Opening One's Heart in Daniel Keye´s Novel: Flower´s for Algernon
538 Words3 Pages
He views himself as being the only dumb person that ever did anything important for science. However, he cannot remember what important thing he did. But the knowledge Charlie Gordon has gained abstains him from remaining unchanged. Charlie Gordon, in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, has learned that if one opens his heart, he will have more friends.
Originally, 32 year old and mentally retarded Charlie Gordon thought that friends and popularity came along with being smart. Therefore, Charlie was very eager to learn from Alice Kinnian, Charlie’s teacher at Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults. This eagerness led Alice to volunteer Charlie for a new, experimental surgery in which intelligence would be boosted. Prior to the surgery, scientists, Nemur and Strauss, performed multiple tests on Charlie. During the first test, Charlie is presented with white cards that have ink spilled on them. He is, then, asked to say what he sees in the spilled ink. Charlie scrutinizes the spilled ink on the white card. Then, dumbfounded, Charlie replies that he sees ink. Nemur and...