How Does Charlie Gordon Use Knowledge In Flowers For Algernon

Knowledge has the ability to make humans content, irritated, or emotional. Around the world today, there are countless events happening all the time such as war, presidential elections, and the economy, if individuals did not know what was going on their own life, the mind itself would not progress in life and therefore remain ignorant.

Every human has a determination in their life like having a successful career, learn a new language, travel to new places, and have a family. For example, in Flowers For Algernon, Charlie Gordon has a mindset to be more smarter after his operation so he could assimilate with his friends around him. To be victorious in reaching a goal, one must find information to know what to do, without having this capability, no one would be making progress. However, throughout the journey of gaining experience toward their success point, the individual will encounter mistakes that would prevent them from reaching a goal, but the person can assimilate the error and would know the truth of what happened. In Flowers For Algernon, it states “He says dont get discoriged because it takes time and it happins slow.”

In Flowers For Algernon, Charlie Gordon is being made fun by his two “friends” who are Joe Carp and Frank Reilly, “Before, they laughed at me and despised me for my ignorance and dullness; now, they hate me for my knowledge and understanding.” After the operation, he realizes that Joe and Frank were not really his friends. Although Charlie was slightly upset, he was soon able to realize the truth of what was happening and knew what was going to be again if he did follow the same path. In addition, if ignorance is bliss, then a human can’t feel unpleasant realities and don’t know what is going on. Therefore, the person does not have knowledge and can’t come up with answers to fix