Charlie Gordon Flowers For Algernon Essay

In the story “Flowers for Algernon” written by Daniel Keyes the author creates a persistent and brave character named Charlie Gordon. Charlie Gordon is a grown man with an I.Q. of 68, and he goes to a special school for adults with special needs. He willingly undergoes a surgery to triple his intelligence, but he later finds out that it isn’t permanent. He uses his intelligence to try to find a way to slow down the regressing of his brain, but his efforts are to no avail. He comes to find that intelligence only drives his friends further from him, and finds himself confused about what people want him to be. Charlie Gordon is a persistent and brave character, that runs into many troubles in this story, but his persistence and bravery shows how he gets through those problems.

Evidence that may prove he is persistent is when he states in progress report 3, that he was trying very hard and wanted to be smart all his life. The proof he was trying hard is Miss Kinnian saying that he was her best pupil, and this shows that he is persistent because he is striving to be smart and is doing everything in his ability to be chosen for the surgery to make himself smarter. Another piece of evidence that he is persistent is that he wants to go through with the experiment even after being told it might be temporary, and he also stated that he doesn’t care if it hurts. This is proof he is persistent because it shows that even if there are changes made to his body, or physical harm dealt he’ll still go through with the