Flowers For Algernon Literary Analysis

The American Revolution is considered a story of great success and perseverance of the colonists. It is full of grand battles and hard working soldiers, who fought against the Empire of Great Britain in order to gain the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is the story that most Americans know and it is certainly what is taught in elementary and middle schools. Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States, castigates this idea. In fact, he tells a very different story. Zinn believes that instead of a great fight for freedom, the American Revolution was full of inequality of rights, lack of American war effort and injustices in the Constitution.

“Is there, then an evil that is innate, that is the little piece of monster in all of us.” (Cusatis). Every person has two sides, no one is completely good or completely evil. In the East of Eden, John Steinbeck uses a biblical metaphor to illustrate the innate good and evil that humans encounter. The novel includes several characters that are purely evil or do evil deeds. The Trask family is directly correlated to the Garden of Eden and other biblical narratives. “Steinbeck puts more into his stories than Genesis 4” (Fontenrose). Steinbeck illustrates the concepts of good and evil, family, and love to describe the frailties of the human experience.

The title of this written response is ‘A letter to future Charlie’ which was inspired by the science fiction story ‘Flowers for Algernon’ by Daniel Keyes published in 1966. The writing relates to the core topic of social relationships. The aim is to show how Charlie Gordon as a genius would communicate to himself in the future when he reverts to his original state.

My junior year English class read The Scarlet Letter, and, although viewed by many as an influential work, as I am sure it was in its time, I found the book boring and tedious. Although a classic, The Scarlet Letter does not make it to my personal list of books that fit into the literary canon. As a substitute, I believe Flowers For Algernon should be added to the canon list. I read this book in eighth grade, I believe, and it really was influential for its time. It goes through the life of a mentally disabled man, and his journey from being mentally altered to the point where he was considered a genius and his swift decline back into his mental disability. It helped those who do not suffer from a disability like that see the world through the eyes of a mentally disabled man, paralleled in The Scarlet Letter, which showed how the world looks through the eyes of a publicly disgraced

Flowers for Algernon Essay by Matthew Duran In “Flowers for Algernon,” numerous themes appear throughout Charlie Gordon’s journey. Charlie Gordon, the story’s protagonist, is considered to be used as a test subject for an original experiment that can potentially change the face of science. After many tests, Charlie undergoes an operation, as a result, a slow progression begins in his overall intelligence levels.

The first main character in Flowers for Algernon is the protagonist, Charlie Gordon. Charlie narrates the entire novel by writing progress reports. He is a 32-year-old man who is mentally disabled with an IQ of 68, but has an extreme motivation to become intelligent. Charlie states in his eighth progress report, “I wish it woud [sic] reely [sic] work alredy [sic] so I coud [sic] get smart like evrybody [sic] else” (24). Charlie is a very dynamic character; he is initially very kind, sweet, and naïve, but develops into an arrogant genius. Charlie’s teacher at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults, Alice Kinnian, is the second main character. She is a young, intelligent woman with soft brown eyes and medium-length brown hair. Charlie describes her in his eleventh progress report by saying, “When she smiles, her full lips look as if she’s pouting” (76). Alice is very kind and honest, and deeply cares about Charlie, as well as his well-being. She recommends him for an experimental surgery to artificially increase his intelligence, and represents emotional stability for Charlie. The scientist in charge of Charlie’s operation, Professor Nemur, is the third major character. He is an egotistical, selfish older man who treats Charlie as a test subject rather than a person. He is very insecure, and resents Charlie for his intelligence surpassing his own. Dr. Strauss, who works with Nemur, tells Charlie, “‘You’re making him feel inferior and he can’t take it’” (149). This shows that even the man who works with Nemur can tell he feels insecure and inferior to Charlie. Nemur is also quite intelligent, but very cold and lacks empathy and compassion for others.

The author uses conflict to how both characters experience bullying. In Flowers For Algernon, Charlie so called ‘friends’ make fun of him when he doesn't understand something, then they say “ You really just pulled a Charlie Gordon. In the text it says “ I never knew that Joe,and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me. Now I know what it means when they say to pull a “Charlie Gordon”. I’m ashamed” (Keyes,PR 9). This is important because this shows how Charlie’s ‘friends’ bully before the surgery and how he notices after the operation. In Raymond’s Run, Raymond struggles to communicate with others around him because of his speech disability. In the text it says ‘ But now, if anybody has anything to say to Raymond, anything to about his head , they have to come by me. (Bambara, part 1). This shows that Squeaky protects her brother from anyone who tries to be mean to Raymond. This is important because this tells us that Raymond can count on Squeaky to be there for him.This is how both Raymond and Charlie show that they have a conflict.

