Evolution is great phenomenon as long as one does not end up back to where they start from. Sometimes even ending up back at square one can offer the individual a lot to learn from. In the novel, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the protagonist Charlie Gordon undergoes an experiment to increase his IQ. It is illustrated that Charlie becomes a whole, complete individual only after becoming mentally retarded again by the end of the novel. Charlie develops and learns a lot throughout his journey. He matures as he grows in his intellectual capacity, and he gets an opportunity to learn valuable life lesson; and realizes that he is better off being mentally retarded rather than being a genius.
Firstly, Charlie's operation turns him into an extremely intelligent person. Charlie becomes much smarter as the novel unfolds. A little after his operation Charlie's IQ slowly starts to increase. He finally beats Algernon after losing to him in a race repeatedly. After the victory Charlie says, " I beet Algernon. I dint even know I beet him until Burt Selden told me…But after I beet him 8 more times. I must be getting smart to beat a smart mouse like Algernon."(Keyes 30). Algernon is a smart mouse, who has undergone the same operation as Charlie. Charlie victory shows his increase of knowledgeable. This also shows that his brain is developing. Charlie then gains more knowledge. After writing a few more progress reports one can see a huge change in Charlie's writing, especially in his grammar. While having a conversation with Joe, Charlie says, "Everybody on the floor came around and they were laff laughing…you been here long enuff enough."(Keyes 34). By correcting his own mistakes, Charlie shows that he is progressing towards a more educate...
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...ve frends…"(Keyes 309). This shows that Charlie realizes that his friend like him for whom he is not for how smart he is. After all of this Charlie becomes a more complete person because he realizes that he is better off being mentally disabled rather than being very intelligence since he understands what he is turning into, he finally makes true love to Alice and gets his true friends.
Therefore, Even though Charlie becomes mentally retarded by the end, he becomes a more complete person. Charlie undergoes a lot of changes during his journey. He matures which contributes to his intelligence growth, learns significant life lesson, and realizes that he is better of being mentally retarded rather than a genius. Charlie does not realize the fact that after becoming a genius, he is as far away from his goal of being normal and fitting in as he is being mentally retarded.
Before the operation, he exhibited some clear strengths such as determination, a positive attitude, friendly with people and some weaknesses such as education and inability to understand the adult world. After the operation, he begun to change in numerous ways. Charlie started out as being not really intelligent. Being around with “smart” people made him want to change and became “intelligent” just like his “friends.” I think its all crazy. If you can get smart when your sleeping why do people go to school. That thing I don't think will work. I use to watch the late show and the late late show on TV all the time and it never made me smart (Keyes 118). This part of the book led Charlie’s flashbacks takes place of how he was raised or nurtured through his childhood, Of how he wanted to try to become smart. However Dr. Strauss believes that his sleep would help Charlie be able to learn. However in his nature, his disability cannot help him at all, doesn’t matter how much he tries to watch TV and tries to go to sleep, I wouldn’t allow him to learn anything at all. The nurture of this is having the doctor recommend Charlie to do this. His disability also not just affects him but his family as well. His disability kind of makes his sister miserable as well, jealous over how the parents focus on Charlie due to his disability, despite the successes the sister achieves in school. Thus Charlie’s nature towards others has a negative effect which is towards his sister. Charlie was raised by his parents but through a condition that would then follow him probably for the rest of his life as well as being mainly raised through this experiment, which possibly wouldn’t help him at all in the near
And therein lies the tale. Charlie does indeed get smarter. He struggles to absorb as much knowledge as he can in whatever time he has. He suggests a new way to line up the machines at the factory, saving the owner tens of thousands of dollars a year in operating costs, and the owner gives him a $25 bonus. But when Charlie suggests to his factory friends that he could use his bonus to treat them to lunch or a drink, they have other things to do.
