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Flowers for algernon essay introduction
Flowers for algernon literary essay
Flowers for algernon essay introduction
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In the novel Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon did the right thing and went through with the surgery/ experiment to raise his IQ. A mental retardation sweetheart Charlie Gordon, had to deal with hardships of the world at the age of 32 and the IQ of 68. Until Prof Nemur and Dr. Strauss came into his life and changed it for the better but left with a tragic end. This surgery was good for Charlie because he was able to have experiences someone mentally delayed would not have done/ known about and he was able to regain his memories. Charlie would have never known about some things in his life if it wasn’t for the surgery. He always has wanted to be accepted all his life, by his peers, co-workers and even his own …show more content…
Thinking and remembering what has occurred in his past life and things happening around him now has been such a difficult thing for Charlie to overcome before the surgery. After Mr.Donner employees Ernie at the bakery, Charlie began to be afraid that he was going to replace him. But, Charlie thinks that his co-workers don’t like Ernie as much as him. In his progress reports Charlie innocently states about how him and his friends are so close and have many jokes together. “Some times somebody would say hey lookit Frank or Joe, or even Gimpy. He really pulled a Charlie Gordon that time. I don’t know why they always say it but they always laff and I laff too.”(17) Luckily after the operation Charlie saw that this was actually an offensive joke towards Charlie and they were not laughing with him. This surgery gave Charlie reality and control of his thoughts of what is wrong and what isn’t. Regaining memories seem to be the most important for Charlie though. He wanted to know who he was and why his mom always hated him. His past has been a detriment to Charlie for as long as he could remember. From being abused to being neglected Charlie has been through it only because of his slower pace than the rest of the kids. Remembering the fear and shame Charlie feels when he does something bad can be only explained by his memories, he writes “Remembering how my mother looked before she gave
Is becoming smart always better than staying dumb? After considering Charlie’s situation, I have decided that the answer to this question is no. Charlie is the main character in the science fiction story Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes. In the book, Charlie is a 37 year old man who has an I.Q. of 68 and is on a mission to become smart. When the opportunity comes for him to participate in an experiment for an operation that can triple his I.Q., he willingly takes it. It turns out that the operation only grants a temporary intelligence boost, and Charlie experiences high intelligence only to have it start deteriorating. I think that Charlie was wrong to have the operation that temporarily made him smart.
If Charlie didn’t have the operation he would not be able to realize that Joe and Frank were making fun of him. Joe and Frank would just keep making fun of him and he would not be able to stick up for himself. Once in the story Charlie said,“It's a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me. Now I know what it means when they say "to pull a Charlie Gordon.” I'm ashamed” (page 524). Somebody who has been made fun of before should know that anybody would want to stick up for themselves. This shows that it was a blessing for Charlie to have this operation because now he can stick up for
After weeks of testing Charlie is selected and has the procedure performed. There are no noticeable changes immediately, however after some time Charlie begins to have flashbacks and mixed emotions of his childhood for example, Charlie’s first flashback begins with him standing in front of the bakery as a child and it goes blurry and cuts out. (2) As Charlies intellect increases so does his perception of the world around him and the way people act toward him. Charlie finally begins to realize guilt and shame along with all other natural human
Firstly, Charlie grows emotionally and physically as a human being: growing and becoming more complete with every experience. Starting off, Charlie grows physically as he develops into a more of a complete man. Joe and Frank invite Charlie to a party, during the party he is forced to dance with a girl named Ellen. After waking up the next morning, Charlie says, “I dreamed about the girl Ellen dancing and rubbing up against me and when I woke up the sheets were wet and messy” (Keyes 43). Charlie has his first wet dream, he is slowly going through puberty after the operation and becoming a more complete man. Adding on, Charlie is always happy and thinks all is good in the world, before the operation everything seems fine to him. He is like a child: naive. After the operation, Charlie has therapy sessions with the doctor, where they do tests to measure growth. During one of these therapy sessions, Charlie says, “I had reached a new level and anger and suspicion were my reactions to the world around me” (Keyes 57-58). Charlie grows emotionally, he adds another aspect to his cha...
