Daniel Keyes's Short StoryFlower For Algernon By Daniel Keyes

To begin, one of the biggest reasons that Charlie would’ve been better off having never gotten the surgery is so he wouldn’t have to deal with knowing what great intelligence is like, but then having to go back to being naïve and dumb again. In the story Flowers for Algernon, Keyes says, “I learned so much so fast. Now my mind is deteriorating rapidly. I won’t let it happen. I’ll fight it. I can’t help thinking of the boy in the restaurant, the blank expression, the silly smile, the people laughing at him. No- please- not that again…” (303) This shows that Charlie realizes his mental capabilities are deteriorating and

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

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

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.

Charlie may have had some disadvantages to his tripled IQ, such as the struggle of talking to regular people, but he was better off with the surgery; everything was easier for Charlie. If the surgery’s effects lasted forever, he would have had everything easy. He’d have a good life, a better job, and he would be with Ms. Kinnian rather than see her as just a teacher, like his former self did. He would notice whenever someone made fun of him, or bullied him. Charlie was much more aware of various things after the surgery, so in general, Charlie was better off with the effects after the

One of the reasons Charlie is better off after the experiment is because he becomes more self-aware. One part of the story that shows this is when Charlie goes to a party with his friends Joe and Frank, and everyone laughs at Charlie trying to dance. Charlie is now smart enough from the experiment to realize Joe and Frank just keeps him around for some entertainment, and not as real friends, so now he knows “what it means when they say ‘to pull a Charlie Gordon’” (7). Here, Charlie is benefiting from the surgery because he is now intelligent enough to be able to tell whether he has real friends or not. He realizes that they are just making fun of him, because he knows he used to be very unintelligent, which is why they say he can pull a Charlie Gordon. Now, Charlie can be more aware of who he chooses to be with, and know whether or not they are actually caring of him. He has become more self-aware in his choice of friends, and by doing so, improve his emotional situation. Another

If Charlie would have accepted himself the way he was before the operation, he would have avoided all the trouble. His loved one Alice could not stand him anymore because he made her feel uncomfortable and strained due to all the absurd things he was talking about, for example neo-Boulean mathematics and post-symbolic logic. He realized that having a high I.Q is not just a bed of roses. For example, While arguing Alice told Charlie that, “There’s more to it than just having a high I.Q” (300). This shows how much Charlie had actually changed since the surgery, and not necessarily in a good

Charlie should have chosen to have had the operation because he got to achieve his ultimate dream, he got to form new relationships, and he was able to contribute new information to others; One argument that can be made for why it was beneficial for Charlie to have the surgery is because he got to live out his dream. Prior to having the IQ increasing procedure done to him, Charlie, was an optimistic and good-hearted man. Unfortunately for Charlie though he was disabled and had a low IQ, this caused Charlie to dream of becoming smart and fit in with others. One quote that can support the claim that Charlie got to achieve his dream of becoming smart is, “Im glad I got a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned alot of things that I never new were in this world and Im grateful that I saw it all for a littel bit (245).

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 addition, due to the surgery, Charlie was more aware of his surroundings and he was able to see how people reacted to specific things, and how they treated others. Charlie isn’t “blind” anymore. “It’s a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me (April 18).” Charlie was confused by the phrase “stop pulling a Charlie Gordon”. The surgery opened his eyes to the cruelty

Charlie was very happy that he was becoming smart, "Anyway, now I know I'm getting smarter every day. I know punctuation and I can spell good. I like to look up all the hard words in the dictionary and I remember them" (Keyes 231). All of his life, he had wanted to be smart, and now he finally is. Not only did the operation make him smarter, it also made him much smarter. This was new for everyone, "You're accomplishing in days and weeks what it takes normal people to do in half a lifetime. That's what makes it so amazing" (Keyes 233). He was doing things that no one else had ever done, which is amazing for him. This made Charlie finally feel like he was a normal person, which he had never felt before. Charlie had everything he had ever want for a short period of time, which the operation gifted to

The surgery was worth the experience because it helped him contribute to the world of science. He contributed by desperately wanting to be in the experiment and wanting to make discoveries, “I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” (Keyes190). He was the first human to really want to contribute to this experiment. Just by getting the surgery he helped science. Without Charlie they couldn’t have gotten the results and shown

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

Should Charlie have had the operation? In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie isn’t very intelligent. His teacher Mrs. Kinnian thinks he would be good to get to operation. Charlie is willing to lose his personality and everything about him already, just to get an operation that is supposed to make you intelligent. It may be temporary, but he goes for it. If he never had gotten the operation he wouldn’t have lost everything he had, such as his personality and most of all Mrs. Kinnian.