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Charlie Gordon Research Paper

Decent Essays

Is Ignorance Bliss?

There is 14.3 million mentally retarded people in the United States. So who is going to stand up for them? Charlie Gordon, a 37-year-old man, was mentally retarded but was then given a chance to change the world of science. He was offered to have a surgery to increase his intelligence and he took it. He now had a chance to make amazing discoveries. The surgery was worth the experience because it opened doors for Charlie. The surgery was worth the experience because it helped him contribute to the world of science. He contributed by desperately wanting to be in the experiment and wanting to make discoveries, “I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” (Keyes190). He was the first human to really want to contribute to this experiment. Just by getting the surgery he helped science. Without Charlie they couldn’t have gotten the results and shown …show more content…

Now I know what it means “to pull a Charlie Gordon.’’ I’m ashamed.” (Keyes201). He always saw everyone as being his friend and everyone seeing him as an equal. At this moment he saw how people really saw him. For the first time in his life he saw his “friends” for what they really are. Even when Charlie became smart he started to be like everyone else, “I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide, bright eyes of a child, uncertain but eager to please. They were laughing at him because he was mentally retarded, and I had been laughing at him too.” (Keyes207). He had been just like that boy once, and now he’s just like everyone who was laughing at him. He realized that he was becoming like the people who once laughed at him. This opened his eyes to how the world will treat people. It was worth the surgery because he got to experience the other side of

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