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The flowers by Alice Walker
The flowers by Alice Walker
The flowers by Alice Walker
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Option 4 Flowers for Algernon Essay
In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon, a thirty-seven-year-old man with a mental disorder, undergoes surgery to increase him intelligence. He goes from the IQ of 68 to 204. His mood changes drastically after the surgery. Eventually, his memory goes away after a month of being super smart. Along with his intelligence, his mood changes hugely. Charlie was better off before the surgery. He was nicer, had more motivation, and he felt less lonely before the surgery. Along with Charlie's intelligence, the surgery changed his emotions hugely.
From laughing at a teenager with a disorder to telling his favorite doctor to get away, Charlie's personality had a negative effect after the surgery. Starting off, Charlie's personality was better before his surgery. Even though, he couldn't process information very well, he always seemed to be pretty happy. Page 3 of the PDF of Flowers for Algernon says "I got so exited I jumped up and shook his hand for being so good to me." This was when the doctors chose Charlie to undergo
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to surgery to make him more intelligent. He had a super positive mood at that point in the story. He also was always excited to go to work, but that was because he thought his friends liked him. Some parts of the story that Charlie was rude after the surgery was when he laughed at the teenager with a mental disorder that dropped a bunch of plates. On page 15 of the PDF, it states, "They were laughing at him because he was mentally retarded. And I had been laughing at him too." Charlie did end up standing up for the teenager, but he still laughed at him. Charlie would have mood swings after the surgery. He could go from super happy, to mad at someone. Next, Charlie's motivation was way better before the surgery. Before he got smarter, he wanted to be intelligent so bad. He would do anything to be smarter. After the surgery though, it didn't take as much effort to gain intelligence because his mind already understood the information he was learning, regarding his IQ of 204. A few times that Charlie was told that he had motivation was on page 3 on the PDF: "He said I had a good motor-vation. I never even knew I had that.". Another time is also on page 3 when Dr Strauss said, "That shows intenss motor-vation." Charlie was always trying his best to process the information he didn't get. When he got surgery, and gained tons of intelligence, he was never told he had motivation. He didn't have to try much to gain tons of intelligence. Lastly, Charlie felt way lonelier after surgery.
It started when Charlie realized how fake his friends really were. Before he had surgery, he thought his friends like him a lot. He didn't feel alone because he thought he would always have his friends to hang out with him and care for him. When he realized they actually hated him, he thought nobody actually cared for him. On page 18 of the PDF, Charlie says, "Dr. Strauss came to see me again. I wouldn't open the door and I told him to go away. I want to be left to myself." He would just stay his room and have thoughts of suicide. Also, Charlie is so much smarter than everyone else that he can't really relate to anyone and it is really hard to make friends for him. Everyone's first impression of him was an adult that couldn't process information and he was known as dumb. Everyone would be super rude to him and Miss Kinnian is really the only one who cared for him a
lot. In any case, Charlie was way better off before surgery. He wasn't as rude, felt like he wasn't lonely, and he had tons of motivation. After the surgery, he understood almost everything in the world so he didn't know what else to do. He would get bullied by his co-workers at his job, before he was fired. He ended up just moving because he was so miserable.
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.
We can all sympathize with Charlie on the surface, we have all made mistakes that we have to live with. Charlie is attempting to move forward with his life and erase the mistakes of his past. The ghosts of his past torment him repeatedly throughout the story, his child's guardians despise him and his old friends do not understand him.
Charlie worked at a factory and saved the factory ten thousand dollars of work and made the products more efficient. He changed the way the machines are set up in the factory that saves them thousands of dollars and required less work. Charlie understood the concept of the factories and was able to make improvements. The operation was supposed to increase Charlie’s IQ and that is what he was hoping would happen. Charlie’s spelling and grammar improves throughout his progress reports and his IQ dramatically improved from a sixty-eight to two hundred. Charlie wanted to become smart and improve his English after the surgery and that is exactly what happened. Charlie is so fascinated with how the procedure on the brain worked that he wanted to improve the way they did the intelligence surgery. Charlie then discovered new knowledge of the function and the increase of human intelligence. Charlie's wisdom was so high, he was able to uncover important discoveries of the complex human mind. The procedure affected Charlie and increased his skills and brilliance.