He is then judged even harsher which is why you shouldn’t try to be someone that you’re not. You should stay true to yourself. In the story, it says “Their going to use me! I am so exited I can hardly write” (Keyes page 351). This implies that Charlie is anxious to undergo the surgery that will make him smart. Another part says “If you volenteer for this experament you mite get smart”. (Keyes page 351) This shows that the operation will make him more intelligent so he can fit in with everyone else. This proves that Charlie is trying to be someone he is not in order to fit
Charlie begins to learn how society treats the mentally retarded. He realizes his old friends at the bakery just made fun of him. After watching the audience laugh at video of him before the operation, Charlie runs away from a mental health conference with Algernon after learning that his operation went wrong. Charlie does research on himself and learns that intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown. In many ways Charlie was better before the operation.
Charlie soon becomes aware that his smartness may not stay forever, that he might lose his genius. He starts to research the experiment himself. He studies a little mouse named Algernon who they did the experiment on first. Charlie starts to become attached to the little white mouse. Together they are the smartest of their species. When Charlie and Algernon have to go Chicago for an interview, Charlie gets so frustrated at how all the scientists are talking as if before the operation Charlie wasn’t a real person. In his frustration he accidentally on purpose let Algernon go.
As a result of the operations, Charlie gains the experience of what it is like to be intelligent. Therefore, he sees the world as it is. “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. This hurts most of all” (76.) He can now truly understand how the outside world functions and how he is truly treated.
The scientists finally decide Charlie is the perfect subject for the experiment due to his motivation and his eagerness to be smart. As Charlie's IQ begins to grow, so does his ability to understand how cruel the world around him really is. While Charlie's knowledge grows, his attitude changes along with those around him. Charlie loses his job, friends, happiness, and even his willingness to care or learn. On the contrary, Charlie also experiences and learns a lot from this experiment.
Charlie is a lost boy, just like the rest of us in life...lost. Just when you think you know what you are doing or where you are going you find yourself lost. In this case Charlie is lost in high school a whole new world that he is traveling through, he grows up faster than you would expect. There is no right way to approach school. It how you decided to handle the challenges in school that make you who you are. We are all lost traveling through a dark tunnel, and all searching for the light.
... to make him a genius. The change in lifestyles was difficult for him at the start his “Friends” Frank and Joe began to hate him for being too smart they missed the old mentally retarted Charlie because they used to have fun picking on him, so the journey for Charlie was hard.
...ss cannot be deprived from increased intelligence, particularly without emotional maturity. Throughout the beginning of the Novel all Charlie Gordon wants in life is to become smarter so which will in turn make him happier and help him gain more friends. Not even fame or worldwide recognition could overcome his will to become happier from intelligence. However as the book progressed and Charlie did receive his wish to become smarter he realized, without emotional maturity he was even worse off than before which then may have caused his relapse and loss of memory bringing Charlie back to his previous condition. Expecting to be happy from the respect from other people by being intelligent is neither reasonable nor logical. Happiness needs to be derived from within, and cannot be won from other people, and those who believe it can are not yet emotionally stable.
Before Charlie became smart, even the simplest things in life were good enough for him. As a genius, none of those things mattered to him. His mind was more complex, he needed more and he wanted more. As a result, he felt alone and buried himself in his work.
In the story flowers for Algernon there is a man named Charlie that isn’t smart. He goes to a school to help adults learn. Charlie is chosen to be in an operation that will make him smarter. In the story there is a mouse that is named Algernon. Algernon had the same operation as Charlie, so before he had the operation he raced Algernon with mazes. After the operation Charlie was getting smarter, but Algernon was getting madder and not as smart. Charlie realized that he too was going to forget how to be smart also. When he did, he had no friends and only got weird looks because he had once been smart. Charlies operation had isolated him in three ways, with his coworkers,his report,and forgetting to be smart. With Charlie's coworkers ‘’they
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.
Charlie struggles with apparent mental illness throughout his letters, but he never explicitly addresses this problem. His friends make him realize that he is different and it is okay to be different from everyone else. This change in perspective gives Charlie new opportunities to experience life from a side he was unfamiliar with. Without these new friends, Charlie would have never dared to try on the things he has. His friends have helped him develop from an antisocial wallflower to an adventurous young man who is both brave and loyal. Transitioning shapes how the individual enters into the workforce, live independently and gain some control over their future
... reason that Charlie is the way he is. Once he was in touch with his feelings, he can understand and progress in his life. The novel ends with Charlie forgiving his Aunt Helen, and finding the strength to move on with his life.