Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, is a book that is an emotional roller coaster. This book includes science that one day might not be fictional but may come true and will be able to be used on people who have intellectual disabilities in today's world.
The book starts with a man, who is mentally retarded, writing in a journal about them using him in a surgery used to change him for the better. This mans name is Charlie Gordon. He is the kind of man who works hard to achieve only little accomplishments and never gives up. He desperately wants to become smart so he can communicate and live just like everyone else does. Charlie wants this operation so he can be smart and prove to everyone he isn't like he used to be.
"Gimpy hollers at me all the time when I do something rong, but he reely likes me because hes my frend. Boy if I get smart won't he be surprised." (p 5)
Charlie writes this down into his progress report and proves that he wants to please everyone by being smart.
The scientists first try this experiment on a mouse to see if it might work. The mouse did improve on how fast he learned and was made smarter every time the scientists taught the mouse something new. Since the experiment was a success they decided to begin to test Charlie to see if he was the right type of person . They begin with tests such as inkblot, raw shok test, and they had him race the mouse named Algernon, by seeing who was able to complete the same maze first. 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 willing to care or learn. On the contrary of things, Charlie also experiences and learns a lot from this experiment. He experiences love, freedom, being able to read and write, and the ability to be able to remember what has happened to him all of these years.
In the beginning Charlie had very bad mental problems, he didn't have the experience everyone had. He couldn't spell well, talk well, etc. After he decided with Miss Kinnian to get the surgery he started getting smarter and smarter. Towards the end he lost his job and his girlfriend. After that he started slacking and then he went from getting smarter and smarter to getting dumber and dumber to a point where he got worse than he was before. I found the end of the book inspiring because no matter how smart you get if you start slacking and never go back to trying again you life can go upside
Charlie was used, opportunists only looked after Charlie for their own well-being. These doctors knew Charlie was the ultimate person, he had no family. Additionally, the surgeons superseded Charlie’s life, nobody was definite of the side effects, yet they agreed on performing this experiment. No heart was given to Charlie, he was just an item for Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur. Moreover, Algernon was not the only lab mice, there were hundreds more! Tons of these animals probably died; however, the specialists prepared this analysis with one victorious lab to rodent. All the people working with Charlie on the study were conscious on the side effect; despite that, nobody informed Charlie. Over the months, Charlie was only a gadget to benefit the opportunists, the human himself. Not being aware of all the circumstances, Charlie was an investigation to fix
Charlie lived in a paradise-like world, he though he had many "friends". The only thing he felt he was missing was brains. When he was offered the chance to become 'smart' he jumped at the chance to be like everyone else. Unprepared for the changes intelligence would bring, Charlie lost his innocence. When he realizes his 'friends' don't actually like him they just liked to make fun of him.
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
The scientists who performed the experiment now need a human subject to test, and Charlie has been recommended to them by his night-school teacher, Miss Kinnian. Charlie's a good candidate for the procedure, because even though he currently has an I.Q. of only 68, he is willing, highly motivated and eager to learn. He's convinced that if he could only learn to read and write, the secret of being smart would be revealed to him.
This story is written in the form of journals to convey Charlie’s personal thoughts to the reader. This form of writing shows the thought process of Charlie before, during, and after his operation, and it explains how people shouldn’t change for anyone else. In Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes presents the idea that self-acceptance is important in life along with staying true to who you are.
Charlie’s story began with the surgery, the biggest decision he made in his life. Although he was a guinea pig in the procedure, he wasn’t worried at all about the surgery, but rather on becoming smart as fast as he could. Supposedly these doctors were doing Charlie the greatest favor he would ever receive, and he was so eager to learn as much as he could. Soon however, Charlie would encounter challenges he never faced with the intelligence of a 6 year old. Before his surgery, Charlie had great friends in Miss Kinnian and the bakery workers. After the surgery the relationships between Charlie and everyone he knew would take a drastic turn.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a work that draws from the biblical tale of the Garden of Eden. Daniel Keyes manages to renew the story as his own while still using the same theme and plot. In Flowers for Algernon a grown man, named Charlie Gordon, who has learning disabilities gets an operation to make him smarter. After the operation is complete Charlie goes through the process of learning at an excelled rate and learns many things, some of which are good, and some of which he would be better off not knowing. However, in the end the operation is not permanent and Charlie loses his gained intelligence.
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.
Flowers for Algernon is a book written by Daniel Keyes, it is about a retarded man hoping to get smarter by having a surgery. The surgery goes well but takes time for him to get smarter. As he progressively gets smarter things about him start changing and starts being self conscious. His main goal is to have a lot of friends and to be popular. He thinks that becoming smart will make him excepted just like everyone else. For Charlie this doesn't go as well as planned, as being happy has nothing to do with being smart.
Charlie?s experiment was temporary, and overtime his IQ regressed. Algernon, a mouse that went through the same surgery as Charlie, died. If Charlie?s hypothesis proves correct, then he will die as well. Charlie?s life was better before the experiment because he was not exposed to the risks and consequences of the surgery. Without the experiment, Charlie would still be living his ignorant but happy life.
Many popular novels are often converted into television movies. The brilliant fiction novel, Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes, was developed into a dramatic television film. Flowers for Algernon is about a mentally retarded man who is given the opportunity to become intelligent through the advancements of medical science. This emotionally touching novel was adapted to television so it could appeal to a wider, more general audience. Although the novel and film are similar in terms of plot and theme, they are different in terms of characters.
Before Charlie had the operation preformed on him, he had friends at the bakery he worked at. They were not really his friends because they always made jokes about Charlie, but he was not smart enough to realize it. As he gets smarter he loses his friends because they think he is just trying to act smart.
“Flowers for Algernon, first published in 1959, is considered a landmark work on both science fiction and disability literature,” (Werlock 2009). The American Library Association reports that this novel was banned as an obscene for its love scenes. When the main character, Charlie Gordon, increases his IQ from 68 to a level that makes him a genius (after received experimental brain surgery), his maturity leads him to fall in love with his teacher, and a sexual encounter ensues. This caused Flowers for Algernon to be banned and challenged in many places (Plant City, Florida- 1976, Emporium, Pennsylvania- 1977, Oberlin High School (Ohio) - 1983, among others). Most people consider the sexual scenes fairly mild, but there are those who consider any mention of sexual behavior inappropriate for teens or pre-teens, hence the attempts at censorship. Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been banned from school libraries including some in Pennsylvania and Texas. Flowers for Algernon has won numerous awards, even for the film, and it is regularly taught in schools around the world; therefore, it should remain on shelves.