He was much happier before the operation. The situations were the same before. But, after the operation, he had started noticing the obstacles. Joe and Frank used to tease Charlie before, but now he was ashamed and realized that they had befriended him to make fun of him. He now started noticing the wicked incidents in his surrounding and started to compare them to his life. He became lonely after he got fired from his job. His life had become a track lane with obstacles all along the way after he became intelligent. Intelligence does not always lead to happiness. The story “Flowers for Algernon” proves that ignorance is
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.
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
Charlie Gordon is the main character of Flowers for Algernon. Charlie is a mentally retarded, 33 year old adult. He desperately wants to be smart, especially after a very troubled childhood in a family who had a hard time adapting to his illness. Charlie has a great attitude about changing his life, and was willing to do whatever it took to accomplish the task of becoming smart. Charlie partakes in a surgery to boost his intelligence that has only been tested on rats, specifically one named Algernon. 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.
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...
Because Charlie got this “operashun”, he was able to have an exposure to a plethora of emotions. Before Charlie got the surgery done, he didn’t know the difference
They just wanted him to make fun of him. He lost his friends After the surgery was done. Charlie lived a better and happier life before the surgery. He was living better when he was naive to the world. Charlie mentioned, Mr.Donnegan insisted that it would be better for all concerned if I left.
Just imagine being a person with an IQ of only 68 well this is the life that Charlie Gordon lived. In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man with below average intelligence. Charlie struggles with many simple things such as writing, spelling, and creativity. He is willing to try and make himself smarter, but even the adult classes he takes aren’t enough. With all of these variables Charlie gets an operation to make himself smart but, I think if without the operation he life wouldn’t be as good for him as it was after the operation.
He also realized what true love and beauty was, especially when he was with Miss Kinnian. “The thought of leaving her behind made me sad. I’m in love with Miss Kinnian.” Charlie soon realizes that his mental state will gradually decrease, most likely causing him to die. One of the one things that he does not want to do, is leave behind Miss Kinnian. Charlie is realizing what true beauty is, and soon, what true love is as well. He saw how smart Miss Kinnian is, and how good she is at her job. Charlie learns to be compassionate, loving, and kind to others, in a way more complex than even many adults could. something about how algernon is his friend* Even things like Algernon the mouse had many impacts on Charlie’s life, like Charlie seeing what a real friend is. When Charlie was with Miss Kinnian, he realized that she was very smart, good at what she did, and was very kind to Charlie, and to others. “Once again now I have the feeling of shame burning inside me. This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved. Before, they laughed at me and despised me for my ig-norance and dullness; now, they hate me for my knowledge and under-standing. What in God’s name do they want of me? They’ve driven me out of the factory. Now I’m more alone than ever before.” Charlie feels a lot of despair, when he sees that his friends only laughed at him, and hated him, but now they loathe him even more for containing knowledge and wisdom that they don’t have. His friends could only tolerate him when he was “dumb, stupid” and “retarded,” and even then, they still didn’t take a liking to him, but what hurt Charlie most, was that when he became smart, they hated him more now than they did before, because he held emotions that they couldn’t possibly feel,
His social awkwardness is partially due to the death of his best friend Michael. The summer before High School started Michael committed suicide. Dealing with this trauma was no easy feat for Charlie. As a result, he withdrew from the world around him. Upon entering High School Charlie was weary of his surroundings. He asked his sister at lunch if he can sit with her and her boyfriend; but she said no. He proceeded to reach out to a girl whom was in Middle School with him during lunch; but she acted as if she did not know him. He was left feeling isolated and
According to Charlie’s log, before Charlie was going to get his operation, Miss Kinnian said, “...dont be scared Charlie you done so much with so little I think you deserv it most of all… [sic].” Through this line we can see Miss Kinnian cared about Charlie. A few days after Charlie beat Algernon at the maze, Charlie went to Miss Kinnian, who said, “I have confidence in you Charlie the way you struggled so hard to read and right… [sic].” The words “I have confidence in you” clearly shows Miss Kinnian’s faith in and care for Charlie. In Charlie’s log, he said to Miss Kinnian, “...all my frends are smart people but there good. They like me and they never did anything that wasnt nice… [sic]” After