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Character analysis essay on flowers for algernon
How charlie gordon got smarter in flowers of algernon
Character analysis essay on flowers for algernon
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If you had the chance to have your IQ tripled, would you take it? In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon was faced with this same question. Charlie is a 37 year old man with a measly IQ of 68. However, Charlie has a strong passion to learn and really, all he ever wanted were some true friends. So, Charlie decides to take that chance, and you know what? Charlie was eternally grateful after he got the AI surgery. He contributed immensely to science, was able to have feelings such as love, and had the chance to be smart. First of all, when Charlie had the AI surgery, he contributed to science. When Charlie gets smarter, he does an experiment and finds out about the Algernon-Gordon Effect. Even if he doesn’t remember exactly what he did after he regressed, he is still happy he did it. An example of this from the text is, “Anyway, I bet I'm the first dumb person in the world who ever found out something important for science. I remember I did something, but I don't remember what. So I guess I did it for all the dumb people like me.”(Keyes 245). This proves that Charlie was grateful to be able to help science and was happy about it. Even though he might not remember, he helped science a lot and the other people that might have the same surgery he did. …show more content…
After progressing in his learning, he falls in love with his night school teacher, Miss Kinnian. He takes her out to dinner, and then writes in his progress report, “I knew that this was only the beginning. I knew what she meant about levels because I’d seen some of them already. The thought of leaving her behind made me sad. I’m in love with Miss Kinnian.”(Keyes 234). This shows that Charlie actually thinks of Miss Kinnian as the 34 year old woman she is instead of a much older teacher. Charlie was happier because he could fall in
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.
...stly, Whenever Charlie got intimate with women, he suddenly panics and feels extremely agitated. Alice Kinnian is the first women he ever tried to get intimate with, but failed due to panic attack. But he did recall a unpleasant memory, he mentions in the end of his eleventh progress report, Rose screeches "He's got no business to think that way about girls... I'll teach him so he never forgets. Do you hear? If you ever touch a girl, I'll put you away in a cage, like an animal, for the rest of your life. Do you hear me?" (112). Rose Gordon's words have left him truly horrified. The fear of being put away in a cage still haunts him and it has an huge impact on his sex life. After the operation, the emotional stress and trauma which Charlie goes through when he recalls his childhood memories prove that his childhood have truly been unpleasant for the most part of it.
He proved the operation was a failure Algernon-Gordon effect. The quote is saying (which is next)that Charlie is telling the doctors that their experiment was a failure.The quote is “I recall your once saying to me that an experimental failure or disproving of a theory was important to the advancement of learning as a success would
After the operation, Charlie is now using phrases such as "the mathematical variance equivalent in Dobermans Fifth Concerto"(Keyes). About two months after the operation Charlie's IQ has tripled from 68 to 204. He has become insanely smart and is helping boost production at the factory he is working at. Later he quits his job to help further the Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss research. While working on his research, he learns that Algernon has died and becomes worried about his fate.
He was able to see the world through the new eyes that he had gained from the operation learning new things about the world and being able to talk and interact with the people around him as a normal person. For a moment in time Charlie was normal ,and even after he had lost everything Charlie still learns in the end that even though he may have lost everything he was still happy to be able to finally fulfill his dream of being normal. In conclusion I still think Charlie should have undergone the operation for these reasons ,because in the end if he hadn’t he would have experience these many great things and finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming smart and
In conclusion, I believe that Charlie?s life was better before the surgery. Although ?
Before the operation, he exhibited some clear strengths such as determination, a positive attitude, friendly with people and some weaknesses such as education and inability to understand the adult world. After the operation, he begun to change in numerous ways. Charlie started out as being not really intelligent. Being around with “smart” people made him want to change and became “intelligent” just like his “friends.” I think its all crazy. If you can get smart when your sleeping why do people go to school. That thing I don't think will work. I use to watch the late show and the late late show on TV all the time and it never made me smart (Keyes 118). This part of the book led Charlie’s flashbacks takes place of how he was raised or nurtured through his childhood, Of how he wanted to try to become smart. However Dr. Strauss believes that his sleep would help Charlie be able to learn. However in his nature, his disability cannot help him at all, doesn’t matter how much he tries to watch TV and tries to go to sleep, I wouldn’t allow him to learn anything at all. The nurture of this is having the doctor recommend Charlie to do this. His disability also not just affects him but his family as well. His disability kind of makes his sister miserable as well, jealous over how the parents focus on Charlie due to his disability, despite the successes the sister achieves in school. Thus Charlie’s nature towards others has a negative effect which is towards his sister. Charlie was raised by his parents but through a condition that would then follow him probably for the rest of his life as well as being mainly raised through this experiment, which possibly wouldn’t help him at all in the near
After the surgery, Charlie learned that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side, and that many of his old friends wouldn’t see the same person in him. Charlie suddenly had to experience drastic changes in his lifestyle, and the story revolves around these complications. Charlie’s story began with the surgery, the biggest decision he made in his life. Although he was a guinea pig during the procedure, he wasn’t worried at all about the surgery, but rather on becoming smart as fast as he could. Supposedly these doctors were doing Charlie the greatest favor he would ever receive, and he was so eager to learn as much as he could.
