"'What I mean is, we have no right to put this on a personal... Emotional level. You have so much to do. I have no right to come into your life at this time,'" said Alice Kinnian on page 180 of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Heart throbbing, torso wracked with anxiety, Alice Kinnian is the pristine model of the feminine side of a complex relationship. Alice Kinnian's feelings and opinions clash throughout the book with Charlie's yearnings and wishes, creating tension between the characters and drawing multiple conflicts from them. The evolution of Alice's relationship with Charlie and their different levels of emotional intelligence compared with intellectuals brings to the table a message hidden beneath overlapping layers of intense literature. Kinnian's importance as the first major love interest of Flowers for Algernon conflicts with her emotions as much as it tests the boundaries of people in her life, and Alice's evolution from humble school teacher to bold romantic partner through the course of the story changes her perspective of everyone around her. Alice Kinnian's love-hate relationship with Charlie Gordon embodies modern day crushes and confusion with the added science fiction twist of Charlie's operation. Although Alice appears to be strong and resolute, the story gives multiple hints that she is crumbling down internally at Charlie's attempts to woo and then replace her. Just like most relationships today, Kinnian is struggling to understand
Irony happens in a lot of places in the stories Flowers for Algernon and The Necklace. Irony happens in The Necklace when Mathilde loses her friends Necklace she bought a 36 thousand franc necklace. Meanwhile, the necklace that she actually lost was only worth about 500 francs. In The Necklace, the irony is shown when “Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands. “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was at the very most five hundred francs!..” (Maupassant, 5). It is ironic that she spent ten years paying for something that was worth less than the necklace that she bought to replace the false necklace with. There is also irony in Flowers for Algernon when Charlie is unhappy due to the operation that
There are several differences and similarities in the book Flowers for Algernon versus the movie. Some of the many similarities are, Charlie’s co-workers are extremely rude to him, tease him, and play tricks on him while they’re at work. His co-workers also made a petition to fire Charlie when they found out that Charlie is no longer “dumb” and is getting smarter and won’t fall for their tricks anymore. Another similarity is that in the movie just like the book, Charlie also mentions that, “why is it that people think it’s okay to laugh at people with mental disabilities yet they don’t laugh at people with physical disabilities. He got this conclusion because when he was at a bar he noticed a dishwasher, who had a mental disability, dop and
The idea of changing someone's IQ is an interesting thing but Charlie a thirty seven year old man who struggles with learning and wants to be smart will become smart as a doctor gives him this chance by having a brain operation, Charlie should not have had the operation performed on him. “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is a great sci fi short story that you can learn a lot from. Although I think Charlie should not have had the operation, some might say that he should have had it because he wanted to be smart so it gave him a taste of what being intelligent is all about. The operation done on Charlie had a negative impact on him in the end, poor doctor choses, weak animal testing and bad knowledge of the situation could leave many other
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a piece of literature that asseverates that perhaps intelligence is a seamless fundamental. Precisely, for 34 old Charlie Gordon who initially wants to attain intelligence because he has been dimwitted throughout his whole entire life. Mr.Gordon is given an opportunity to be chosen for an operation. Fortunately for Mr. Gordon he happens to be the perfect candidate for the operation that will result to be semi-successful. As for Charley a 1968 film that portrays a 34 year old who seeks
Society has become a shallow place. If an individual does not fit into societies form of the normal person then they are treated differently. But does society treat those who are different in a negative or positive way? In the novel Flowers for Algernon, the author Daniel Keyes shows an in depth look at the treatment of individuals in today's society. Firstly society tends to discriminate against those whose IQ does not fit into the norms of our society. The physically handicapped in today's world are not considered to be "equal" as those who fit into the normal physical appearance, Keyes portrays this through Charlie's thoughts while in the café. Although animals are not technically humans society treats them in ways which no human would
Flowers for Algernon is about a man named Charlie who is mentally slow and not smart. Charlie had an operation to make him smart. What the doctors did was unethical.
“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.
