Who Is Charlie In Flowers For Algernon

Before the operation, Charlie Gordon, from Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, is happy. He may have a simple, pitiful existence, but he thinks his friends like him, and enjoys being with them and Miss Kinnian at the Learning Center for Slow Adults. However, Charlie wants to be smart, the one dark cloud in his sunny sky of life. Because of this, Charlie volunteers for an operation to triple his IQ of 68. With a high IQ comes awareness of the world around him, so Charlie suddenly becomes conscious of his previously pitiful existence which leads to a slew of feelings such as embarrassment, shame, and superiority. Charlie thinks that becoming smart will make him happy and well-liked, but the operation works the opposite effect. Charlie starts to look down on everyone, and cannot socialize with others because of his IQ. As a result, Charlie becomes almost depressed. His depression deepens when Charlie discovers that his intelligence will not be permanent. Soon, Charlie regresses to his former childlike mentality. Although at the end of the novel, Charlie does not find himself any worse off after the operation, the few months he spent smarter are not terribly enjoyable for him, and his changing mentality negatively impacts those he is close to, namely Miss Kinnian. Because the effects are not permanent, Charlie would be far better off without the operation.

Have you ever thought about being smart? Well, Charlie Gordon did. Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old male with an I.Q. that is not very high. In the Science FIction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel keyes. Charlie Gordon wasn’t very smart, he has a low I.Q. of 68. Charlie wanted to be smart so he would be liked by people. Charlie had the opportunity to have the A.I. surgery to triple his I.Q. Charlie Gordon should have had the A.I. surgery.

In this novel, Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, a man named Charlie Gordon has an operation done to increase his intelligence. He started as a mentally retarded man and slowly became a genius. He seemed to soak up information like a sponge and he was able to figure out the most complex scientific formulas. The only problem with the operation is that it does not last for ever and in his remaining time he tries to figure out why it is not permanent. He will eventually lose everything he learned and become worse off than when he started, so Charlie was better off before he had the operation.

As Charlie's intelligence increases he thinks that he will be more liked the higher his intelligence climbs, but later Charlie discovers that whether you are of lower intelligence then most of the population or of higher intelligence you still will not quite fit in. "I've discovered that no one really cares for Charlie Gordon whether he is a moron or a genius. (Keyes 172) Charlie's relationship with Alice also shows how whether he is of extreme low extreme high intellect he still cannot communicate with her the way he needs to. " I'm just as far away from Alice with an I.Q of 185 then when I had an IQ of 70" (Keyes 88). In today's society if a persons thoughts slightly differ from those of the majority of the population then they will be scrutinized and shunned from the others. People are not willing to look at an idea through a different perspective and this is shown in Flowers For Algernon, when Charlie discovers the fault in Dr. Nemur's experiment and confronts him about it, Dr. Nemur treats him like the old Charlie who is to mentally challenged to be correct. It is repeated numerous times during the novel that Charlie was "created" by the experiment and was not a "human being" because of his below 100 IQ before the operation. "I'm a human being, a person- with parents and memories and a history- and I was before you ever wheeled me into that operating room." (Keyes 112). Society needs to learn that even those who are different then most of us still are humans and

The author uses communication style as a method of character development, which the author utilized to build Charlie Gordon’s character. Throughout the book, Charlie’s communication changes from when his IQ is merely 68 to when the surgical procedure raises his IQ to 125. Initially, his grammar is full of errors and simple vocabulary but later improved drastically, after the procedure, by use of complex wordings (Allan 31). The communication style is different between the two phases especially through differentiated personalities and speech between two periods. Daniel Keyes also endeavors to capture the character’s history to enable the audience to understand the events that shape Charlie’s personality.

