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The Charlie Gordon Experience “Charlie's disability is the result of an untreated physical disorder called phenylketonuria”. In the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, doctors were able to refine Charlie’s intelligence and nevertheless, his personality. The big question is, did Charlie’s empathy, ability to love, kindness and heart get altered in the process as well? A great number of studies were made to show that people with higher IQ’s tend to generally be unhappier due to their augmented level of understanding of the world. For example, an intelligent person is more likely to understand that Heaven doesn’t exist because in their mind, it can’t be scientifically possible. In the novel, Charlie’s intelligence end emotions have changed …show more content…
However after the operation Charlie’s happiness took a dramatic turn of events. Before the operation Charlie went to school, had a job and had ‘friends’ the only thing he didn’t have was intelligence. However after the operation Charlie was a different man. Intelligent but unhappy After the operation Charlie finally came to realize slowly that his ‘friends’ were actually not his friends after going to a party, Charlie said “I never knew before that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around just to make fun of me” (Keyes 30) Before the operation Charlie was friendly with everybody even if the people were mean at him since Charlie was unaware that he was being ridiculed. However after the operation Charlie was bitter and arrogant, for example when Charlie confessed his love to Alice she says that it would not be appropriate for them to start a relationship because of the experiment, then Charlie said to himself “I hated her as I never hated anyone before with her easy answers and maternal fussing.” (57) This proves that after the operation Charlie is bitter and arrogant. Prior to the operation Charlie was more social and outgoing he would go out with ‘friends’ and go to work. On the other hand after the operation Charlie was more of an isolated individual since he realized that the world is not as beautiful as it is. Charlie said, “Now I’m more alone than ever before” (75). To conclude Prior to the operation Charlie was happy, he was friendly, had empathy, had ‘friends’ and had a job. However after the operation Charlie no longer had friends, no longer had a job, he became arrogant and bitter. Was the operation really worth
The first reason why I think this is that the operation makes Charlie realize how mean his friends were and loses them, causing him to feel bad. For example, on page 209 it says, “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,” and later Charlie says, “I’m ashamed,” which shows how realizing the truth about Joe and Frank makes him feel.
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
He was much happier before the operation. The situations were the same before. But, after the operation, he had started noticing the obstacles. Joe and Frank used to tease Charlie before, but now he was ashamed and realized that they had befriended him to make fun of him. He now started noticing the wicked incidents in his surrounding and started to compare them to his life. He became lonely after he got fired from his job. His life had become a track lane with obstacles all along the way after he became intelligent. Intelligence does not always lead to happiness. The story “Flowers for Algernon” proves that ignorance is
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
In many ways Charlie was better before the operation. With his simple minded approach to life e was able to live happily with out problems or difficulties that we face in relationships today. Although he was never smart, Charlie was a good person before the surgery.
The experiment starts to work and Charlie gets smarter and he starts realizing new things. Before the operation his imagination and his brain weren’t working that well. His imagination started to work for the first time when he got this operation. Now that he was smart, he could quit his old job of working as a janitor at a bakery and start working for the hospital full time.
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.
A while after the operation Charlie understood that he was laughed at the hard way. After this he became lonely and depressed. People didn’t like changes. When he got smart people thought that he was playing got and made a petition for him to get fired. Later on when Charlie went to a bar, the dishwasher dropped the plates down and broke them and everyone started laughing at the dishwasher.
...ss cannot be deprived from increased intelligence, particularly without emotional maturity. Throughout the beginning of the Novel all Charlie Gordon wants in life is to become smarter so which will in turn make him happier and help him gain more friends. Not even fame or worldwide recognition could overcome his will to become happier from intelligence. However as the book progressed and Charlie did receive his wish to become smarter he realized, without emotional maturity he was even worse off than before which then may have caused his relapse and loss of memory bringing Charlie back to his previous condition. Expecting to be happy from the respect from other people by being intelligent is neither reasonable nor logical. Happiness needs to be derived from within, and cannot be won from other people, and those who believe it can are not yet emotionally stable.
For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so called ?friends? were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was also fired from the job that he loved so much because his new intelligence made those around him feel inferior and scared. This sends Charlie into a short depression. His life was better before the experiment because he had a job he looked forward to and ?friends?.
Scientific experimentation shows a destructive nature of man through stereotypes. Stereotypes are cruel and heartless. “He makes the same mistakes as the others when they look at a feeble-minded person and laugh because they don’t understand there are human feelings involved. He doesn’t realise I was a person before I came here.” (Keyes, 145) Before the surgery Charlie was looked down upon because of his mental state. However, after the surgery he is treated like he was made by the scientists, as though he was their very own ‘Frankenstein’. This is a destructive nature of man because after the surgery Charlie finds out that his so called friends have been making fun of him his whole life. Stereotypes show a destructive nature of man. “People with mental illness are depicted as burdens to society and incapable of contributing in positive ways to their communities.” (Edney) Through this book the reader knows this statement is false, because Charlie is able to function fairly well in society, considering he has a job and he is doing very well there. Stereotypes show a destructive nature of man because they belittle people and make them feel worthless.
Many people in our society today change themselves to feel accepted by others. When in reality, they do not need to change themselves to be accepted. If one takes that chance, undesirable consequences can be a result. Losing crucial relationships, losing self esteem, and maybe even depression. In order for one to be happy, one must accept themselves for who they are. As George Orwell once said; “ Happiness can only exist in acceptance.” In the story, “ Flowers for Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon should not have gotten the operation to increase his Intelligence Quotient (IQ) because, it damaged his relationships, it damaged his self esteem, and it had life threatening symptoms.
Was Charlie better off without the operation? Through Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes sends an crucial message to society that man should never tamper with human intelligence or else the outcome can be personally devastating. After Charlie's operation, he felt isolated and lonesome, change in personality made him edgy around people or (lack social skills), and suffered from traumas due to past memories.
Charlie Gordon has all his life been mental disabled, but for just as long time wanted to be a geni-ass. One day he is given that opportunity and he agrees to let the doctors operate his brain. Before the operation Charlie is a very friendly man, who only sees the good things in life and trusts everybody. His lack of intelligence makes it impossible for him to see that his best friends are in fact victimizing him. (Report 8, page 117) He can’t imagine things. “I tryed hard but I still…” (Report 2, page 112) Another important quality he hasn’t got, besides intelligence and imagination, is: Feeling. He is only able to be happy, he can not feel anger and love. One of Charlie’s best qualities is his motivation and what seems like his eternal strive for normal intelligence.