"I don 't know what 's worse: To not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you 've always wanted to be and feel alone." - Daniel Keyes. Flowers for Algernon, a tale that tells you the sacrifices, experience, and emotions of life what you can have coming for you. And to the meaning of being a normal person whom you already born as. This fascinating novel published in 1959, is by the author Daniel Keyes, with a touching Science Fiction and Dystopia genre. The theme indicates that you should go through a process whether or not to make that mistake, or chance to risk it to have an experience along your life line. This takes place in New York, as where the protagonist Charlie starts his motivation to learning. Charlie Gordon is a person, who happens to have an IQ of 68, and his desire to become smarter for just about anything it takes to become smarter. As his ambition is to have friends and to someday defeat a mouse named Algernon, that’s his rival and beloved companion in the end. While becoming a bright man with intelligence, his journey marks meeting gracious people; Ms. Alice Kinnian, a supportive kind teacher of Charlie, who endears him of his positivity of learning. Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, who also help him as they chosen him for an specific task for the better knowing to the society and Science in the future. Mr. Donner as his boss, Frank, Joe, and Gimpy who are his “friends” and employees Charlie and them work at a Bakery. And lastly his family;

Flowers for Algernon is book about Charlie Gordon. Charlie is a 32- year man who is a developmentally disabled man who finds an opportunity to undergo surgery that would increase his mental capabilities. Charlie’s reading teacher, Miss Kinnian recommended Charlie for the experimental surgery. The scientist, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur were very impressed by Charlie’s motivation. The surgery was already done on lab mouse named Algernon. Charlie would be the first human to undergo that surgery. As Charlie is being experimented on, he begins records everything that happens to him. With the surgery the Charlie underwent his intelligence began to increase. His intelligence increased to a genius level. The process was very slow in the beginning,

Daniel Keyes’ novel Flowers for Algernon portrays many ideas of how change affects an individual, using Charlie Gordon. One of these prevalent concepts is that almost every significant change—whether physical or personal—has a tendency to have a negative reaction, usually manipulated by society. As Charlie undergoes his intellectual and emotional changes, he notices several counterparts to them. Charlie is oblivious to most of the effects his changes have. Even though he does see them, he does not correlate them directly to his improvement.

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” - Harriet Tubman. Charlie Gordon is a very welcoming, playful, and genuine man. He attends Beekman College for Retarded Adults and has a strong motivation to learn and to improve his intelligence. He dreams of being popular, and making friends. Throughout the novel Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon changed in many ways. Prior to his life changing operation, he was not able to grasp that the people at Donner’s Bakery were not his friends, they only spoke to him to make fun of him. Charlie acknowledged their harsh actions, and started retaliating. Charlie is a very open

The Use of Historical Fiction as a Secondary Source Opening statement here. After reading the novel, The Ash Garden by Dennis Bock, and attending Professor Hayes lecture, I can conclude that historical fiction can be used as a historical source when completing secondary research. This is evident through analysis of primary, and secondary sources, accuracy of historical fiction, and the historical research completed by the authors. When determining the whether or not historical fiction can be used as a historical source, one must determine the strength and weaknesses of additional sources, including; primary, secondary, and historical fiction itself. While I still believe that historical fiction can be used a historical source, one must

"Exceptional refers to both ends of the spectrum, so all my life I've been exceptional" Charlie Gordon of Flowers for Algernon refers to his intellectual ability in this quote, which is the focal point of the novel. More specifically, Flowers for Algernon is about a severely mentally challenged man who undergoes medical treatments that makes him intellectually brilliant but lacking in emotional intelligence. Eventually, the treatments fail and he reverts back to his original mental state. This book also contains sexual themes, language, and the dehumanization of the mentally challenged. Despite these things, this book should not be banned in middle and high schools because it teaches that we should love and respect everyone despite differences in intellectual or emotional differences, as well as insight into the mind of a mentally challenged person and the honest insight into the strain his condition puts on his family.

Over the course of four years in high school, I have realized that I want to make an impact and change the world. Not just something to benefit myself, but to benefit others.

“Today evolution of human intelligence has advanced us to the stage where most of us are too smart to invent new gods but are reluctant to give up the old ones” (Ruth Hurmence Green). Flowers for Algernon is about a man named Charlie Gordon, he is 37, and has a low IQ of 68. He will go through an operation that has never been done before. It is supposed to generate Charlie to three times smarter. A while after he had undergone the operation his mind starts to deteriorate. He was able to predict that his mind will deteriorate like Algernon's due to a series of experiments he did. Still, Charlie is better of going through the experiment be because he can now see things clearly for the first time, he has the chance to experience what it is like to be smart, and he knows how he truly feels.