He was able to see the world through the new eyes that he had gained from the operation learning new things about the world and being able to talk and interact with the people around him as a normal person. For a moment in time Charlie was normal ,and even after he had lost everything Charlie still learns in the end that even though he may have lost everything he was still happy to be able to finally fulfill his dream of being normal. In conclusion I still think Charlie should have undergone the operation for these reasons ,because in the end if he hadn’t he would have experience these many great things and finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming smart and
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
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.
Because of this operation, Charlie gained intelligence topping even the doctors and having a greater understanding of everything around him. Another great example is that he could show all of his co-workers at work how much he cared about what they think of him. The final example is the strongest in my opinion because of all the friends he gained in the process. So in conclusion, I think Charlie made the right decision in trying and getting the operation done to make him
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.
One reason is that he was only intelligent for a little while, but then he was back to being how he was before within three or four months. I don’t know about you, but if that happened to me, it would lower my self-esteem by a ton. I am inferring that Charlie’s self-esteem hit rock bottom and that is why he left. He thought that he was disappointing everyone. Another reason that the operation was more costly than beneficial is that he most likely ruined his relationship with Miss Kinnian. At first Miss Kinnian just seemed like a teacher to him, but once he became smarter, he realized that he loved her. But after he figured out what was going to happen to him, he ruined his relationship by being rude to her. After he goes back to how he used to be, he forgets that he is not in her class anymore and goes. This makes Miss Kinnian even more sad, because this proves that Charlie is back to how he was and it didn’t work. Finally, another reason why the operation was not good was because Charlie had to find out that everyone was making fun of him. At first, he was living a happy life, or at least what he thought was a happy life. When people laughed at him, he took it as laughing with him. When he went to school, it was all just a game. But then he realizes that everything he thought was wrong. And now he has to live with that
In conclusion, I believe that Charlie?s life was better before the surgery. Although ?
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.
Firstly, Charlie's realizes that his co-workers aren't his true friends after all. When Joe Carp and Frank Reilly take him to a house party, they made him get drunk and started laughing at the way he was doing the dancing steps. Joe Carp says, "I ain't laughed so much since we sent him around the corner to see if it was raining that night we ditched him at Halloran's" (41), Charlie recalls his past memory of him being it and not finding his friends who also ditched him and immediately realizes that Joe Carp was relating to the same situation. Charlie felt ashamed and back-stabbed when he realized that he had no friends and that his co-workers use to have him around for their pure entertainment. It's after the operation, that he finds out he has no real friends, and in result feels lonely. Next, Charlie unwillingly had to leave his job from the bakery where he worked for more than fifteen years. Mr. Donner treated him as his son and took care of him, but even he had noticed an unusual behavior in Charlie, lately. Mr. Donner hesitatingly said, "But something happened to you, and I don't understand what it means... Charlie, I got to let you go" (104), Charlie couldn't believe it and kept denying the fact that he had been fired. The bakery and all the workers inside it were his family, and the increase of intelligence had ...
The fact is that Charlie Gordon just wanted to be smart & to be able to fit in.The main character is Charlie Gordon from “Flowers for Algernon” & Charlie’s life was a lot better after the A.I surgery in his image & i agree.Charlie should have had took the A.I surgery. The 3 reasons are he proved the operation was a failure Algernon-Gordon effect,He would never experienced love, & earned more money than before.
This is because he is highly aware that before he had his surgery, he stated that he was mindless and dumb. Interpersonal minds have a large understanding of themselves and what they want. According to the story on page 370, it states,"I'd hidden the picture of the old Charlie Gordon from myself because now I was intelligent it was something that had to be pushed out of my mind." I'm basically the exact opposite of this, meaning I never know what I want most of the time.