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Foreshadowing In Flowers For Algernon

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“Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, is a story I was discussing with my mother. “I just feel really bad for Charlie. Throughout the whole story, he was searching for his identity, and lost it before he found it.” She nodded her head in agreement with me. “And what they did to that poor man was awful. Operations like that shouldn’t be allowed.” When she finished her sentence, I began thinking about the rights and wrongs of the world, and how the intellectually disabled do not have respect. When first reading “Flowers for Algernon,” Charlie’s search for identity began when he was attempting to fit in and make people laugh, when he was trying really hard for his first test, and when he was racing the mouse. Foremost, Charlie was attempting …show more content…

Society has always made ignorance bad. But in these instances, ignorance has proven to be blissful. Lastly, Charlie was searching for his identity, he did not need to have an operation to find it. The operation was bad because Algernon died, his friends made fun of him, and he ended up all alone. First, the operation was bad because Algernon died towards the end of the story, greatly foreshadowing Charlie's future. On page 218, Keyes writes, “Deterioration progresses. I have become absent-minded. Algernon died two days ago.” Not only did Algernon die, but Charlie knew what was about to happen to him. The operation was also bad when Charlie’s friends left him. This is seen on page 205, where Keyes writes, “Then Frank Reilly said what did you do Charlie? Forget your key and open your door the hard way. That made me laff. They really are my friends and they like me.” This was after his operation, where he was in a stage where he couldn’t put it together. If he had never had the operation, he never would’ve known that his friends were jerks. And finally, the operation was bad because Charlie ended up alone. “Good-by Miss Kinnian and Dr. Strauss and everybody.” Charlie writes on page

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