him as an equal. At this moment he saw how people really saw him. For the first time in his life he saw his “friends” for what they really are. Even when Charlie became smart he started to be like everyone else, “I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide, bright eyes of a child, uncertain but eager to please. They were laughing at him because he was mentally retarded, and I had been laughing at him too.” (Keyes207). He had been just like that boy once, and now he’s just like everyone who was laughing at him. He realized that he was becoming like the people who once laughed at him. This opened his eyes to how the world will treat people. It was worth the surgery because he got to experience the other side of

Charlie should not have had the operation because it ruined his relationships. After the operation, when Charlie reached genius level, he realized “This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved” (235). As Charlie’s intelligence started to progress, he began realizing that those he once called friends, thought he was just a joke. Since Charlie was not as smart as the people around him, he did not

Although he got to experience emotions, the surgery Charlie Gordon had worsened his quality of life because he realized his friends were making fun of him, he could no longer conversate, and he became depressed.

I think that Charlie was happier before her had the operation. I think this because when he was unintelligent he never knew what people were laughing at when he was at work. Before the operation, Charlie didn't know that Joe and the rest of the workers were making fun of him and laughing at him, not with him. He also never understood the meaning of "You pulled a Charlie Gordon", he never thought that it was insulting it, he just laughed along with it because he didn't understand. For example when he finally figured out that he was just being used by his co-workers for amusement, he became very upset. It was almost like he liked it better when he didn't know. For example, when Joe and Charlie writes in his progress report, "Now I know what they