Analyzing Daniel Keyes 'Flowers For Algernon'

NOTHING GOLD CAN STAY

Daniel Keyes’ ‘Flowers for Algernon’ is a short story about a mentally retarded adult named Charlie Gordon who undergoes an operation to increase his intelligence; but the side effects of the surgery turned Charlie bipolar and leaves him feeling insecure after the operation wore off. Charlie is then left alone to face emotional issues beyond his understanding as he began to recognize the people he cared for only stayed around to make fun of him. During his increase of intellect, he also found and experienced love, which was the only positive event that stuck out amongst other numerous incidents. As the experiment loses its touch, Charlie comes full circle with his old self and suffers with the knowledge that he is looked

During Charlie’s increase of intelligence, he was despised by his co-workers and was told that he had changed. “You used to be a good, dependable, ordinary man…it’s not right.” Even though Charlie had helped with his employer’s company, he had lost his pity job as a result of making his co-workers too uncomfortable. Charlie is then more aggravated and confused about this situation, as he is despised for his dullness but hated for his knowledge. In addition, Charlie had also begun to look down on the two doctors who performed his surgery, as he mentions that he thinks that neither Dr. Nemur nor Dr. Strauss are geniuses. “I feel his areas of knowledge are too limited…I found myself almost annoyed…No one I’ve ever known is what he appears to be on the surface.” In the process of becoming so inhumanly genius, his personality became arrogant and nearly unapproachable as he tried to talk to Miss Kinnian on a basic level about complex mathematics of what he finds as a “simple, everyday level” conversation topic. Charlie’s journal entries also seem to reflect off of his developing personality as he no longer finds the joy in life, and mentions that “recording these reports is one of the few pleasures that I have”. Despite barely recalling the events after the operation, the period of time when he was mistreated remains in his mind and left a deep mental scar behind, as he still remembers the feeling of humiliation when he returns to his original mental state. Further evidence of this can be found when Charlie locks himself up in his room and refuses to talk or to see anyone as he is afraid of losing his dignity infront of them. Similarly, when he unintentionally laughed at a retarded boy at the restaurant, he quickly became ashamed and frustrated at himself,