“Flowers for Algernon” Essay by Matthew Duran
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.
In the excerpt “Flowers for Algernon” written by Daniel Keyes, the theme conveyed is that people should try to modify nature's course for the benefit of science. Daniel Keyes first expresses this by the characters' dialogue, at first when Charlie spoke, he was lost, he spoke with no emotion and did not truly nor fully understand the concept of his conversations, but after the surgery, he communicated with a passion he knew what he was saying and could get is point across to other people. The second thing Keyes asserts is Algernon, without the operation Algernon would just be a normal mouse eating and sleeping, doing what all other pet mice do, but with the surgery, Algernon became important, he was the foundation for the experiment and there was a more important point in his life, but Algernon did eventually decline and pass away but without him the experiment would have been in question and Algernon helped answer those questions, Algernon also served as a friend and representation of Charlie, this is due to the fact that both Algernon and Charlie were the only ones who received this special surgery, so in a sense they both were connected. Charlie really loved Algernon and Algernon sort of understood that, him and Charlie were connected mentally and physically, with our the operation this bond would no have been possible so this whole operation helped Charlie receive a good friend not a regular companion. The final example Keyes provides is Charlie Gordon's progress reports, at first, Charlie wrote incorrectly and with no emotion, bland, but after the operation, he wrote correctly and with feelings because he was experiencing life he felt sadness, a bit of happiness and love something he could not have felt without the surgery, people may argue that he
The protagonist and author of the progress reports that form the text of Flowers for Algernon. Charlie is a thirty-two-year-old mentally retarded man who lives in New York City. At the start of the novel, he works at Donner’s Bakery as a janitor and delivery boy. Charlie’s friendliness and eagerness to please, along with his childhood feelings of inadequacy, make him the hardest-working student in Alice Kinnian’s literacy class for retarded adults. When Charlie undergoes an experimental surgery to increase his intelligence, his IQ skyrockets to the level of a genius. His obsession with untangling his own emotional life and his longing to reach an emotional maturity and inner peace to match his intellectual authority inform many of the novel’s
“I wanted to race algernon some more but Burt said thats enough for one day. They let me hold him for a minit. Hes not so bad,” (Keyes 120). Charlie Gordon has a good heart, but a very low intelligence. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is eager for a surgery that will hopefully triple his IQ and make him much more intelligent than the average man. After Charlie gets his operation, he meets a lab animal, a mouse named Algernon, who has had the same operation that Charlie had. Dr. Strauss, the man who started this all, has Charlie and Algernon race to solve mazes that measure Charlie's intellectual growth, which increases proving the operation successful. Daniel Keyes focused on multiple craft moves: simile, foreshadow, and personification to give the reader a way to associate the story with ways that they can relate to.
Flowers for Algernon is a story with hope, humor, defeat, sadness, and disappointment. Charlie is your average joe with a mental disability. He writes through a series of journal entries about his journey of coming out of the darkness of ignorance and into the bright light of intelligence. At the beginning of his trek, he was working hard to become smarter on his own but was chosen for a experimental surgery that makes people smarter. He underwent the operation and gradually his intelligence surpassed his teachers. Unfortunately the effects were not permanent and Charlie digressed into the person that he once was, knowing he was going to die like his mouse friend Algernon. He moved to New York and It is assumed that
“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.
“Flower for Algernon” is an outstanding story about a Man named Charlie Gordon with an I.Q. of 68, and a small white mouse named Algernon who can beat Charlie in any maze. The story begins when Charlie's Support teacher, Miss Kinnian, advise Charlie to do an experiment that Dr.Nemur and Dr.Strauss believe that a surgical operation could possibly have Charlie's I.Q. raise up triple the amount it was once before. In the beginning, it was a thank took months for success to happen in the experiment.However, the success was only temporary. Charlie with once with an I.Q. of a genius know back to his original self.
The book that I have read is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. This book was published in 1966 and 1959.
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
Do you choose intelligence over happiness? “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.” Writes Charlie Gordon (Keyes 298). In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon is a young man who struggles with mental retardation. His dream is to be intelligent so he can be like the rest of the world. Charlie goes through an experimental surgery that increases his intelligence. But the consequence of his tripled intelligence is that Charlie Gordon is not as happy as he was before surgery. Before his surgery, Charlie was oblivious to his “friends” being mean to him. After, he realized what kind of people they really were. Before surgery, Charlie’s ignorance hid him from the true, harsh reality. After surgery, Charlie’s ignorance disappeared, making him realize how fake and disappointing the world can be. Before Charlie’s surgery, he was happy, but felt oblivious to the world surrounding him. After surgery, he was pleased with his intelligence when it reached its peak. But when Charlie’s intelligence began to deteriorate, he became upset that he couldn’t think the way he could when he was smart. From the reasons stated above, In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon is better off before surgery.
The story Flowers for Algernon has both similarities and differences with the film version Charly, such as Charlie attending night school and going through testing, Charlie and Ms. Kinnian falling in love with each other, and Charlie’s friends teasing him. Just like in the story, Charlie attends night school and goes through testing. In both the film and the story, Ms. Kinnian is Charlie’s teacher, Charlie is chosen for the operation, and Charlie goes through testing because he wants to get smarter. Another similarity between the book and the film is that Charlie’s friends (or who he thinks are his friends) tease and take advantage of him. At first, in both the film and the story, Charlie goes along with the teasing, but later on, as Charlie
“Flowers for Algernon” is a story about 37-year-old Charlie Gordon, who has to write [progris riport] for Dr. Strauss concerning his everyday life to keep up with how he is progressing. Charlie has a disorder where he spells things the way they sound. For example, instead of important Charlie world spell it [importint] . Charlie is a hardworking man, in [progris riport] 3 Charlie states “ I [tyed] the [hardist] and I [reely wantid] to [lern]” this shows the reader more about Charlie’s personality and saying how he does not want to give up. Algernon is a mouse who had the same problems Charlie did, but he had surgery and now he is smarter than what he used to be. Charlie and Algernon compete in a maze and Charlie lost Algernon over ten times that brought Charlie’s confidence, low a lot and made him feel upset.
The story "Flowers for Algernon", by Daniel Keyes, that we read in English was about a mentally retarded person, named Charlie who had an operation to increase his intelligence, but the operation was a failure and Charlie is slow again. He wants to move now so society won’t ridicule him for being slow again. Daniel Keyes wrote this short story for good reasons. Daniel Keyes wrote "Flowers for Angernon" to show people from an outside look on how we treat mentally challenged people. When you treat people as you always do, you don’t see how mean or how cruel it really may be. It could just be your personality or the way you were brought up. By him writing a story on a mentally challenged person wanting to become smart to
Daniel Keyes was born on August 9, 1972. He grew up in New York and attended New York University briefly before joining the United States Maritime Service at 17, working as a ship's purser on oil tankers. Many of his works were published in the New York newspapers. The inspiration for Flowers for Algernon struck while he was waiting for a train in 1945. His book was created on the single thought, “What would happen if it were possible to increase a person’s intelligence?” Fifteen years later, the thought grew into a novella which was published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1959. It also won the Hugo Award for best short story in 1960. In 1966, Keyes expanded it into a novel which tied for the Nebula
The point of Flowers for Algernon is not the technology that lets Charlie becomes intelligent but rather the way people respond around him prior to and following the operation.
A lot of people like the season of spring. Students have spring break, so they may be going on vacation. The springtime is when flowers begin to bloom, and when allergies are really bad. For this reason, people that have allergies most likely do not like the spring season. The weather starts to become warmer in the spring season, but there are tornados and storms.
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.