Flowers For Algernon: Mental Disabilities

The act of being devoted and being connected to a character in a novel does not occur often. Moreover, this especially does not happen to a character who does not seem to be of kindred spirits to the reader. Alas, the similitude between the reader and the main character, Charlie Gordon, in the Nebula award-winning novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is notable. Keyes’ narrative is a beloved tale of an intellectually disabled man named Charlie Gordon and his pursuit (which soon progresses to possession) of knowledge by means of a brain experiment. The novel Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes brings the reader on a heart-wrenching journey through Charlie Gordon’s life, where he explores the themes of intellectual, social, and emotional

Flowers For Algernon Essay In Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the main character Charlie Gordon under goes in an operation to increase his intelligence as a mentally disabled person. Later on in the story he looses the intelligence he gained and could be on the road to dying. He is better off with the surgery because he gained so much such as, social cues and intelligence. Before the operation Charlie could barely say complete sentences let alone spell, but after the operation he was becoming smarter than his teacher, Mrs. Kinnian.

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.

Charlie also should have had it because it improved his reading and writing, so he enjoyed it while it lasted. Ultimately “Flowers for Algernon” teaches us about whether animal testing or testing on people who

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes directly addresses mental disabilities and their treatment during the mid 1900s. The introduces Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded, 30-something year old man who attempts to heighten his IQ. Instead of utilizing safe methods to help the mentally disabled, a surgical cure was always sought. Through employing a journal format Daniel Keyes is able to show Charlie’s state of mind before, during and after the medical procedure. The structure of the book provides insight on the difference of how Charlie views his treatment and how those around him view his treatment. The juxtaposition between the two allows for the reader to relate to the mockery and humiliation mentally ill people faced during this time. Keyes employs motifs to truly display Charlie’s mental development and deterioration. Motifs, however, are not themes. Motifs are recurring ideas, images or subjects as opposed to a themes which are "the underlying dominant ideas in every written piece" (“The Difference Between Motif And Theme”, 2016). Motifs present in Flowers for Algernon include love, and memory. Keyes’ utilization of such motifs enables the depiction of maltreatment of the mentally disabled as well as the understanding the phases of development and deterioration of Charlie Gordon .

The Experiment People all around the world are affected by mental disorders and they all wonder what is it like to be normal. In the excerpt, Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes, Charlie a 37 year old man with mental disability, that agrees to have a surgery to make him one of the smartest people in the world. Charlie Gordon goes through love and heartbreak. He also learns many new things. This story will touch your heart.

Hey you, I’ve been forced to read a book called Flowers for Algernon. Here's a very short summary of it: Charlie Gordon, a person with a learning disability (Phenylketonuria). Charlie is trying to become smarter, so Charlie's teacher suggests that he should take the experiment at a facility making people smarter. So he takes the operation, becomes smart, but he awaits his downfall. But my topic for this essay is that Charlie never really had any friends.

Flowers for Algernon is a novel written by Daniel Keyes; It is about a man named Charlie, 33, who has been mentally retarded all his life. Charlie gets an operation on his brain to reverse his retardation, but the experiment doesn’t last more than a couple of months. Charlies IQ raises from 67 to almost triple that. Within a few months the effects reverse and Charlie is disabled again, barely remembering that an operation even occurred. On May 25, Charlie visits Alice’s apartment. He examines the room and discovers two paintings; one being Picasso’s Mother and Child, and the other is a Renaissance painting of a courtier protecting a maiden. Though, these may seem insignificant, they represent Charlie’s goal to protect Alice and fill the missing mother role. Keyes represents this theme throughout Flowers for Algernon with memories and uncontrollable outbursts against his friends, loved ones, and himself.

Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes is not your average book. It is written in a progress report format, and from the point of view of a mentally challenged man named Charlie Gordon. During the book, you follow Charlie's life before, during, and after he has an operation to make him smarter. It contains a lot of themes, but the theme that stuck out the most was both harm and good can come from technology.

Flowers for Algernon is a powerful dramatization of Daniel Keyes perceptive and emotional novel that tells a story of a mentally challenged man named Charlie Gordon. Charlie has an I.Q of 68 and undergoes an operation that is supposed to boost his intellect. However, yet such an operation asks many questions- can Charlie's emotional expansion keep pace with the intellectual? As the story progresses the operation's effects soon wear off and Charlie ends up in a worse place than he was in the beginning. Ultimately he discovers that being smart is not as good as he thought it would be.

"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 was born in New York on August 9, 1927. The idea for Flowers for Algernon came to him many years before he wrote the short story or the novel. The question he always asked is "what would happen if it were possible to increase human intelligence?" Charlie Gordon, the main character in the novel came years later, when a retarded young man spoke to him, he thought how wonderful would it be if a technique was able to help disadvantaged people.

Charlie has an IQ of 69. He, unlike many other mentally disabled, is motivated, and wants to learn. That is why Charlie is chosen to take part in an experiment to increase his intelligence. However, it is only temporary. There are two works that follow Charlie’s story, the movie, Charly, and the book, “Flowers for Algernon.” In these two, many of the specific aspects differ in frightfully unnecessary ways. Despite the clear fact that many of the details of the two piece differ, the essential themes of the works are highly analogous.

Following a series of journal like entries, Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, is about a fictional character named Charlie Gordon. Born developmentally disabled, Charlie Gordon was recruited to undergo a neurosurgery that increases his mental capabilities. In a successful turn of events, Charlie was the first human subject to gain artificial intelligence. As he gradually expanded his knowledge, changes in his writing, his beliefs and perspective became prominent as he achieves “genius status.” The humbling nature of Charlie Gordon transformed into a socially deprived, arrogant man. Due to the lack of social intelligence, Charlie was self-centered, his difficulty to establish human relationships only lead to violence and pain. Finally,

Flowers for Algernon is a fictional novel written by Daniel Keyes. This novel is about a mentally man named Charlie Gordon, who will be the first human to go through an operation that will make him smarter. When the operation is successful, and Charlie becomes smarter over time. However, when he reaches his peak, his mental ability starts deteriorating until he is back to his low before, if not worse. Overall, Charlie goes through changes, mentally, physically and socially before and after the operation.

I enjoyed Flowers for Algernon quite a lot. I just finished reading this novel and it struck me as both a deep and intense read. There was the constant lingering feeling that Charlie was getting more and more intelligent as the story progressed. Be it at the start of the book when Charlie was a dumb and naive. We, the readers were introduced to a Charlie before he had the surgery. You could see in the early parts of the novel that Charlie had no idea what was going on around him. I found this to be important as the story moved forward. Without this beginning part of the book, Charlies changes in intelligence would not have been so profound.