Symbolism In Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

He realized that he had feelings for Miss Kinnian, his teacher. For instance, “I think from the beginning I had the feeling that she was an unreachable genius-and very, very old. Now, every time I see her she grows younger and more lovely.” (Keyes 37). Before the operation, Charlie did not realize how beautiful Miss Kinnian was. After the operation, Charlie realized this. His hope for a better life increased. On the other hand, his newfound intelligence divided him from his friends. In the text it states, “This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved.” (Keyes 39). Charlie’s friends kept teasing and making fun of him. He felt very lonely. As well as affecting his social life, the operation also affected Charlie emotionally. A few months after the operation, Charlie’s emotions changed negatively. He became touchy and irritable. In short, Charlie’s emotions were negatively affected after a little while, however, he got to know what love felt like and he got to know his true

In the short story “Flowers for Algernon,” Daniel Keyes leaves the reader saddened, stunned and ultimately forming questions. Keyes also highlights several characters, a particular character is a mentally disabled janitor named Charlie Gordon. He has a sixty-eight IQ, works at a paper factory in New York, and is oblivious to his surroundings. Gordon’s deepest desire is to increase his intelligence by doing an operation that has only been done on a mouse, whose name is Algernon. Soon after the operation is done, Gordon starts becoming a super-genius with more knowledge than most doctors. He understands elaborate mathematical equations and can read and write at an age beyond his years. However, his increased intelligence starts to “ware off,” Gordon starts losing huge chunks of intelligence, he is unmotivated and is overall ashamed. His three stages which include his wanting to be the one for the operation, his super genius self, and his deteriorating self-are important in Charlie Gordon’s character development.

The book “Flowers For Algernon”, by Daniel Keys was written in 1961. Later, Richard Heynes decided to produce the movie in 1968 properly called “Charly”. There are both similarities and differences between the two. However, the differences play a more crucial role between the two rather then the similarities.

“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.

Before the surgery Charlie's “friends” could laugh at him without him even realizing it. “Joe Carp said I should show the girls how I mop out the toilet in the factory and he got me a mop.” (Keyes 290). This quote shows his “friends” being able to make fun of him without him even realizing it. After the surgery he learned his “friends” where not really his friends.

At the beginning of the novel, before his “intelligence-enhancement” procedure, patronization and abuse were dominant in Charlie’s life. The importance of memory as a motif is apparent in Charlie before the procedure. He was not able to differentiate between friend and foe. Charlie’s uncle was able to use his connections to get him a janitorial job at a bakery. The bakery in which Charlie worked at is vital because a majority of pre-procedure Charlie’s memory were held there. The Charlie who had a very low IQ connected the jokes told about him at the bakery as sign of friend, when in reality it was a sign of foe. His was unable to distinguish between laughing with him and laughing at him. For example, when someone said “he really pulled a Charlie Gordon” (Keyes, 23), it is not apparent to Charlie that he is being patronized. Instead, he sees this as a way of people showing friendship—something he

The surgery made Charlie see the things his friends did to him. Before Charlie had the surgery people at work picked on him and he didn't understand what was happening “Sometimes somebody will say hey look Joe or Frank or George , he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I don't know why they say that but i always laff.” (Keyes 227) if Charlie wouldn’t have had the surgery he would have been made fun of and picked an and even hurt by his so called “friends”.

During their quarrel, Alice states that Charlie “...had a smile...a warm real smile, because [he] wanted people to like [him].” (Keyes 299). As Alice says, Charlie used to be a very happy person, but as time progressed, with his intelligence increase and his deterioration following, he became less jovial and outgoing. In response to Alice, Charlie claims, “Maybe that’s why it was so important for me to learn. I thought it would make people like me. I thought I would have friends. That’s something to laugh at, isn’t it?” (Keyes 299-300). This declaration further proves Charlie’s cynicality. He is expressing pessimistic behavior by affirming that it was humorous for him to gain intelligence so he could obtain friends. In reality, however, his friend-count downsized. Based on this altercation, the audience can derive that Alice deems the operation ruined Charlie’s personality, and that she valued his warm, loving personality over his artificial

