Flowers For Algernon

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.

The surgery performed, resulted in Charlie’s realization of flaws in humanity that existed. Charlie was not given the surgery to benefit him, but rather as a research tool to fix people with mental incapability. The surgery increased Charlie’s intelligence. As a result, Charlie could then see the impending, detrimental effects that even the neurosurgeons looked over. Along with the physical pain, Charlie was put through social and emotional pains all for the betterment of two greedy doctors and a self-absorbed

We believe that Charlie should not have undergone the surgery because of the extremely negative after-effects it imposed on his brain. To start of with, Charlie is introduced as a man with mental instability who is teased and not happy with how disabled he his. “Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart. My name is Charlie Gordon. I am 37 years old.” Charlie is a grown man who is not as smart as everyone around him. He desperately wants to be smart and to be treated like normal. Drs. Strauss and Nemur decide to use him in an experimental surgery that will hopefully make him much more intelligent than he is.

During their quarrel, Alice states that Charlie “...had a smile...a warm real smile, because [he] wanted people to like [him].” (Keyes 299). As Alice says, Charlie used to be a very happy person, but as time progressed, with his intelligence increase and his deterioration following, he became less jovial and outgoing. In response to Alice, Charlie claims, “Maybe that’s why it was so important for me to learn. I thought it would make people like me. I thought I would have friends. That’s something to laugh at, isn’t it?” (Keyes 299-300). This declaration further proves Charlie’s cynicality. He is expressing pessimistic behavior by affirming that it was humorous for him to gain intelligence so he could obtain friends. In reality, however, his friend-count downsized. Based on this altercation, the audience can derive that Alice deems the operation ruined Charlie’s personality, and that she valued his warm, loving personality over his artificial

Charlie's emotions swing throughout the story. At the beginning he is just a happy guy living life. Although his one desire is to become very smart. He is still just an average person that may not be as intelligent as the rest. I believe that Charlie is in fact more happy at the beginning of the book than after the operation.For example, in the text Charlie Gordon is upset after the operation because he does not see a significant difference in his intelligence level, he says, "Nothing is happening. I had lots of races and different kinds of tests with Algernon. I hate that mouse." This shows that Charlie is upset about Algernon and all the tests he has to go through, he feels as if he is not making any progress. Although he reaches his goal

In the science fiction novel Flowers for Algernon, the main character is a mentally challenged man named Charly. He is a very kind man who works as a janitor at the box factory. However, he feels as if he is held back by his low IQ. Finally he is offered an opportunity to be the first human subject to have a surgery for increased intelligence. After having the surgery, things quickly progress. Charly is suddenly flung into a world where he falls in love, can beat Algernon the mouse in the maze, and remember information quickly. Everything seems to

Charlie begins with low intelligence and has only ever wanted to be smart. On page 352 Charlie writes, “I told him thank you doc you wont be sorry for giving me a second chance. After the operashun Im gonna try to be smart. Im gonna try awful hard.” Although this is true and

He became irritable and edgy around people at the university. He grew into a short-tempered person and would yell at them. Most people stayed away from him because he was becoming a madman and they were afraid of what he was capable of. Because of this, Charlie became lonely. In essence, Charlie struggled with basic social skills, which means he did not know how to deal with his peers and decisions. Therefore, after the operation, Charlie may have become a very intelligent human being but he had to pay the price for it. He went through psychological traumas, which lead to his worst fear of

Before Charlie's operation, he is a very different person. On the MBTI scale, Charlie is ESTJ. This means that he is analytical, likes being around many people, and appreciates tradition and authority. He shows this through his thoughts and actions throughout the beginning of the book. Charlie demonstrates his want for human interaction in this thought, "If your smart you can have lots of frends to talk to and you never get lonley by yourself all the time." (Keyes 15) His limited

The novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is narrated through progress reports written by Charlie Gordon the protagonist of the novel. Novel is based on how people mock mentally challenged people and how people treat others inferior in terms of intelligence. Charlie is a kind hearted mentally challenge person who has a desire of knowledge. He was gave the opportunity to take an operation that will amp his intelligence which was first successful on a lab mouse named Algernon. He take the operation so he can fit into society, make friends, and become more knowledgable. Charlie undergo the surgery and he slowly and then tragically become an genius. The surgery soon takes an negative impact on him. He begins to become bitter and starts to isolate himself as he realizes his friends mocked him for being retarded before operation. Throughout the story Charlie gradually remember his past life such as his mother resented him for being retarded and his sister for being cruel to him. He also dealt with trying to reach emotional maturity to match his soaring intellect. As the story comes to end Algeron starts to regress to his old state and he

He thinks that everything that he thought was dumb is fun now. Charlie grew as a person because of the operation because his thoughts on many thing changed and he felt like the world is more fun than before. In addition, Charlie had also suffer when Algernon died. This suffering allowed Charlie to grow as a person because his thoughts changed from positive and optimistic to negative and gloomy. He lost interest in everything and he started to lose memories.

Throughout the story, Charlie stays kind, superstitious and motivated which shows he is a static character. Charlie is a kind and friendly character throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, Dr. Strauss (a neurosurgeon and psychiatrist who is usually on Charlie’s side) and Dr. Nemur (a psychologist who is usually against Charlie) were arguing about whether to use him in the experimental operation. Dr. Strauss states that most people of his low mentality are

In the story Flowers of Algernon A man named Charlie Gordon was a “little” slow. He had surgery that would make his IQ go up but he still had to learn the information. Here is what happened before and after before: he not very

To begin with, Before Charlie got the surgery he had many friends. After the surgery he made people feel stupid. He scared them with how different he was from everybody else. Charlie has always wanted to be smart and to fit in with every body else. When he got the chance he was over joyed. He got overwhelmed with how much and how fast he was learning. All this achieved was hurting

Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960.