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Flowers For Algernon Charlie Gordon Character Analysis

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Mentally handicapped is a word we use to describe somebody with a mental deficiency, but not all people are kind enough to call it that. We live in a world where humiliating a physically disabled person is a malicious thing to do. Nevertheless, the other way around is deemed to be hilarious. Although being mentally challenged can cause teasing, being intelligent doesn’t always lead to a contentful life either. In Flowers for Algernon, author Daniel Keyes presents two societal issues. The mentally challenged are treated poorly by the public.”I ain’t laughed so much since we sent him off for the newspaper that night at Mugsy’s and ditched him...Now I know what it means when they say to pull a Charlie Gordon” (Keyes 231). The overall rudeness …show more content…

“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

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