Flowers For Algernon

649 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Conclusion about flowers for algernon

Algernon is a mouse. He's a special mouse, Charlie Gordon is told, and it must be true, because whenever Charlie and
Algernon run a race (Algernon is in a real maze; Charlie has a pencil-and-paper version), Algernon wins. How did that mouse get to be so special, Charlie wonders?

The answer is that Algernon's IQ has been tripled by an experimental surgical procedure.
The scientists who performed the experiment now need a human subject to test, and Charlie has been recommended to them by his night-school teacher, Miss Kinnian. Charlie's a good candidate for the procedure, because even though he currently has an I.Q. of only 68, he is willing, highly motivated and eager to learn.
He's convinced that if he could only learn to read and write, the secret of being smart would be revealed to him.

Charlie wants to be smart because he works as a janitor in a factory where he has many friends, but even as he goes along with their hijinks, he suspects his friends mock him. The opportunity to be made smart--really smart--is irresistible, even though there's a chance that the results of the operation will only be temporary. Because Charlie wants his co-workers to accept him. And therein lies the tale. Charlie does indeed get smarter. He struggles to absorb as much knowledge as he can in whatever time he has. He suggests a new way to line up the machines at the factory, saving the owner tens of thousands of dollars a year in operating costs, and the owner gives him a $25 bonus. But when Charlie suggests to his factory friends that he could use his bonus to treat them to lunch or a drink, they have other things to do. Charlie's too smart for them now. He's even smart enough to assist with the research on intelligence enhancement. He's smart enough to suddenly perceive Miss Kinnian with new eyes...and fall in love.

Everybody is Charlie

Flowers for Algernon is such a beloved classic that it has remained in print since 1959 and is now in its 58th edition. It has received science fiction's highest honors, the Hugo and Nebula
Awards. It's been translated into dozens of languages, adapted for TV, and performed on stage. Cliff Robertson won an Oscar for his performance in the 1968 movie version, Charly.

Everybody loves Charlie's story because Charlie is so vulnerable, so representative of readers' internal desires to fit in, to be smart, to have friends, to love. Everyone carries the ancient baggage of childhood, a time when others (adults, older children) were the keepers of the secret knowledge of the world. The revelation of Charlie's raw hopes and dreams

Show More
Related

  • Case Study Of Mamma Jo's Pizza '

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    b) If Ahmad were terminated for refusing to shave his beard, he could bring the potential claim of religious discrimination against Mamma Jo’s Pizza under Title VII. In order for Ahmad to claim religious discrimination, he needs to show three things in order to establish and prove a prima facie case for disparate treatment. First, he must show that he holds a sincere religious belief that conflicts with a Mamma Jo’s employment requirement. Next, he has to inform Mamma Jo’s about the conflict. Finally, he needs to prove that he was discharged or disciplined for failing to comply with the conflicting no beard employment requirement.

    Read More

  • Comparing Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Mill on the Floss

    2449 Words  | 5 Pages

    Religious authority and traditional Christian themes play a significant role in Uncle Tom's Cabin. As part of the nineteenth century tide of American Protestantism in which social behavior and spiritual regeneration were seen as interdependent (Reynolds, 81), Stowe felt the novel was an "errand of mercy," by calling for an improvement in human welfare and humanitarian reform (Crim, Ed., 583). She contrasted the social system of slavery, which corrupted the owners, oppressed the innocent, and undermined American democratic ideals, with a theological system based on compassion, mercy, and "brotherly" love. And this theological viewpoint is presented as the higher moral authority, one that any true believer cannot fail to recognize and obey. The novel is both a...

    Read More

  • Queen Mary of the Scotts

    748 Words  | 2 Pages

    “She was the only surviving child of King James V Of Scotland, who died when she was at the age of 6 days old making her fall in line to throne (“Mary I” 1 Britannica).” “At the age of 5 her mother saw it fit to send Mary to France, there she was brought up at the court of King Henry II. “Mary’s education was not neglected, and she was taught Latin, Italian, Spanish, and some Greek. French now became her first language, and indeed in every other way Mary grew into a Frenchwoman rather than a Scot” (“Mary” 2 Britannica). Even though she wasn’t with her Parents and with an Uncle she still got an amazing education. Many times royal families tend to fight against one another in fear the other might still the throne. Queen Mary was a Scott but because of the way she was raised she became a French-woman, which I find interesting. All from how her uncle raised her instead of her mother raising her. “Her remarkable beauty, with her tall, slender figure, her red-gold hair and amber-coloured eyes, and her taste for music and poetry, Mary summed up the contemporary ideal of the Renaissance princess at the time of her marriage to Francis, eldest son of Henry and Catherine, in April 1558. Although it was a political match aimed at the union of France and Scotland, Mary was sincerely ...

    Read More

  • The Pitfalls Of Plastic Surgery By Camille Pagalia

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    In today society, beauty in a woman seems to be the measured of her size, or the structure of her nose and lips. Plastic surgery has become a popular procedure for people, mostly for women, to fit in social class, race, or beauty. Most women are insecure about their body or face, wondering if they are perfect enough for the society to call the beautiful; this is when cosmetic surgery comes in. To fix what “needed” to be fixed. To begin with, there is no point in cutting your face or your body to add or remove something most people call ugly. “The Pitfalls of Plastic Surgery” explored the desire of human to become beyond perfection by the undergoing plastic surgery. The author, Camille Pagalia, took a look how now days how Americans are so obsessed

    Read More

  • Uncle Tom's Cabin Analysis

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe is a classic novel that some people claimed evoked the American Civil War. Stowe motivated people to take sides over the issue of slavery by discussing the issue and showing the cruel aspects of it. The main focus of the novel was to show whites that African American’s have souls and feelings like any other human; it was common for whites at the time to view blacks as cattle. Families were separated, and the white people’s reasoning was that blacks did not feel the loss the same way a white person would. Stowe’s basic argument is that it is wrong to mistreat blacks because they suffer just as much as whites.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis: Understanding Religion in the Workplace

