Analyzing Daniel Keyes 'Flowers For Algernon'

“I said Miss Kinnian never gave me tests like that one only spelling and reading. They said Miss Kinnian told that I was her bestist pupil in the adult nite scool becaus I tryed the hardist and I reely wantid to lern” -Charlie. Concluding that if you could feel smarter than you are now, would you. That's what Charlie feels like until he has an operation that makes him smart. The theme of this story I think is that people change over time. Like charlie changes throughout the story. In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes Charlie patarys the theme that people changed overtime.

In this novel, Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, a man named Charlie Gordon has an operation done to increase his intelligence. He started as a mentally retarded man and slowly became a genius. He seemed to soak up information like a sponge and he was able to figure out the most complex scientific formulas. The only problem with the operation is that it does not last for ever and in his remaining time he tries to figure out why it is not permanent. He will eventually lose everything he learned and become worse off than when he started, so Charlie was better off before he had the operation.

At first he thinks it is a mindless job that he can handle. But then he goes to the hospital for the surgery. After the surgery, he becomes very smart. Then once back at work he changes the way the machines work. He says, "I figured out a new way to line up the machines in the factory, and Mr. Donnegan says it will save him ten thousand dollars a year in labor and increased production." (Keyes, 200) Charlie used his raised IQ to help make the company work in a smarter and more efficient way. He left what he knew becuase he was promised the chance to be smarter than he was before and it

He realized that he had feelings for Miss Kinnian, his teacher. For instance, “I think from the beginning I had the feeling that she was an unreachable genius-and very, very old. Now, every time I see her she grows younger and more lovely.” (Keyes 37). Before the operation, Charlie did not realize how beautiful Miss Kinnian was. After the operation, Charlie realized this. His hope for a better life increased. On the other hand, his newfound intelligence divided him from his friends. In the text it states, “This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved.” (Keyes 39). Charlie’s friends kept teasing and making fun of him. He felt very lonely. As well as affecting his social life, the operation also affected Charlie emotionally. A few months after the operation, Charlie’s emotions changed negatively. He became touchy and irritable. In short, Charlie’s emotions were negatively affected after a little while, however, he got to know what love felt like and he got to know his true

In the story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon a 37-year-old mentally disabled man is better off before his intelligence enhancement surgery as opposed to after the procedure. This is because he is happier and does not understand flaws in others. And after the surgery, he is less happy and realizes the flaws in others. He even moves away at the end of the story to get away from everyone who knew he once was smart. Also, before the surgery, he is employed and enjoys his job. After the surgery effects wear off and he is mentally disabled again he is unemployed and just lounges around not liking someone near him, until Ms. Flynn forces him to get his job back. Although one might object that he is better off after the intelligence enhancement surgery because his friend is nicer to him and respect him more.

By looking at this quote, we can see that he was not so smart, so he didn't understand anything, but was happy and didn't know what was happening around him. Because he was clueless, he was just living a simple life with no care in the world about anything that happened around him. Some may say, however, that Charlie should have had the surgery because it made him smart and he realized his friends were not his friends and they were just bullies. Regardless, Charlie should not have had the surgery because he would have been living life longer and he would have been happier thinking his coworkers were his friends and not finding out they were bullies, ending up with him having no friends and slowly dying. Second, Charlie is not correct in having the surgery because he was treated like a freak for being too smart by his coworkers.

Levi Holland Jean Dickson 5th hour ELA Feb.14,2024. “Flowers for Algernon blended essay” When my mother and father divorced a few years ago it reminded me of Charlie's courage and inner strength in “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. When I was a lot younger my parents were arguing at home and my dad said “ you can either go with me or stay with your mom” then, he paused “ I've decided to divorce your mother. We've been together for 8 years and I just can't stand arguing with her anymore. I hope you will make the right decisions when you have a wife.”

The award-winning short science fiction, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, digs deep in how society reacts to different levels of intelligence. The book covers a wide variety of society from the creative minds to world-renowned scientists. When a retarded adult becomes one of those brain maniacs through a scientific operation, you get the full spectrum of what it is like personally as a handicapped person and through the minds of a genius. In the reports, you can see the progress and comparison of Charlie’s realization towards other people’s capability of intelligence.

“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is a short story about an intellectually disabled 37 year old named Charlie Gordon. Charlie undergoes a surgery to triple his I.Q., which works temporarily, but wears off soon after. Charlie had many flaws in his life before and after the surgery, but when was he better off- before or after the surgery? Charlie Gordon was better off before his surgery because he was more interpersonal, generally happier, and did not have to live with the notion of having previous knowledge he lost and cannot regain.

