The story "Flowers for Algernon", by Daniel Keyes, that we read in English was about a mentally retarded person, named Charlie who had an operation to increase his intelligence, but the operation was a failure and Charlie is slow again. He wants to move now so society won’t ridicule him for being slow again. Daniel Keyes wrote this short story for good reasons. Daniel Keyes wrote "Flowers for Angernon" to show people from an outside look on how we treat mentally challenged people. When you treat people as you always do, you don’t see how mean or how cruel it really may be. It could just be your personality or the way you were brought up. By him writing a story on a mentally challenged person wanting to become smart to …show more content…
Daniel Keyes point of view of improving intelligence by artificial means, is that he is against it. In the end he told through Charlie in an odd way that he had wished he never would have had the operation because he now people will have seen how he was once mentally challenged, then became smart and then became slower again. He was afraid that society wouldn’t accept him. "I dont want Miss. Kinnian to feel sorry for me. Evry body feels sorry at the factery and I dont want that eather so Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed a book or rite good." When Charlie went back to work he was confronted by a man who made a rude comment, but a CO-worker who used to make fun of him and set him up to fail stuck up for him. But later Charlie said that he wishes to go to New York to get away from everyone. That is where Daniel Keyes states that he wouldn’t want the operation to be done. This is the statement Charlie made: "…Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus…" I think that where Daniel Keyes point was made because if he (Charlie) had never had the operation, he wouldn’t be trying to get away from society, he would have never known what being a "genius" even meant. Daniel Keyes stated in the story, " It was evil when Eve listened to the snake and ate from the tree of knowledge. It was evil when she saw
People now days treat others with disrespect and look down upon on other who are mentally challenged, and this is not right. In the story “ Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie gets the opportunity to get an operation that could potentially make him smarter. The bad news is it could have side effects and he could lose everything he has learned from the operation and it not work. I believe in this story Charlie should have gotten the operation.
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 is about a man named Charlie who is mentally slow and not smart. Charlie had an operation to make him smart. What the doctors did was unethical.
In the science fiction novel, Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon should not have had the option to have the operation to make him intelligent. Charlie was better off before the operation because at the end of the book, he returned to his old self. For example, “I dont know why Im dumb agen or what I did wrong maybe its becaus I dint try hard enuff.” This shows that Charlie’s grammar has regressed. This proves that the operation was not needed because Charlie returned to his normal self. Charlie was better off before the operation because he was fired from his job. When Charlie became intelligent, all the workers signed a petition, to get Charlie fired, because he was too smart. This shows that the operation was not needed because he lost his job and his
“Today evolution of human intelligence has advanced us to the stage where most of us are too smart to invent new gods but are reluctant to give up the old ones” (Ruth Hurmence Green). Flowers for Algernon is about a man named Charlie Gordon, he is 37, and has a low IQ of 68. He will go through an operation that has never been done before. It is supposed to generate Charlie to three times smarter. A while after he had undergone the operation his mind starts to deteriorate. He was able to predict that his mind will deteriorate like Algernon's due to a series of experiments he did. Charlie is better off doing this experiment. Charlie is better of going through the experiment be because he can now see things clearly for the first time, he has the chance to experience what it is like to be smart, and he knows how he truly feels.
The Experiment People all around the world are affected by mental disorders and they all wonder what is it like to be normal. In the excerpt, Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes, Charlie a 37 year old man with mental disability, that agrees to have a surgery to make him one of the smartest people in the world. Charlie Gordon goes through love and heartbreak. He also learns many new things. This story will touch your heart.
Being educated and learning are an essential to a “normal” lifestyle. In the novel Flowers for Algernon, Charlie has learned exceptionally quickly after the operation and impresses everyone with his quick learning skills. “... Charlie I dont know how you done it but it looks like you finally learned something.
The novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is an excellent written novel that has deep meaning to it. The novel is about a 32 year old man named Charlie Gordon who is mentally disabled, and he goes through a medical procedure which enhances his knowledge. Throughout the novel, all Charlie wants to be is normal. Charlie just wants to fit in, have friends, and make his parents proud. Charlie is the first person ever to go through this surgery so he is going through a journey that only he has experienced. In the novel, Charlie's operation is based off of a similar operation that was performed on a mouse called Algernon and the things that happen to Algernon usually end up happening to Charlie. As Charlie's intelligence increases he goes through struggles that affect his relationships and his views on life. Charlie experiences and remembers things that have happened previously in his life and his ultimate goal is to learn his past. At the end of the novel Charlie starts to lose his intelligence which results in his ultimate demise. Depending on the situation, ignorance is bliss, however, there are other scenarios where knowing the whole truth regardless of the consequences is also beneficial.
Daniel Keyes decided to use Charlie Gordon as a symbol of motivation. Before the plot twist, he was a friendly man who sees the good in everything and puts trusts in his friends. But his lack of intelligence makes it impossible for him to truly see that his ‘friends’ are victimizing him. And was given the opportunity to let the doctors operate on his brain to help him to get smarter gradually. After the operation, Charlie became smarter and smarter.
his red fire cheeks. To them is was a harmless gag, to them Charlie was just a crippled toy, an accident to mankind. But Charlie felt naked, Charlie felt embarrassment, Charlie felt. For he wasn’t less of a human than anyone else, he wasn’t a freak show open for everyone’s entertainment. He was just born with disabilities.
In the science fiction novel Flowers for Algernon, the main character is a mentally challenged man named Charly. He is a very kind man who works as a janitor at the box factory. However, he feels as if he is held back by his low IQ. Finally he is offered an opportunity to be the first human subject to have a surgery for increased intelligence. After having the surgery, things quickly progress. Charly is suddenly flung into a world where he falls in love, can beat Algernon the mouse in the maze, and remember information quickly. Everything seems to
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 1:27. (N/a., King James Bible Online) In the book Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, a thirty-two year old man named Charlie Gordon, who suffers from a metal disability, has the motive to become more intelligent and to gain more friends. To complete his wish, he undergoes a life threating surgery. There are many reasons why it was not ethical for Charlie to have the surgery.
Plato once stated,”Necessity is the mother of invention,”He meant our needs help to create inventions. People invent things to help make our lives easier. Many inventions make our lives better by addressing a problem that we might have, but often there are bad side affects to all this technology. Even though technology is a great thing and gets better and better every day is it really helping our society or is it hurting our society.
As Charlie's intelligence increases he thinks that he will be more liked the higher his intelligence climbs, but later Charlie discovers that whether you are of lower intelligence then most of the population or of higher intelligence you still will not quite fit in. "I've discovered that no one really cares for Charlie Gordon whether he is a moron or a genius. (Keyes 172) Charlie's relationship with Alice also shows how whether he is of extreme low extreme high intellect he still cannot communicate with her the way he needs to. " I'm just as far away from Alice with an I.Q of 185 then when I had an IQ of 70" (Keyes 88). In today's society if a persons thoughts slightly differ from those of the majority of the population then they will be scrutinized and shunned from the others. People are not willing to look at an idea through a different perspective and this is shown in Flowers For Algernon, when Charlie discovers the fault in Dr. Nemur's experiment and confronts him about it, Dr. Nemur treats him like the old Charlie who is to mentally challenged to be correct. It is repeated numerous times during the novel that Charlie was "created" by the experiment and was not a "human being" because of his below 100 IQ before the operation. "I'm a human being, a person- with parents and memories and a history- and I was before you ever wheeled me into that operating room." (Keyes 112). Society needs to learn that even those who are different then most of us still are humans and
Dilemmas happen everyday. Some dilemmas can be good, and some can be bad. A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two or more alternatives. In the story, Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes wrote a story about a 37 year old man named Charlie who has a disability, he doesn't understand thing that normal people can. He then is encouraged by his teacher to get a surgery done to become smarter. Some people think that the surgery was a good idea,or some think it was a bad idea. In my opinion, I think that Charlie made the wrong decision about the surgery. Some people think that Charlie should of have the operation to make his dream come true In my opinion, I think he shouldn't have had the surgery because, people weren't expecting him to be new, it would not be permanent, and he put his life in danger.