Before the enhancing surgery, Charlie Gordon seemed to have depend and trust others, while those people didn’t have his back. This could be a problem in the future, because people have to learn to be independent so when they lose someone important, they don’t crack under pressure. In the story, Keyes writes, “Sometimes somebody will say hey look at Joe or Frank or George he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I dont know why they say that but they always laft” (Keyes, 289). Daniel Keyes uses dramatic irony as a way of displaying Charlies perception of his friends. Charlie assumes he has very nice friends, but the audience knows that his

Before the operation, Charlie Gordon, from Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, is happy. He may have a simple, pitiful existence, but he thinks his friends like him, and enjoys being with them and Miss Kinnian at the Learning Center for Slow Adults. However, Charlie wants to be smart, the one dark cloud in his sunny sky of life. Because of this, Charlie volunteers for an operation to triple his IQ of 68. With a high IQ comes awareness of the world around him, so Charlie suddenly becomes conscious of his previously pitiful existence which leads to a slew of feelings such as embarrassment, shame, and superiority. Charlie thinks that becoming smart will make him happy and well-liked, but the operation works the opposite effect. Charlie starts to look down on everyone, and cannot socialize with others because of his IQ. As a result, Charlie becomes almost depressed. His depression deepens when Charlie discovers that his intelligence will not be permanent. Soon, Charlie regresses to his former childlike mentality. Although at the end of the novel, Charlie does not find himself any worse off after the operation, the few months he spent smarter are not terribly enjoyable for him, and his changing mentality negatively impacts those he is close to, namely Miss Kinnian. Because the effects are not permanent, Charlie would be far better off without the operation.

You feel the wetness of your sweat run down your neck and the sun beating against you. It is ninety three degrees out and you have bought yourself an ice cream. You have never tried ice cream before. When you take a lick, you feel the nice and refreshing taste of the ice cream and your body cooling. As you take another lick, you tip the icecream over and it falls on the ground. You become sad as for you only had a little taste of what you could have. Having sad thoughts as the ice cream is melting on the ground, you begin to wonder if you would be happier if you did not have the ice cream in the first place and not have this sadness that you are feeling now. This is the roller coaster of emotions that Charlie had in the science fiction short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. Charlie is a 37 year old adult who has a mental disability. He gets an opportunity to triple his IQ of only 68 from an experiment and the reader reads the journal

One reason as to why this is the theme that sticks out the most is because the operation harmed Charlie’s social life. He had a lot of people to call friends, like Joe Carp, Frank Reilly, and Gimpy, but after he had the operation, he realized that they weren’t really his friends. “April 22- People at the bakery are changing. I can feel the hostility.” Charlie had become smarter than the people who worked at the bakery, and they started to push him away, and Charlie started to feel upset and hurt by their actions. He thought that he had lost all of his friends were lost, and that upset him. This is one of the many reasons why technology was a bad thing for Charlie.

One reason Charlie was better off after surgery was that he finally realized that Joe and Frank were not his real friends. At first they would tease and laugh at him and with him not understanding the situation he would laugh at himself. He thought they were his friends because they made him “laff”. After Charlie had the surgery he realized they were laughing at him not with him for their own entertainment. “...I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me...I’m ashamed.”

In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes writes about an intellectually disabled man named Charlie Gordon. Charlie’s goal is to become intelligent. Charlie volunteered to be in a medical trial that would help him triple in intelligence. The operation did work, and Charlie’s intelligence tripled very quickly. However, very soon after, his intelligence began to quickly decline. Charlie ended up with the same amount of intelligence that he started with. Charlie Gordon is not better off as a result of the surgery. He was lonely, much more aware of his flaws, and he had much less hope at the end of the story.

Society has become a shallow place. If an individual does not fit into societies form of the normal person then they are treated differently. But does society treat those who are different in a negative or positive way? In the novel Flowers for Algernon, the author Daniel Keyes shows an in depth look at the treatment of individuals in today's society. Firstly society tends to discriminate against those whose IQ does not fit into the norms of our society. The physically handicapped in today's world are not considered to be "equal" as those who fit into the normal physical appearance, Keyes portrays this through Charlie's thoughts while in the café. Although animals are not technically humans society treats them in ways which no human would