In the novel, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, it is focused around the ironically unforgettable journey of Charlie Gordon. He is a 32 year old man who has an extremely low IQ, that qualified him to be a subject for an experimental surgery to help him raise his IQ, by a lot. Before the surgery, he had very little memories of his childhood, was very forgetful, and his inability to read or write made his want for knowledge even stronger. I picked this character because not only was he the main focus throughout the book, he has changed and has not changed at the same time and I found that rather unusual.Charlie has changed because after the surgery he got what he wanted, to be smart. But by the end of the book he lost his intelligence, along

“I said Miss Kinnian never gave me tests like that one only spelling and reading. They said Miss Kinnian told that I was her bestist pupil in the adult nite scool becaus I tryed the hardist and I reely wantid to lern” -Charlie. Concluding that if you could feel smarter than you are now, would you. That's what Charlie feels like until he has an operation that makes him smart. The theme of this story I think is that people change over time. Like charlie changes throughout the story. In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes Charlie patarys the theme that people changed overtime.

This book follows Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old man with an extremely low IQ. He becomes the subject of an experimental surgery to raise his intelligence, however, this experiment has only been preformed on mice. Written in the voice of Charlie, readers are able to see his progression through journal entries and progress reports.

At first he thinks it is a mindless job that he can handle. But then he goes to the hospital for the surgery. After the surgery, he becomes very smart. Then once back at work he changes the way the machines work. He says, "I figured out a new way to line up the machines in the factory, and Mr. Donnegan says it will save him ten thousand dollars a year in labor and increased production." (Keyes, 200) Charlie used his raised IQ to help make the company work in a smarter and more efficient way. He left what he knew becuase he was promised the chance to be smarter than he was before and it

His IQ was at a 68 because he had a learning disability. Charlie was in a school for mentally handicapped adults. He had a teacher named Alice Kinnian who was asked to pick a student to get a surgery which would make them smarter. Mrs. Kinnian chose Charlie. When Charlie first went in to get the surgery, he wasn't very smart.

Charlie Gordon is a 32 year man who is mentally disabled, works at Donner's bakery as a janitor, and lives independently in a apartment building. He also attends evening classes at Beekman College Center for Mentally challenged adults to learn to read and write. His teacher Miss. Kinnian is very helpful and caring towards Charlie, she even recommended him for a research experiment on intelligence. Charlie was medically changed to be smarter yet his life was changed for the

Charlie realized that while Frank and Joe were pleasurable to hang out with when he was intellectually impaired, they were wary of him when Charlie was a genius. Charlie was informed that a petition had been drawn to notify him of his immediate release from the factory. Charlie Gordon was fired for being too unalike “normal” society. For the duration of his short time period at the factory, Charlie

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),

Charlie, the main character of the novel, goes through a miraculous transformation from having a mental disability to becoming a genius through a surgery only ever performed on rats. Charlie’s lack of intelligence made him a trusting and friendly man. His strive for intelligence was due to the subordination he felt from his societal cultures and the loneliness he felt from being different from regular members of society. As he begins to gain knowledge from the surgery, Charlie begins to understand his past and present. He realizes that people have taken advantage of him and have been mean to him due to his disabilities, just because they knew he would not understand their cruelty. He also realizes that when people treat him kindly, it is out of pity of his inferiority. These realizations cause Charlie to grow suspicious and realize the detriments of being able to understand and analyze people and their behaviors: “I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to

Charlie Gordon was just an ordinary man with an unordinary IQ of 64, but that all changed one day when he had an operation to make him intelligent, and the result was shocking. Charlie figured out about an experiment and wanted to have it done on him, but he didn’t know that this operation would ruin his life and that he should have never had it done in the first place. This book is about a man named Charlie who has an IQ of 64 and has to go to a school for slow adults. Charlie works at a factory where all of his coworkers make fun of him without his knowledge, but when the two main doctors, dr. Strauss and dr.Nemur, select him to be used in an operation that will hopefully boost his intelligence to superhuman levels. This all works out and Charlie becomes smart, but with his intelligence he figures out that his friends aren’t really his friends, that he’s in love with his school teacher miss Kinnian, and he started to discover why the operation that he had was only temporary.