Juxtaposition In Flowers For Algernon

Throughout the novel, Charlie Gordon is ceaselessly abused and dehumanized by the scientists who were shown the experiment, Charlies coworkers and 'friends' and his own family. After the experiment, when Charlie was intelligent and touring with the scientist in charge of the project, the scientific community shown Charlie's story treated him like an animal or a freak show, laughing at his pre-surgery state and treating him like a lab rat while he was brilliant. Also, throughout the novel, Charlie's coworkers at the bakery when he worked teased and used him for laughs explicitly because he was mentally slow, to the point of making him dance with a girl of questionable reputation. Throughout this, Charlie is unaware until his treatments were in full effect.

Therefore, intelligence does not bring happiness. For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so- called ‘friends?’ were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was fired from the job that he loved because his new intelligence level. This promotes Charlie into a short depression. This short depression made it clear that Charlie’s life prior to the experiment was better than his current conditions since he had a job which he looked forward to and so- called “friends”.Charlie says on May 20th "Now I'm more alone than ever before” (Keyes, 108). He had nobody to relate to at this point of the story because his intelligence grow to overpower other surrounding him. Charlie’s intelligence has already exceeded his teacher and the doctors. Before Charlie gained intelligence, even the simplest things in life were good enough for him. After he gained intelligence,none of those things mattered to him because his mind grew more complex. As a result, he felt alone and buried himself in his work.

Once Charlie is at the peak of his intelligence, he starts regressing. He then writes a report to try and figure out what went wrong with the operation, so maybe he can fix it and stay a genius, or maybe if he can’t help himself, at least know what went wrong so he can prevent future operations from failing, too. He writes the Algernon-Gordon Effect, which states that human-made intelligence deteriorates at a rate of time directly proportional to the quantity of the increase. On page 333, he says, “These and my people. Let me use my gift to do something for them.” Charlie mentions that he is the only person who had both been smart and dumb in the world. Therefore, he is more knowledgeable than everyone who is working in this field. He will now be able to work out problems with the procedures so they can use it for many people, and make other people in Charlie’s predicament smarter. Other people may say, “Charlie just became stupid again, so what’s the point in the procedure? They just gave him what he wanted his whole life, only to have it forcefully taken away from him, and he could do nothing.” This is a valid point, but I believe that Charlie gets what he wants, so who cares if he becomes stupid again. All of his life, he wants to become smart, and he gets this chance through

Before the enhancing surgery, Charlie Gordon seemed to have depend and trust others, while those people didn’t have his back. This could be a problem in the future, because people have to learn to be independent so when they lose someone important, they don’t crack under pressure. In the story, Keyes writes, “Sometimes somebody will say hey look at Joe or Frank or George he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I dont know why they say that but they always laft” (Keyes, 289). Daniel Keyes uses dramatic irony as a way of displaying Charlies perception of his friends. Charlie assumes he has very nice friends, but the audience knows that his

When Charlie was intelligent he often got irritated at the doctors because they weren’t as smart as him. He had also dealt with a lot of emotion with Miss Kinnian, Charlie was in love with Miss Kinnian. When he regressed, he was embarrassed to see her because he thought she would think he was dumb. When Charlie was at a diner, he saw a kid with disabilities, and everyone was laughing at him and so was Charlie. He was upset with himself that he laughed at him because that kid was him before he had the surgery to make him smart.

Every day, people go through operations and sometimes experience unpredicted and unwanted outcomes. The story, Flowers for Algernon, is exactly like that. In this story, a 37 year old man, named Charlie Gordon, has a mental disability and participates in an operation/experiment to increase his knowledge. After taking part in the operation, Charlie’s intellect gradually escalates to a genius status. Charlie, the man who had an IQ of 68, was slowly maturing mentally and he started seeing the world with a whole new different perspective. However, near the end of the story, his brain regresses back to where he started from. Charlie shouldn't have taken part in the operation: he started seeing the world in a different perspective, he

Charlie’s psychological adulteration caused him to falsely assess interactions. Truthfully, Charlie believed Joe and Frank were his friends when in fact they could be considered anything but friends. Prior to the corrective surgical procedure, Charlie perceived Joe and Frank’s laughter erroneously; it was his belief that it was in companionable style. The procedure permitted him to finally see that they were laughing at his actions. A few weeks following his return to work after the surgery, Charlie was greeted with a petition requesting his removal from the workplace. This was a direct result of the uneasiness people had due to his operation. At Charlie’s work, idiotic deeds were referred to as “Charlie Gordon’s.” It was under his impression this was complimentary. However, after the drastic increase his IQ, Charlie could, at that point, see it was an insult. Subsequently following the corrections to his flaw-a low intelligence quotient-Charlie at long last saw the improper treatment of the intellectually disabled. While at a restaurant, Charlie observed the mistreatment of a teenaged boy. The boy was unaware of the destructive comments and was enjoying the glory of attention. Upon seeing this, Charlie visualized his previous struggle with verbal abuse. This interaction pained Charlie emotionally. Enduring the operation’s after-effects was mentally harmful for

The result of gradually becoming more intelligent causes him to become over-confident and arrogant. Additionally, in the text, a quote by Charlie states, “Only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Now I can see that unknowingly I joined them in laughing at myself. That hurts the most”(Keyes 199). This quote displays his callous behavior towards an innocent boy, who was in fact, very much like Charlie.

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

It is often debated whether ignorance is bliss. Is not being conscious of one's surroundings truly happiness? In the novel entitled Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, ignorance is Charlie’s peace. Not realizing that, he undergoes a procedure to make him knowledgeable. As his intelligence progresses, relationships begin to deteriorate with the ones he cares for most. Furthermore, his brain began to process memories, leading to anxiety in sexual situations. Finally, because his blindfold disappeared, he sees the truth behind all of his encounters, which ends up being too much for Charlie to withstand. He did not have the capacity to understand the sorrow that would come with knowledge; therefore, Charlie was better off before the surgery.

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

I am against the costly, stressful, and unethical practice of altering genetics to improve human intelligence, as imagined in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. To illustrate, at the beginning of the passage Charlie journals what Dr. Strauss explains, “…that he will be the first human beeng ever to have his intelijence trippled by surgicle meens.” (287) This means the operation is risky and per the New York Times, “Depending on the area of the brain where cranial procedures will be performed, serious risks like changes or loss in the functions of vision, mobility, speech, memory, coordination, and more can be permanent.” Charlie Gordon was pioneering an experimental research project in electing to undergo his procedure in the fictitious

“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

Throughout the novel Charlie’s personality and intelligence level changes a lot. In the beginning Charlie is happy, has friends, he’s retarded, and can’t remember a lot of things. “I fergot his last name because I dont remebir so good.” (Keyes 2),

Based off of the novel it is worse for Charlie to remember times in his life when he was bullied or harassed by others. In the novel shortly after Charlie's operation, Charlie is starting to remember things that have happened previously in his life. He is gaining more knowledge as time goes on and he is starting to understand what certain things actually mean. To begin with, in the book Charlie thinks that everyone at work is a friend of his and whenever they laugh, they are laughing with him. This however is not the case because in the novel Charlie is asking where he can go to learn and become smart, and Frank and Joe Carp make fun of him.