“Them changes. I don’t know. You use to be a good, dependable, ordinary man--not too bright maybe, but honest...Like everybody around here’s been saying, Charlie, it’s not right” (Keyes 235). Charlie speaks to Fanny Girden in this paragraph, and she points out the obvious changes in him, trying to point out that they were mostly altruistic, as he had become obsessed with different studies and began to act superior to others. Consequently, his very own Dr. becomes uncomfortable around him because of the inferior complex Charlie gives him. He cannot grasp the concept of why people are tense around him, simply because they are all “average”. On the other hand, Charlie is extremely gifted. This leads to a lack and understanding of a basic conversation, which some people may deem necessary. “I saw Miss Kinnian last night...I tried to avoid all discussions of intellectual concepts and to keep the conversations on a simple, everyday level., but she just stared at me blankly and asked me what I meant about the mathematical variance equivalent in Dorbermann’s Fifth Concerto” (Keyes 236). As a result, he constantly struggles to maintain an adequate conversation, because all of his friends are of ordinary intelligence, unlike himself. When Charlie realizes Miss Kinnian doesn’t understand what he is speaking about, he gets angry and realizes he cannot communicate with her on her level because of the

The “old Charlie” was a person that lived a life of ignorance and was completely happy with the way that he was living. He worked at a bakery, making barley enough to scrape buy, however, he was happy. But once he got his first taste of intelligence, he was immediately hooked and wanted more than just an appetizer. After a couple of tests and procedures later, and Charlie got his wish. But his wish wasn’t all that he expected as all of his knowledge soon took a toll on

Before the surgery, Charlie was a person that was liked by all. The people in his life knew him from his benevolent smile with a sense of humor. Now, his intelligence seems to have taken over the emotional side to him, and transform it for the worse. For example, the people at the bakery are what Charlie considered as family. As a young child, Charlie’s family life was not adequate. His parents—especially Rose (Charlie’s mother)—wanted to put him into a mental institution. Before the chaos would take place, Charlie’s uncle had taken him in and offered a job, and other necessities. Since Uncle Herman died, Mr. Donner seems to have a reason to let Charlie go, especially since he along with the other coworkers are confused at what is happening to Charlie. For example, “But something happened to you, and I don’t understand what it means. Not only me. Everyone has been talking about it” (Keyes 104). After the surgery, everything seemed to go downhill for Charlie; everything in his life was not the best because of his increase in intelligence. His emotions are taking a toll from his life at the expense of the decision he made. Furthermore, changes cannot always be beneficial. Charlie would have been fine without the procedure because his life was just right. A change in one’s life can because the biggest break in

Imagine being 37 years old, and being told that you couldn 't do things that other people could just because you had one thing that was "wrong" about you – being "mentally retarded". This was Charlie Gordon 's reality. He was an innocent, responsible man that did anything that he could to survive with his special need. One day, this all changed for him when he was told that a special surgery would be performed on him, and that he would become smarter. Unfortunately, Charlie learns a few things that he wished he hadn 't, and his ability to cooperate with the outside world starts to decline, along with his intelligence. Unfortunately, during this operation, Charlie Gordon 's doctors did not perform ethically when they performed surgery to make him smarter.

After his knowledge starts increasing thanks to the operation, Charlie started realizing that what he thought were jokes from his partners, was actually them bullying him. They even make a petition in which they all signed to get Charlie fired from his job. A while later, after he starts losing all his knowledge, he comes back to his job and noticed that people were starting to treat him nicely and that they are protecting him from other bullies. Someone immediately starts bothering Charlie, but then one of his old “friends” came over and took care of him. Charlie wrote, “I said thanks Frank

Rose kicked Charlie out of the house and he went to live with his Uncle Herman, who took care of Charlie; once Uncle Herman died Charlie went on to work in a bakery and he began taking classes to aid him in getting smarter. Alice Kinnian taught Charlie in these classes at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults before he underwent the operation, and after the operation they formed a romantic relationship. Throughout Charlie and Alice's relationship Charlie was unable to become intimate with her as a result of "Old Charlie", a form of his past self that instills fear in his present self, showing up. Events from the past can have a prominent effect on a person's later life, no matter how much time has passed, which Keyes portrays with the help of several literary