Who Is Charlie Gordon In Flowers For Algernon

Charlie Gordon was fighting, working hard, and struggling for being smart. Charlie had a once in a lifetime to increase his I.Q. three times as much. In the story “Flowers for Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes, the genre is Science Fiction. Charlie has a low I.Q. of sixty eight, and wants to be a genius. Charlie Gordon’s life is better with the A.I. Surgery.

Charlie fell in love after the A.I. surgery. Before the A.I. surgery Charlie didn’t know what love was. “The thought of leaving her behind made me sad. I’m in love with MS. Kinnien.” (Keyes,234) After the A.I. surgery Charlie sheen Ms. Kinnian as a crush not a teacher anymore. Charlie Gordon has never fallen in love before.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things”, -Henry Miller. When one reads this quote, it may have a different meaning to them than to others. To Charlie Gordon, it practically defines his life journey. In the shorty story “Flowers for Algernon”, Charlie Gordon is a main who obtains an IQ of 68, and desires to be smart. Charlie finally gets his dream one day by partaking in an intelligence enhancing operation. His perspective of life is much different before and after the surgery. Although Charlie seems happy before the surgery, Charlie is able to apprehend reality through a “pair of new eyes”, regarding the operation. Three arguments why Charlie’s emotions are happier following the surgery are: He learns about lies he had in life, Charlie had a positive learning experience, and Charlie discerns his full potential.

In the book "Flowers for Algernon" a man named Charlie, who's intellectually disabled, wants to become smart. Since that's the only thing he wants, and he'll do anything to do it, two men choose Charlie to have the operation done on, which will "open up the gates" to him learning. Before they did it on a human, they did it on a mouse named Algernon, who became very smart. After Charlie had his operation, he was frustrated because he wasn't smart. The two men, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, had Charlie do many things such as read and write down progress reports. Charlie was learning at a very fast rate. He read

The award-winning short science fiction, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, digs deep in how society reacts to different levels of intelligence. The book covers a wide variety of society from the creative minds to world-renowned scientists. When a retarded adult becomes one of those brain maniacs through a scientific operation, you get the full spectrum of what it is like personally as a handicapped person and through the minds of a genius. In the reports, you can see the progress and comparison of Charlie’s realization towards other people’s capability of intelligence.

He is functional, but moderately mentally disabled. Charlies main goal is to learn so he can be smart like everyone else. When he was suggested by his teacher for an operation that could make him smarter, he got excited because he actually had a chance. Before the surgery Charlie is completely innocent. Being innocent is defined as simple and naive. He has no experience because he has been under circumstances that did not allow him. He is a generally happy person that values companionship. Charlie sees the good in everybody and is nice to all, even when some are not particularly nice to him. Before the surgery Charlie is very ignorant to the jokes and slurs his “friends” express to him. He always enjoys going to work to see his friends because he likes how they joke around and laugh with him.

One reason as to why this is the theme that sticks out the most is because the operation harmed Charlie’s social life. He had a lot of people to call friends, like Joe Carp, Frank Reilly, and Gimpy, but after he had the operation, he realized that they weren’t really his friends. “April 22- People at the bakery are changing. I can feel the hostility.” Charlie had become smarter than the people who worked at the bakery, and they started to push him away, and Charlie started to feel upset and hurt by their actions. He thought that he had lost all of his friends were lost, and that upset him. This is one of the many reasons why technology was a bad thing for Charlie.

