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Flowers for algebra intelligence essay
The gift and curse of intelligence in flowers of algernon
Flowers for algebra intelligence essay
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While Daniel Keyes in “Flowers for Algernon” portrayed hope for the mentally impaired man Charlie Gordon, the experiment backfired with devastating consequences. Charlie thought his world would be perfect with no flaw. Intelligence was Charlie’s only hope to blend in with society; however, this operation opened up to a dark time period worse than the beginning. The truth found its way around and gradually revealed everything that was hidden from him. A human, Charlie Gordon was an object in the opportunist eyes, he was the key to their success! Moreover, as a genius, Charlie Gordon understood the failure of the surgery himself. The societal problems became a reality for Charlie as he overtook the brain of a genius. Every day, Charlie woke up thinking he was best friends with Joe and Frank; nonetheless, after the operation, Charlie’s brilliance knew Frank and Joe were not his legitimate cohorts. All the mocking was assumed to be friendly until Charlie was able to comprehend the actuality. Charlie’s acquaintances turned around …show more content…
Charlie was used, opportunists only looked after Charlie for their own well-being. These doctors knew Charlie was the ultimate person, he had no family. Additionally, the surgeons superseded Charlie’s life, nobody was definite of the side effects, yet they agreed on performing this experiment. No heart was given to Charlie, he was just an item for Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur. Moreover, Algernon was not the only lab mice, there were hundreds more! Tons of these animals probably died; however, the specialists prepared this analysis with one victorious lab to rodent. All the people working with Charlie on the study were conscious on the side effect; despite that, nobody informed Charlie. Over the months, Charlie was only a gadget to benefit the opportunists, the human himself. Not being aware of all the circumstances, Charlie was an investigation to fix
The famous quote from Alfred Lord Tennyson, “'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” is particularly relevant to the story “Flowers for Algernon.” Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man with an I.Q. of 68 his one goal in life was to become smarter so he could be normal. This chance comes to him as he is selected to undergo an operation that should in theory increase his intelligence. This procedure has already been performed on multiplies animals most notably on a mouse named Algernon. After undergoing the operation, Charlie rapidly gains intelligence until he reaches an Iq of about 200 or more. Then tragedy strikes when Algernon starts to mentally regress to his former state after which he dies. From this Charlie learns that soon the same will happen to him all of the things he’s learned will soon disappear soon Charlie finds himself in a downward spiral as he quickly forgets everything he’s learned after the operation. In the end
Everyone knows that every story has two sides, but the tricky part is figuring out which side to believe. In the short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keys, Charlie Gordon, a 37-year-old man with a mental handicap, has an operation performed on him to artificially increase his intelligence. Before and after the operation, there were drastic changes in the lives of Charlie and all those around him. While the operation caused many twists and turns for Charlie and his peers, the pros far outweighed the cons.
Charlie begins to learn how society treats the mentally retarded. He realizes his old friends at the bakery just made fun of him. After watching the audience laugh at video of him before the operation, Charlie runs away from a mental health conference with Algernon after learning that his operation went wrong. Charlie does research on himself and learns that intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown. In many ways Charlie was better before the operation.
One important idea the doctors had to consider was whether or not Charlie was a suitable candidate to use for the experiment. Even before the operation was confirmed, the doctors had performed tests on Charlie such as the inkblot tests and the maze races against Algernon. Charlie eventually won the two doctors over by expressing his motivation to learn and become smart. The doctors knew that other patients with Charlie's mentality were uncooperative, which was unlike this candidate they were considering. This decision was especially important for the doctors because if they did not choose a fitting candidate, their experiment may not have been as easy to analyze.
Although Charlie was a thirty seven year-old man, his understanding and comprehension of a situation was far too low to understand such consequences that the surgery could come with. In the article, "Five Steps to Better Ethical Decision Making", it says to ask yourself if you could understand making that choice (Dobrin). The doctors in "Flowers for Algernon" did not ask themselves if they were lacking as much intelligence as Charlie, could they make the choice to have the surgery? Charlie didn't know what could happen to him if the there were side effects until it was too late. Therefore, the doctors did not act ethically when choosing Charlie as the test
As a result of the operations, Charlie gains the experience of what it is like to be intelligent. Therefore, he sees the world as it is. “Only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Now I can see that unknowingly I joined them in laughing at myself. This hurts most of all” (76.) He can now truly understand how the outside world functions and how he is truly treated.