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    Title VII of Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits intentional discrimination on the basis of religion and requires an employer to make reasonable efforts to accommodate religious practices of employees unless doing so would cause undue hardship to employer. Overall the number of EEOC cases with regard to religious discrimination has nearly doubled from 1997 where the reported cases were 1709 annually to 3721 cases in 2012 (US EEOC, 2012). The rise of cases in the US is primarily due to further diversity in the workplace and the employees embracing expressions of faith. Examples of religious discrimination in the workplace are varied from the basis of one’s dress or clothing, refrain from working Sabbath or religious holidays or antagonism between cultural or religious groups leading to harassment. Management strategies need to be identified and discussed with employees in the same manner as other components of employer’s diversity policy. The following is an example of a request for time off work to observe the Sabbath. In EEOC v. Thompson Contracting, Grading, Paving, and Utilities, Inc., No. 11-1897, the EEOC sued the company for failing to accommodate a request to not work Saturdays made by an employee who alleged he followed the Hebrew Israelite faith (Jones and Erickson, 2013). After Mr. Yisrael refused to work three different Saturdays, Thompson terminated his employment. Mr. Yisrael then filed a complaint with the EEOC. The job as a dump truck driver was infrequently called to work Saturdays but did so due to recent weather conditions. The employer would have had to hire substitute drivers for the time frame in order to cover his shift. In so doing, the employer would be incurring additional costs beyond normal ...

    Read More

  • Intelligence and Happiness in Flowers for Algernon

    395 Words  | 1 Pages

    Charlie?s experiment was temporary, and overtime his IQ regressed. Algernon, a mouse that went through the same surgery as Charlie, died. If Charlie?s hypothesis proves correct, then he will die as well. Charlie?s life was better before the experiment because he was not exposed to the risks and consequences of the surgery. Without the experiment, Charlie would still be living his ignorant but happy life.

    Read More

  • A Rose for Emily

    735 Words  | 2 Pages

    People who read about William Faulkner (1897-1962) know that he did not lead an easy life. He had the bad habit of drinking way too much, but above all he was very lonely. In his short story “A Rose For Emily,” Emily becomes very important because it represents in some way Faulkner himself. Even though she was perceived as an idol from the town, she felt very lonely.

    Read More

  • A Rose For Emily

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    William Faulker’s "A Rose for Emily", is a story told from the viewpoint of a

    Read More

  • The Influence Of Cosmetic Surgery

    1182 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Discourse and Society “Cosmetic surgery needs to be seen as an important social practice because it merges the attention given to the body by an individual person with the values and priorities of the consumer society.” Younger generations are easily drawn to the hype that is presented by the media, and in turn look at themselves as imperfect, and seek to make changes to their body as a result.

    Read More

  • Charlie was Better off Before the Operation in Flowers for Algernon

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Uncle Tom's Cabin

    1066 Words  | 3 Pages

    For example, Eliza was legally separated from her son, Harry, because selling the slaves was vital to paying off of debts for the Shelby family (Stowe, 1852, p. 51). This exemplifies the similarities between Uncle Tom’s Cabin and large plantations after the 1830s in that both slave owners would sell slaves for their financial benefit, which makes Uncle Tom’s Cabin a significantly accurate portrayal of large plantations after the 1830s. Along with the separation of Eliza and Harry, Uncle Tom and and Aunt Chloe were also separated due to the Shelby’s financial issues. Furthermore, Lucy’s baby was taken and sold by Haley without her knowledge. Lucy was lured away from her child, and when she returned the child was gone (Stowe, 1852, p. 208) This incident highlights the similarities of the methods in which slave traders would take to be able to conveniently sell slaves. Lastly, George Harris and Eliza Harris were separated, despite the fact that they were married (Stowe, 1852, p. 57) This instance shows how white landowners in Uncle Tom’s Cabin did not acknowledge their slaves as people and would sell their slaves like commodities for their own profit, which is also correct for large plantations after the 1830s. This commonality represents Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a significantly accurate portrayal of slaves lives on large

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Cosmetic Surgery

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    Cosmetic surgery has become a vital component of modern-day society. It’s good has left the apprehensive glistening with confidence and poise. However, like everything else it’s bad has many times over shadowed and been disputed against. Its ability to replace flaws with ideal body features has left numerous patients with an obsession for the quest of perfection. Individuals go to large magnitudes in order to seek this perfection such as spending irrational amounts of money and for those who cannot afford these surgeries, traveling to different countries in order to get surgeries done. These surgeries that have levitated millions of insecurities have many times left the patient mentally unstable with obsession disorders or physically botched if not done correctly or by an unaccredited surgeon.

    Read More

  • A Rose For Emily Grierson Point Of View

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    In "A Rose for Emily" we are guided through the life of Miss Emily Grierson, a newly departed spinster who has led quite an isolated life. She has always been regarded as a bit eccentric, but it wasn't until after her death, and the finding of a rotting corps in her bed, that people fully understood the magnitude of her eccentricity.

    Read More

  • Negative Impact On Plastic Surgery

    1957 Words  | 4 Pages

    This paper has examined the process in which the combination of ill effect, the appearance obsession, high expense and negative influence on the society caused by plastic surgery. Plastic surgery emphasizes the false idea that external beauty is more important than internal personalities. Women and men infer that despite the risk, and pain of the surgical procedure, if it is successful, all the suffered and pressure in the society would disappear. In the end, how much closer has plastic surgery brought women’s perception of body images to the social standard of beauty.

    Read More

More about Flowers For Algernon

Open Document