Before the surgery, Charlie was a person that was liked by all. The people in his life knew him from his benevolent smile with a sense of humor. Now, his intelligence seems to have taken over the emotional side to him, and transform it for the worse. For example, the people at the bakery are what Charlie considered as family. As a young child, Charlie’s family life was not adequate. His parents—especially Rose (Charlie’s mother)—wanted to put him into a mental institution. Before the chaos would take place, Charlie’s uncle had taken him in and offered a job, and other necessities. Since Uncle Herman died, Mr. Donner seems to have a reason to let Charlie go, especially since he along with the other coworkers are confused at what is happening to Charlie. For example, “But something happened to you, and I don’t understand what it means. Not only me. Everyone has been talking about it” (Keyes 104). After the surgery, everything seemed to go downhill for Charlie; everything in his life was not the best because of his increase in intelligence. His emotions are taking a toll from his life at the expense of the decision he made. Furthermore, changes cannot always be beneficial. Charlie would have been fine without the procedure because his life was just right. A change in one’s life can because the biggest break in

In my opinion I believe that everyone has to go through a bad experience to learn more about life. I think that even though most of his memories are bad, that he now knows what to do when he feels anger, love, or when he is scared. Now that Charlie is more intelligent than he was before, he could prove to all of the people that hurt him, that he is smart and knows how they have been treating them in the past. In one of Charlie’s progress reports it states that “When I went up to Gimpy he jumped and dropped his coffee.” This is proving how people that have treated him badly in the past are now afraid of him and the amount of brilliance that he has after his surgery. The bakery boys don’t know that he got the surgery so all they know is that Charlie has been acting very strange and they are scared of what he knows about his past. I envision that this surgery has helped Charlie understand what life is and the feelings that come with it. I don’t think that Charlie would have survived life not being able to recognize everything around

If the patient is not benefited or could have the possibility to be harmed, then you should not do the operation. Charlie seemed happy about the operation, so the doctors thought it would be benefiting. However, Charlie was never aware of what could happen which was why Charlie was so excited to have the operation. Charlie was not aware of the benefits. In the book it says, "Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart," which was all Charlie was aware of.

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”-James Madison. In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes Charlie Gordon always wanted to have the power of knowledge. Ever since he was a boy, his life goals were to be smart, have friends, and be respected. All of this was hard for him, as he only had an IQ of sixty eight, so he agreed to an A.I. surgery that would hopefully triple his IQ. Charlie Gordon’s life was much better and easier after the A.I. surgery. After the operation Charlie finally had an imagination, experienced adult emotions, and had a second chance to contribute to the real world and science.

In the short story “Flowers for Algernon,” Daniel Keyes leaves the reader saddened, stunned and ultimately forming questions. Keyes also highlights several characters, a particular character is a mentally disabled janitor named Charlie Gordon. He has a sixty-eight IQ, works at a paper factory in New York, and is oblivious to his surroundings. Gordon’s deepest desire is to increase his intelligence by doing an operation that has only been done on a mouse, whose name is Algernon. Soon after the operation is done, Gordon starts becoming a super-genius with more knowledge than most doctors. He understands elaborate mathematical equations and can read and write at an age beyond his years. However, his increased intelligence starts to “ware off,” Gordon starts losing huge chunks of intelligence, he is unmotivated and is overall ashamed. His three stages which include his wanting to be the one for the operation, his super genius self, and his deteriorating self-are important in Charlie Gordon’s character development.

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

“Before, they had laughed at me, despising me for my ignorance and dullness; now, they hated me for my knowledge and understanding… This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I knew and loved…” (Keyes 108) . Charlie finds that even after his operation, there are still barriers between him and his coworkers, acquaintances, and family. “...language is sometimes a barrier instead of a pathway. Ironic to find myself on the other side of the intellectual fence.” (Keyes 114). This idea that language is also a barrier is significant because it shapes Charlie’s relationships with Professor Nemur and Dr.Strauss. “... he has succumbed to arrogance and superiority over those who have provided the opportunity for his intellectual development.” (Wroble). This criticism describes the effects of the growth of Charlie’s ego as his IQ grows too. Not only does Charlie face an intellectual barrier, but also faces an emotional

In Daniel Keyes’ compelling novel, Flowers for Algernon, the main character undergoes both important emotional and physical changes. The book has an interesting twist, as it is described in the characters “progress reports”. This book has a science fiction undertone, and takes place in exciting New York City. As the novel begins, the main character, Charlie Jordan is thirty-two years old, but cannot remember anything from his childhood.