People believed that Charlie was artificial, man-made, a lab rat. Professor Nemur thought that he had created Charlie, and that he was nothing before the operation “It might be said that Charlie Gordon did not really exist before this experiment…”. Charlie was a human before and after the operation “I’m a human being, a person with parents and memories and a history and I was before you ever wheeled me into that operating room!”. (p.161) As Charlie began to grow mentally and become intelligent, his understanding of the world became clearer than before. Although he could understand reality, he couldn't understand his feelings. Charlie thought he could understand his feelings but he really didn't, especially love “Something inside is burning me up, and all I know is it makes me think of you.”. Later, as he continues to grow, he decides that he could let his feelings rule him only during his relationship with Alice but not during anything else. He realized that he really loves Alice because his feelings and emotions go wild when he's with her. Also because he sees the old Charlie when he's with her helping him realize he loves her. Charlie loved her enough to let her go because he didn't want her to see him deteriorate. Charlie decided to go to the Warren Home because he
Ethics is your values and what the doctor asked you when you go to the doctor. Charlie from "Flowers for Algernon" is a kid with a really low IQ, his IQ is 68 which is really bad. That means that he is not very smart.Then he went into the operation and he got smarter. He has a pet mouse named Algernon and Charlie wants to race him and beat him which he does then Algernon dies because he stops eating and is getting less smart. Charlie Gordon's doctor did not act ethical when they performed the surgery to make him smarter, because later on he was getting less smart and people started to make for of him and they wanted the owner of the job place to have people sign a piece of paper some
His mother had taught him to not look at girls, and after the operation when he started to develop more feelings, he had a hard time talking to Alice Kinnian because he had the thought that he liked her, and that he shouldn’t. Due to the hard nature of his mother, Charlie’s emotional life was not maturing with his new-found intelligence. Emotionally, he was still a little kid. “I knew she would give herself to me, and I wanted her, but what about Charlie?” Whenever he would get near Alice, he would start to panic because he felt that there was still a part of his old self within him, keeping him from taking his relationship further with
Imagine being 37 years old, and being told that you couldn 't do things that other people could just because you had one thing that was "wrong" about you – being "mentally retarded". This was Charlie Gordon 's reality. He was an innocent, responsible man that did anything that he could to survive with his special need. One day, this all changed for him when he was told that a special surgery would be performed on him, and that he would become smarter. Unfortunately, Charlie learns a few things that he wished he hadn 't, and his ability to cooperate with the outside world starts to decline, along with his intelligence. Unfortunately, during this operation, Charlie Gordon 's doctors did not perform ethically when they performed surgery to make him smarter.
Dehumanization and Isolation. These are the main themes in the short story by Danielle Keyes, titled “Flowers for Algernon”. “Flowers for Algernon” is about a boy who is much less intelligent than the average person, so to make himself smarter, he undergoes an experimental surgery. But as Charlie’s IQ continues to grow, he soon comes to find out that all good things must come to an end. Many say that Charlie starts out as the object of dehumanization and isolation, seeing as how his ‘friends’ treat him, but many more insist that the dehumanization and isolation aren’t completely developed until the middle of the story, where Charlie becomes too smart to interact with the people that gave him his newfound intelligence. These themes are often debated upon as to whether or not they become more or less relevant as the story progresses, but what most don’t consider is that these themes have always appeared in Charlie’s life, he was just too blind to see what was always there.
The story "Flowers for Algernon", by Daniel Keyes, that we read in English was about a mentally retarded person, named Charlie who had an operation to increase his intelligence, but the operation was a failure and Charlie is slow again. He wants to move now so society won’t ridicule him for being slow again. Daniel Keyes wrote this short story for good reasons. Daniel Keyes wrote "Flowers for Angernon" to show people from an outside look on how we treat mentally challenged people. When you treat people as you always do, you don’t see how mean or how cruel it really may be. It could just be your personality or the way you were brought up. By him writing a story on a mentally challenged person wanting to become smart to
Dilemmas happen everyday. Some dilemmas can be good, and some can be bad. A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives. In the story, Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes wrote a story about a 37 year old man named Charlie who has a disability, he doesn't understand thing that normal people can. He then is encouraged by his teacher to get a surgery done to become smarter. Some people think that the surgery was a good idea,or some think it was a bad idea. In my opinion, I think that Charlie made the wrong decision about the surgery. Some people think that Charlie should of have the operation to make his dream come true In my opinion, I think he shouldn't have had the surgery because, people weren't expecting him to be new, it would not be permanent, and he put his life in danger.
The scientists at the lab report to Charlie that he and Algernon are to be taken to Chicago for a convention, in which the head scientist will present the findings of his team. Once they arrive, Charlie and Algernon are the prime “exhibits” and Charlie is humiliated by some remarks made. He also discovers that the researchers had not given sufficient time to verify their results of Algernon before performing the experiment on Charlie. Charlie and Algernon run away to New York, and Charlie decides his time is probably short, and begins to try and trace the reasons for his experiments’ failure. Alice and Charlie cannot overcome their problems, and she is forced to move on. He soon gets involved with Fay, his neighbor and unconventional artist. Around her, he is able to defeat his inhibitions. But as Charlie’s work becomes harder and more time constraining, they too break up.