Flowers For Algernon: Man Playing God

The major theme from Flowers for Algernon that relates to the article I chose is Man playing god. In both the book and the article, the scientists (Dr.Nemur and Dr.Tony Perry) are trying to fix “one of nature’s mistakes”. They do this by experimenting on humans and animals. However, they cannot know for sure that it will work because there are no guarantees but both don’t care about the human life and to them it’s worth the same as the mouse they tested their experiments on. They want to be known and be legendary for fixing the unfixable and creating something that is not in human nature. By playing god they are able to change the DNA alter it and make superior human beings and designer babies. Although there are pros and cons to both experiments

This idea relates to the article in the way that Dr. Tony Perry has developed new DNA editing techniques to create babies that are “genetically modified for beauty, intelligence or to be free of disease”. In the book Dr.Nemur is able to turn a retarded person into a genius through operations and the experiment of Algernon. In the article the DNA editing, would be abused and offered to only the rich so it won’t be only for stopping DNA mutations. Instead of creating disease, free humans it would turn into the eye color of your child and what face features you want your child to have. The only reason Charlie’s surgery was for free is because It was an experiment of an idea to see if it will work and he was willing to do it in hope of getting smarter. In the same sense that if Dr. Nemur’s experiment were to be actually successful on Charlie, only the wealthy would be offered this kind of intelligent treatment and not only the mentally disabled so the neediest of the treatment wont be able to afford it . Moreover, this creates a bigger problem and destroys natures “survival of the