The scientists finally decide Charlie is the perfect subject for the experiment due to his motivation and his eagerness to be smart. As Charlie's IQ begins to grow, so does his ability to understand how cruel the world around him really is. While Charlie's knowledge grows, his attitude changes along with those around him. Charlie loses his job, friends, happiness, and even his willingness to care or learn. On the contrary, Charlie also experiences and learns a lot from this experiment.
Before Charlie got smart he thought that he was good friends with Joe Carp and Frank Reilly but after the From being laughed at to being treated like he was a baby. All of this happened to him just because he was mentally challenged. The worst part is that Charlie didn’t know that he was laughed at and nobody told or tried to help him. This went on until Charlie got the operation and got smart. However things became worse after the operation.
For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so called ? friends? were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was also fired from the job that he loved so much because his new intelligence made those around him feel inferior and scared.
In the end, Charlie is returned to his previous mental state proving that scientific experimentation leads to a destructive nature of man. In Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes shows the reader a destructive nature of man through stereotypes, absence of family, and the various IQ levels needed to mature. Therefore, science experiments should be left for chemicals and labs not humans and animals.
The plot of both the novel and film version of Flowers for Algernon share common similarities. They both feature a retarded middle-aged man, Charlie Gordon, who receives an operation to heighten his intelligence. Charlie’s IQ eventually surpasses human normalcy to reveal that the experiment did prove successful. In both the film and novel, Charlie became even more intelligent than the professors who worked with him. In the film, Dr. Strauss was embarrassed to reveal that Charlie was smarter than him. That played a milestone event in Charlie’s identification of himself. Slowly his intelligence began to decrease and he eventually returned to his original state of mind. Throughout the story, Charlie encountered many different emotions that he had never experienced before because he didn’t have the common knowledge to understand them. The episode when he was at the nightclub with his co-workers gave him the opportunity to experience betrayal and anger. “I never knew before that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around just to make fun of me” (Keyes 30). The plot for both versions also carefully depicted Charlie’s psychological traumas that he suffered after his operation. These outbursts were often caused by romantic anxiety and the painful memories he would recall. Whenever Charlie got intimate with Alice he would tend to get extremely nervous or have a hallucination, causing him to ruin the moment. “I dropped a fork, and when I tried to retrieve it, I knocked over a glass of water and spilled it on her dress” (56). One of Charlie’s most painful memories was the one about the locket incident. Both versions did a great job of emphasizing this particular moment. “His clothes are torn, his nose is bleeding and one of his teeth is broken” (38). These flashbacks occurred many times in the novel yet the f...
In this novel, Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, a man named Charlie Gordon has an operation done to increase his intelligence. He started as a mentally retarded man and slowly became a genius. He seemed to soak up information like a sponge and he was able to figure out the most complex scientific formulas. The only problem with the operation is that it does not last for ever and in his remaining time he tries to figure out why it is not permanent. He will eventually lose everything he learned and become worse off than when he started, so Charlie was better off before he had the operation.
Was Charlie better off without the operation? Through Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes sends an crucial message to society that man should never tamper with human intelligence or else the outcome can be personally devastating. After Charlie's operation, he felt isolated and lonesome, change in personality made him edgy around people or (lack social skills), and suffered from traumas due to past memories.
The fact is that Charlie Gordon just wanted to be smart & to be able to fit in.The main character is Charlie Gordon from “Flowers for Algernon” & Charlie’s life was a lot better after the A.I surgery in his image & i agree.Charlie should have had took the A.I surgery. The 3 reasons are he proved the operation was a failure Algernon-Gordon effect,He would never experienced love, & earned more money than before.
Charlie is chosen for an operation(after taking many tests) that could increase his intelligence level. Algernon(a white mouse) had the same operation done on him. The first test Algernon has to run through a maze while Charlie does one on paper. After Charlie has his operation he becomes insanely smart and can beat Algernon without even trying. Months after the operation things start to go downhill for Charlie and Algernon. They both experience a decrease in their intelligence level and show aggressive actions. Weeks later Algernon dies because of a brain shrinkage. Charlie is now worried about his fate so he publishes the experiment(The Algernon-Gordon effect) which shows how the operation fails. After the publication, Charlie moves to New Nork and is never seen again. Daniel Keyes uses point of view to reveal Charlie's transformation using his mental ability and emotional