“Flowers for Algernon” contains numerous themes throughout Charlie Gordon’s journey. Charlie Gordon the story’s protagonist is a 32-year-old mentally disabled man who has the opportunity of a lifetime to undergo very special surgeries which will most likely change his life for the better, hopefully. This operation has already been preformed on a laboratory mouse named Algernon, who received astonishing and outstanding results so the doctor is convinced it can alter a human’s disability and help millions of people. The reason Charlie was chosen for this operation is his teacher Miss. Kinnian who said he was a very hard worker and valuable aspect. After the operation Charlie’s intelligence increased rapidly and soon became a genius. Charlie …show more content…
The second thing Keyes asserts is Algernon, without the operation Algernon would just be a normal mouse eating and sleeping, doing what all other pet mice do, but with the surgery, Algernon became important, he was the foundation and test subject for the experiment and there was a more important point in his life, but Algernon did eventually decline and pass away, the experiment had many problems and questions to be solved but Algernon helped answer a few of these concerns. Algernon also served as a friend and representation of Charlie, this is due to the fact that both Algernon and Charlie were the only ones who received this special surgery by the same doctor, in a sense they both were connected. Charlie really loved Algernon and Algernon sort of understood that, he and Charlie were connected mentally and physically, with the operation this bond would not have been possible so this whole operation helped Charlie receive a good friend not a regular companion. The final example Keyes provides is Charlie Gordon's progress reports, at first, Charlie wrote incorrectly and with no emotion, bland, but after the operation, he wrote correctly and with feelings because he was experiencing life, he felt sadness, a bit of happiness and love, something he could not have felt without the surgery, people may argue that he was sad and that is bad, but without those emotions
Flowers for Algernon/The Awakening I am doing the compare contrast of ¨The Awakening¨ and ¨Flowers for Algernon¨. Both of the story are of a medical administration or procedure that allows the recipient to become more aware of themselves and others. They both have the same idea but they are distinctly different from each other in the way that one is a mental incapability and the other is of disease related and many other things. In ¨Flowers for Algernon¨ the procedure is of surgical means but in ¨The Awakening¨ is works by chemical stimulation of the brain. I believe they both have the same idea and a couple of the stories end alike
“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 Essay In Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the main character Charlie Gordon under goes in an operation to increase his intelligence as a mentally disabled person. Later on in the story he looses the intelligence he gained and could be on the road to dying. He is better off with the surgery because he gained so much such as, social cues and intelligence. Before the operation Charlie could barely say complete sentences let alone spell, but after the operation he was becoming smarter than his teacher, Mrs. Kinnian.
As a consequence, having the operation created the chance for unpredictable and unwanted outcomes. Charlie was the first human patient for the experiment. Since the doctors have never tried the operation on a human being before, the chances for making mistakes are higher. This was proven as Algernon soon experiences side effects as his intelligence regresses and he eventually passes away. Soon, Charlie also regresses back to his original intelligence state. In conclusion, having the operation created unpredictable and unwanted outcomes. I inferred that Charlie wouldn’t die like Algernon did because the last line in the book in which he asks that someone puts flowers on Algernon's grave shows that he hasn't lost 100% of his memory of what happened. The fact that he remembers Algernon and his meticulous ritual of placing flowers on his grave shows that with repetition and reminders, he does have the capacity to recall details about the time he spent with intelligence. It's there somewhere in his subconscious, just like his childhood memories were before. While Charlie maintains most of his intelligence, 16 days after Algernon bit Charlie, Algernon died. And even after 13 days realizing his intelligence is regressing, he isn't showing signs of sickness, just showing that he is absentminded. Having all these different factors influenced all these different outcomes. In
The first reason that the operation was positive was because Charlie learned that he was in love with Miss Kinnian. Miss Kinnian and Charlie were having a dinner when Charlie knew that he liked her, "I don't understand why I never noticed how beautiful Miss Kinnian really is" (Keyes). Once Charlie became more intelligent, he realized something that he never would have noticed before. Without performing the operation on Charlie, he would had always seen her as a teacher
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.
“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.
“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.
“Flower for Algernon” is an outstanding story about a Man named Charlie Gordon with an I.Q. of 68, and a small white mouse named Algernon who can beat Charlie in any maze. The story begins when Charlie's Support teacher, Miss Kinnian, advise Charlie to do an experiment that Dr.Nemur and Dr.Strauss believe that a surgical operation could possibly have Charlie's I.Q. raise up triple the amount it was once before. In the beginning, it was a thank took months for success to happen in the experiment.However, the success was only temporary. Charlie with once with an I.Q. of a genius know back to his original self.
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.
Character development is the core for Daniel Keyes endeavor to convey themes to his audience by developing the character of Charlie Gordon. One way to develop his character is through relationships with other characters, which is critical in conveying the themes in the book. Another way through which Keyes develops Charlie Gordon’s character for his audience is through letting in the audience on the thoughts of the character in the book so they get on a ride with his emotion, conflict, and dilemmas. Flowers for Algernon illustrates how cruel the society treats the mentally disabled with the use of literary elements. Daniel Keyes conveys the message that the grass is not always greener on the other side through character development.
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
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.