Selfishness in Algernon Greed is sometimes known as ones utter demise and it is a reason why the person often meets an unfortunate end. A great author by the name of Daniel Keyes once wrote, “ The mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can lead only to violence and pain.” This extraordinary quote is accurate in many cases especially in Charlie Gordon’s circumstance. Charlie Gordon’s new greedy persona prohibits Charlie to partake in a relationship; Charlie Gordon’s indecency towards the feelings of others has forbidden a friendship from ever taking root, and lastly Charlie’s new skeptical and angry persona …show more content…
made it so he couldn’t pursue a healthy relationship with his family. Charlie was destroyed by his own greed; he obtained this greed from the “miraculous” operation that transformed him into a monster. His new self-absorbed character was what would cause the deaths of his personal relationships, as well as the relationship with his friends and family. Once one of Charlie’s greatest desires in his life was to partake in a relationship. Charlie found himself in a relationship with Alice his former teacher, however this was a very painful and destructive relationship because of Charlie’s insufficiently of loyalty and disregard toward the emotions of others. Charlie’s greed led him to Fay the one whom he had pursued his affair with, and at this period he had a microscopic concern about his relationship with Alice or the consequences that could possibly accrue out of his greedy and lustful conduct. When realizing that regression would come he instead of using the little valuable time that remained with his loved ones he decided to waste time to develop a richer paper for the experiment for his own sake. Charlie once made a selfish remark that shows how miniscule his relationships were to him he makes this comment due to the fact he had a surreal amount of conflicts going on, and he stated, “All I need now is for Alice and Fay to run into each other. I have enough to worry about without that.” (Charlie, 221) If Charlie kept going down his selfish path he wouldn’t be apart of a relationship; he would have had countless regrets, and he would only become more depressed than he already was, however he luckily brakes away from his self-centered path and he decided to devote the rest of the time he has left fixing the wrongs in his life, and spending this little time with the one he loves; Alice. Charlie Gordon once was a warm and friendly character, which many people admired, however these beloved qualities quickly vanished, and his new self-obsessed persona arose to decimate all links of friendships that existed within his life.
Charlie grew suspicious and cold when learning how his friends harmed him, this resulted in Charlie making his “friends” feel inferior and lesser then him as they did to him before his intelligence germinated. His friends experienced a taste of their own medicine, due to his new attitude he possessed a gargantuan amount of greed forced him neglect the emotions of others, his co-workers loathed what Charlie was becoming and wanted to put an end to his evil and selfish behavior, so as a result Charlie Gordon was discharged from his duties at Donner’s Bakery. The monster deep within Charlie did not just stop at destroying the relationship between Charlie and his co-workers at the bakery; instead it also damaged the friendship between him, Dr. Strauss, and professor Nemur severely. The new selfish Charlie has also established a burning hatred for Dr. Strauss and professor Nemur, because he strongly believed that they did not treat him as a human but as a lab rat. Sympathy was one quality the new Charlie lacked, as a result his deep angry and selfish persona led him to sabotage the convention in Chicago by leaving the scene and stealing Algernon. Charlie and Algernon were key for the experiment and Charlie decides to leave with no regard to what could happen to Dr. Strauss’s experiment, instead he did what would benefit him the most and what would be easier on him, “I’ve walked out on the whole thing.” (Charlie, 154) This monster within Charlie was leading him to a path where he would have no friendships and a place where he would grow angrier with those around him due to his selfishness; however as the regression approaches his self-centered qualities begin to fade until they evaporated. Charlie’s new friendly personality resulted
