Flowers For Algernon: Ignorance Is Bliss

Irony happens in a lot of places in the stories Flowers for Algernon and The Necklace. Irony happens in The Necklace when Mathilde loses her friends Necklace she bought a 36 thousand franc necklace. Meanwhile, the necklace that she actually lost was only worth about 500 francs. In The Necklace, the irony is shown when “Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her hands. “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was at the very most five hundred francs!..” (Maupassant, 5). It is ironic that she spent ten years paying for something that was worth less than the necklace that she bought to replace the false necklace with. There is also irony in Flowers for Algernon when Charlie is unhappy due to the operation that

“Eagar, Determined, and Motivated:” these three words describe Charlie Gordon in Daniel Keyes’s story “Flowers for Algernon”. Daniel Keyes writes about a thirty two year old man with a low IQ (Charlie Gordon) who strives to become “normal”. Charlie will do anything to become smarter even letting two doctors preform brain surgery to enhance his learning capability. Charlie evolves throughout the novel and by the end of his journey although his IQ is low he is a more complete person. He learns the true meaning of friendship and demonstrates intellectual growth as a person by overcoming obstacles and understanding various lessons.

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 story, Flowers for Algernon, Charlie and his teachers hope for the best while they travel on the rocky road of life. To start off with, Charlie Gordon is a young man that takes a literacy class for retarded adults from Alice Kinnian. He is a bright man that undergoes an experimental surgery to increase his intelligence. Charlie has hoped of being smart for a while now and hopes this surgery just might do the trick. After the surgery Charlie’s IQ skyrockets to the level of genius and he begins to gain happiness.

Flowers for Algernon has a difficulty with technology when Charlie’s brain begins to deteriorate. Scientist Dr. Nemur and neurologist/psychiatrist Dr. Strauss did an operation on Charlie to higher his I.Q. At first, the surgery seemed to be a huge success making Charlie even more intelligent than themselves. Later in the novel, Charlie realizes his intelligence deteriorates and names it the “Algernon-Gordon Effect”. The operation did successfully able him to learn at an extreme rate although, the more he learned, the faster his new intelligence would disappear. The technology made Charlie smart for only a limited amount of time, this becomes burden on him. Charlie realized how his colleagues truly

* Students should work through the idea that different levels of intelligence, emotional and intellectual, lead to different types of interactions with people and society.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things”, -Henry Miller. When one reads this quote, it may have a different meaning to them than to others. To Charlie Gordon, it practically defines his life journey. In the shorty story “Flowers for Algernon”, Charlie Gordon is a main who obtains an IQ of 68, and desires to be smart. Charlie finally gets his dream one day by partaking in an intelligence enhancing operation. His perspective of life is much different before and after the surgery. Although Charlie seems happy before the surgery, Charlie is able to apprehend reality through a “pair of new eyes”, regarding the operation. Three arguments why Charlie’s emotions are happier following the surgery are: He learns about lies he had in life, Charlie had a positive learning experience, and Charlie discerns his full potential.

One of the major themes in “Flowers for Algernon’ is that when science plays God, the end result will be suffering. “It was evil when Eve listened to the snake and ate from the tree of knowledge [of good and evil].” In this quote, Fanny, a fellow coworker, compares Charlie’s rise in intelligence to Eve in the Garden of Eden. Charlie’s artificially increased intelligence, like Eve, has caused his loss of innocence, rejection from others, and finally death. “I am very disturbed.”

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.

The book that I have read is Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. This book was published in 1966 and 1959.

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

The short story of charlie and Algernon is a little bit different when they are compared together in the short story charlie has no relationship with mrs kinney but in the movie later on in the movie mrs kinney has a fiance but she left him for charlie. In the movie charlie ran back home into his little apartment but then he ran to the park right after that he see his old self and he start to forget about most of the thing he learned about during the time of his surgery in the movie.In the short story charlie went to a bar with his friends and they drink beer there but his friends left him and he does not remember how he got there but his landowner said police brought him home. In the movie the police just laugh at

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.

In Daniel Keyes’ compelling novel, Flowers for Algernon, the main character undergoes both important emotional and physical changes. The book has an interesting twist, as it is described in the characters “progress reports”. This book has a science fiction undertone, and takes place in exciting New York City. As the novel begins, the main character, Charlie Jordan is thirty-two years old, but cannot remember anything from his childhood.

Secondly, if someone is having a hard time with life, (poor education, lack of friends, family problems.), there not going to have a good life and will probably think of commiting suicide. This can relate to Charlie because during his childhood, he kept mentioning that his mother kept giving him irrelevant beatings. “She comes toward him, screaming that he is a bad boy, and Charlie runs to his father for help.” Pg 10. In this quote, Charlie is saying in his opinion that he finds his parents as nerve-racking. This explains how if someones having a hard live, chances are they wont live