Flowers For Algernon Charlie Gordon Essay

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

This book follows Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old man with an extremely low IQ. He becomes the subject of an experimental surgery to raise his intelligence, however, this experiment has only been preformed on mice. Written in the voice of Charlie, readers are able to see his progression through journal entries and progress reports.

Charlie Gordon’s doctors acted ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter. In the beginning Charlie took a Rorschach test to test his personality. When he took the test, he said he saw nothing in the inkblots. Charlie Gordon is in his 30’s; his IQ was 68, despite this fact, Charlie spends time with his teacher Miss Kinnian to get smarter. Miss Kinnian teaches at a school for slow adults.

The surgery improved Charlie by making him able to learn. Charlie learned to read, write, and speak in many different languages. Charlie says "I still don't know what I.Q. is except that mine is going to be over 200 soon." (April 21) While Charlie is unaware of it, he has tripled his I.Q. Charlie has a mighty experience while he is smart.

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.

Simran Saini Ms.Young ENG 2D1-01 19 November 2014 Someone Else Tomorrow “We are all born with a unique genetic blueprint, which lays out the basic characteristics of our personality as well as our physical health and appearance... And yet, we all know that life experiences do change us, ” Joan. D Vinge.

Critics argue that Charlie shouldn’t have gotten the A.I surgery because he regressed more than his normal I.Q of 68. Nevertheless, Charlie was very happy to have contributed to science and doesn’t regret a thing about it. In a letter Charlie wrote,”Yet for sake of science I am grateful for the little bit that I here to add to the knowledge of the human mind and of the laws governing the artificial increase of human intelligence” (Keyes 239). In addition to that Charlie now is more knowledgeable of the world around him. “I have reread my progress reports and seen the illiteracy, the childish naivete, the mind of a low intelligence peering from a dark room, through the keyhole, at a dazzling light outside”(Keyes 237). This evidence proves that Charlie’s life became substantially better after the surgery.

“Why would man mock the naive and the dumb yet cradle the weak, the crippled, and the blind”-Charlie Gordon. In the science fiction novel “Flowers for Algernon” Charlie Gordon, a 37 year old man with mental disabilities, so two scientists (Dr.Strauss and Dr. Nemur) decide he is the perfect candidate for a surgery that has the potential to triple a man’s intelligence. Charlie teaches us all never to use our ability to lern for granted.Charlie is much more happy after the surgery.

Charlie Gordon is a 32 year old man with an IQ of 68. Charlie has always been eager to become ‘smart’ like other people, and be able to learn. Before Charlie was given an opportunity to become smart, he was happy and selfless. Charlie worked in Mr.Donner’s Bakery, and although his co-workers made fun of him, Charlie was unable to see that. Charlie was very childlike, but willing to work hard and make real friends.

Plato once stated,”Necessity is the mother of invention,”He meant our needs help to create inventions. People invent things to help make our lives easier. Many inventions make our lives better by addressing a problem that we might have, but often there are bad side affects to all this technology. Even though technology is a great thing and gets better and better every day is it really helping our society or is it hurting our society.

His teacher when he was disabled who later became his first love. He relied on her to tell his emotional problems to. Alice was very patient with Charlie, she was also one of the only ones who saw Charlie as a human and not an experiment. But later on in the story she started to feel like she couldn’t relate to him on an intellectual level. She decided it was too hard for her to be around him and had to stop seeing him for a while. Towards the end, they both realize they both love each other. Alice was the only person who loved both Charlies, his disabled side, and his genius side. Alice was the person who helped Charlie learn about relationships, how complicated they get and how you have to work together during

“14% of Americans wish to become smarter…,” and for Charlie Gordon this wish is about to come true. In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon”, Charlie Gordon, the main character, is about to get surgery to enhance his intelligence, little does Charlie know that this surgery could turn his life upside down. Daniel Keyes, the author, represents the theme that if someone alters with the way a person is made, it can result in bad consequences.

Since the beginning of the novel, Charlie is aiming for a deeper understanding of himself and the world around him, he observes and asks questions to himself all the time. Through his journey, he’s trying to form some sort of identity, and trying to find out what he’s suffering from, in hope to overcome his suffering. On page 11, he says: “So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.” this quote foreshadows the events that Charlie is about to experience later in the novel, it shows how he

"Flowers For Algernon" is a science fiction story written by Daniel Keyes. The main character in this story is Charlie Gordon which is a mentally challenged patient that has a low IQ of 68. Charlie Gordon wants to be used so Charlie gets to have an operation in which he can get 3x smarter. After Charlie has the operation he is rising up in intelligence example he can look at a page in a book and memorize the whole page also there is this white mouse named Algernon that also had the operation done and Charlie could beat him in a race now as the story moves along he gets smarter and smarter even his friends are afraid because they make fun of him now hes a lot more intelligent they they are.

Charlie Gordon, the main protagonist, a mentally retarded thirty-two-year-old man, was chosen by a group of scientists as a human test subject to undergo an experimental surgical technique intended to increase his intelligence and expand his potential. Alice Kinnian, Charlie’s teacher at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults, being inspired by his exceptional eagerness and motivation to learn, has strongly recommended him for the experiment. The directors of the experiment, researchers Dr. Strauss