in helping professor Nemur and Dr. Stratus by creating a research paper he named The Algernon-Gordon Effect, Charlie also obtained his previous job at the bakery, and the friends that got him discharged form his duties at the bakery are now kinder than ever before and now help Charlie even in the most grim of situation. Family is a colossal factor in the lives of many, Charlie Gordon’s priority was to make his family proud of him before his metamorphoses occurred and transformed him into a selfish and self-centered monster. Charlie has always strived to make his mother satisfied and proud his entire life by becoming more intelligent as his mother has always desired, but when accomplishing his goal he becomes fixated on the fact that his family has abused him emotionally when he was a child, and he decided not to forgive them for all of the agony he has experienced. Charlie’s new greedy persona only focuses on his emotions, as a result he overlooks the fact that his mother Rose is extremely insane, and this causes Charlie to develop a tremendous hatred for his Mother. Unfortunately, Charlie was traumatized to an extreme level from his mother’s physical and emotional abuse and his sister’s neglect, this trauma was one factor that transformed him into one who is suspicious of others and greatly self-focused as well. Charlie blocked out his family because of the miserable moments he links them with. Erasing his family from his life depressed Charlie because he always wanted to be able to reunite with his family to finally gain his mothers acceptance, however seeing his family would be very straining and extremely emotionally harming. Charlie didn’t did not care how his family would feel not being able see him after all the years they’ve been apart, he only cared for what would happen to his own emotional state. Charlie tried to talk to his father once before because he was the only one who protected him from his mother when he was younger, however seeing his father took a massive toll on Charlie, “I wasn’t his son. That was another Charlie. Intelligence and knowledge had changed me, and he would resent me—as the others from the bakery resented me—because my growth diminished him. I didn’t want that.” (Charlie, progress report 14) Charlie was detached from his family due to his greedy character, this made him angry and increased his depression, however when he knew he had very little time before regression would come he went on a mission to meet his family and he was finally given acceptance from his mother, his family were extremely glad to see him, he got along with his sister, and he was no longer stressed about his family. Charlie achieved his goal of acceptance form his mother by not living life with anger and having sympathy for the feelings of others. Some view greed as the ultimate sin, and the very thing that undoes good. In the marvelous book Flowers for Algernon by Denial Keyes a major theme is how being self-centered can transform one into a monster, make them unable to partake of any human relationship, and causes. This theme was shown throughout Charlie Gordon’s life and he shows how his self-centered and selfish personality decimates his personal relationships, friendships, and even the relationships with his own family. Charlie Gordon’s selfish persona led him to a lonely path where he would have no friends and Charlie also led a stressed life due to him not seeing his own family, this stress only grew Charlie’s sorrow, anger, and depression. Charlie had a thought that his family, and friends didn’t care for him so deeply engraved in his head that he blocked these people out of his life and thought of them as despicable human beings. Charlie kept going down a downhill spiral and he would have suffered an unfortunate and lonely demise if he didn’t change his character, the changed that occurred within him was caused by the regression, however this change was a positive one and made it so that he had a great relationship with Alice, was given his job back from his old friends, and gained the acceptance of his family which meant the world to Charlie. Charlie’s life changed for the better and because of a miniscule change of to his personality, however if this change did not take place Charlie would be a jobless, lonely, violent man who would suffer a great amount of pain as the years pass by.
Before Charlie had the operation preformed on him, he had friends at the bakery he worked at. They were not really his friends because they always made jokes about Charlie, but he was not smart enough to realize it. As he gets smarter he loses his friends because they think he is just trying to act smart.