Firstly, Charlie grows emotionally and physically as a human being: growing and becoming more complete with every experience. Starting off, Charlie grows physically as he develops into a more of a complete man. Joe and Frank invite Charlie to a party, during the party he is forced to dance with a girl named Ellen. After waking up the next morning, Charlie says, “I dreamed about the girl Ellen dancing and rubbing up against me and when I woke up the sheets were wet and messy” (Keyes 43). Charlie has his first wet dream, he is slowly going through puberty after the operation and becoming a more complete man. Adding on, Charlie is always happy and thinks all is good in the world, before the operation everything seems fine to him. He is like a child: naive. After the operation, Charlie has therapy sessions with the doctor, where they do tests to measure growth. During one of these therapy sessions, Charlie says, “I had reached a new level and anger and suspicion were my reactions to the world around me” (Keyes 57-58). Charlie grows emotionally, he adds another aspect to his cha...
The experiment starts to work and Charlie gets smarter and he starts realizing new things. Before the operation his imagination and his brain weren’t working that well. His imagination started to work for the first time when he got this operation. Now that he was smart, he could quit his old job of working as a janitor at a bakery and start working for the hospital full time.
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.
...ss cannot be deprived from increased intelligence, particularly without emotional maturity. Throughout the beginning of the Novel all Charlie Gordon wants in life is to become smarter so which will in turn make him happier and help him gain more friends. Not even fame or worldwide recognition could overcome his will to become happier from intelligence. However as the book progressed and Charlie did receive his wish to become smarter he realized, without emotional maturity he was even worse off than before which then may have caused his relapse and loss of memory bringing Charlie back to his previous condition. Expecting to be happy from the respect from other people by being intelligent is neither reasonable nor logical. Happiness needs to be derived from within, and cannot be won from other people, and those who believe it can are not yet emotionally stable.
After all of this Charlie becomes a more complete person because he realizes that he is better off being mentally disabled rather than being very intelligent since he understands what he is turning into, he finally makes true love to Alice and gets his true friends. Therefore, even though Charlie becomes mentally retarded by the end, he becomes a more complete person. Charlie undergoes a lot of changes during his journey. He matures which contributes to his intelligence growth, learns significant life lessons, and realizes that he is better off being mentally retarded rather than a genius. Charlie does not realize the fact that after becoming a genius, he is as far away from his goal of being normal and fitting in as he is being mentally retarded.
If Charlie didn’t have the operation he would not be able to realize that Joe and Frank were making fun of him. Joe and Frank would just keep making fun of him and he would not be able to stick up for himself. Once in the story Charlie said,“It's a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me. Now I know what it means when they say "to pull a Charlie Gordon.” I'm ashamed” (page 524). Somebody who has been made fun of before should know that anybody would want to stick up for themselves. This shows that it was a blessing for Charlie to have this operation because now he can stick up for
Although it is helpful in some situations, being smart can be very challenging. In Flowers for Algernon for example, Charlie becomes less content with life as his IQ is increased. He begins to overthink everything, making him slightly paranoid. According to Anna LeMind, “Intelligent, deep thinking individuals often analyze themselves and their own behavior in such a rigorous manner like if they are intentionally seeking out things to blame themselves for.” This is true for many intelligent or even talented individuals such as Meryl Streep, Ellen DeGeneres, Charles Dickens, Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Hawking, and of course, Charlie Gordon. In his case, Charlie’s intelligence comes with some arrogance. This arrogance gives Charlie very high expectations of himself, leading to a bit of anxiety when he can’t live up to those standards. For example, when Charlie catches his coworker Gimpy stealing money from the bakery, he simply cannot decide whether or not to tell his boss. Because Charlie happens to be a poor decision maker, he makes himself miserable trying to fix his problem. This issue could have been avoided altogether if it had happened prior to the surgery, and Charlie couldn’t overthink it. Intelligence can unfortunately come with some self-trust