He doesn’t lack of encourage anymore, he has overcome his fear and despair. “I have to go. I have to disobey every impulse and leave her for Jasper Jones, for Jack Lionel, for this horrible mess.” We see a different Charlie from his determination. From escape to face up, he shows us more responsible. From helpless to assertive, he comes to realize what he really wants. He knows the dark side of human nature and this unfair and cold world. His innocent, his perfect world has been destroyed by those horrible things; because of these, he knows the part of real world, he knows how the ‘dark’ actually changes this world, his friends, his family, included
Firstly, Charlie's realizes that his co-workers aren't his true friends after all. When Joe Carp and Frank Reilly take him to a house party, they made him get drunk and started laughing at the way he was doing the dancing steps. Joe Carp says, "I ain't laughed so much since we sent him around the corner to see if it was raining that night we ditched him at Halloran's" (41), Charlie recalls his past memory of him being it and not finding his friends who also ditched him and immediately realizes that Joe Carp was relating to the same situation. Charlie felt ashamed and back-stabbed when he realized that he had no friends and that his co-workers use to have him around for their pure entertainment. It's after the operation, that he finds out he has no real friends, and in result feels lonely. Next, Charlie unwillingly had to leave his job from the bakery where he worked for more than fifteen years. Mr. Donner treated him as his son and took care of him, but even he had noticed an unusual behavior in Charlie, lately. Mr. Donner hesitatingly said, "But something happened to you, and I don't understand what it means... Charlie, I got to let you go" (104), Charlie couldn't believe it and kept denying the fact that he had been fired. The bakery and all the workers inside it were his family, and the increase of intelligence had ...
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
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.
In 2013, Philip Schultz spins “Greed”, an intricate piece of literature allowing readers to superficially experience the struggle of racial injustice; however, as one dives deeper between Schultz’s lines, the oceanside town’s complexity becomes apparent. Through the eyes of a wealthy son of a poor man, Schultz explores the relationship between greed and “happiness,” causing his narrator to question who is deserving of the fleeting feeling that possesses many forms. Although the narrator appears to advocate for equality, his voice is drowned out by the deafening silence greed emits as for he struggles to reject the wealth he allows himself to wallow in; thus, the narrator emphasizes the control “abundance” possesses over happiness (Schultz
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.
The American stock market crash was a pivotal point for Charlie. When Charlie is institutionalized, he loses custody of his young daughter, Honoria. It becomes increasingly evident that Charlie has recognized the error of his old ways and shows great promise in proving his reformation. He is no longer institutionalized and he has successfully limited his alcohol consumption for some time. Charlie limits himself to one drink per day to make sure that his behavior remains decent. In addition, When Charlie encounters his old friends, Lorraine and Duncan, he is very cautious about his decisions. During his visit to London, Charlie reconnects with his former brother and sister in-law. They allow him to spend some time with his daughter but Marion is adamant about blaming her sister’s death on Charlie. She is also somewhat reluctant towards allowing Honoria to be with her father. Fitzgerald created Marion to be cold and mean-spirited which allows the reader to feel sympathetic towards Charlie. Despite all his efforts to regain custody of his daughter, Charlie ends up in the same place he started: having a drink at the Ritz bar thinking about getting his daughter back (Churchwell,
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.
The nature of greed is insatiable. It thrives on human weaknesses, and therefore, has no limits on how much it can grow to be stronger and more profound, within a human. Each person is unique in the way how they express their geed. For many, taking advantage of others is a prime example of how greed exerts itself. In the story, Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury, by Ray Bradbury, the author demonstrates how people who highly value self-importance, leave no room for compassion and are driven to manipulate others for their own selfish desires. The author shows us how there are multiple ways a person can manipulate others. For some, lying becomes an effective way of manipulation. Others like
Charlie soon becomes aware that his smartness may not stay forever, that he might lose his genius. He starts to research the experiment himself. He studies a little mouse named Algernon who they did the experiment on first. Charlie starts to become attached to the little white mouse. Together they are the smartest of their species. When Charlie and Algernon have to go Chicago for an interview, Charlie gets so frustrated at how all the scientists are talking as if before the operation Charlie wasn’t a real person. In his frustration he accidentally on purpose let Algernon go.
Charlie struggles with apparent mental illness throughout his letters, but he never explicitly addresses this problem. His friends make him realize that he is different and it is okay to be different from everyone else. This change in perspective gives Charlie new opportunities to experience life from a side he was unfamiliar with. Without these new friends, Charlie would have never dared to try on the things he has. His friends have helped him develop from an antisocial wallflower to an adventurous young man who is both brave and loyal. Transitioning shapes how the individual enters into the workforce, live independently and gain some control over their future
Because of the parties he attends with his new friends he has tried using some drugs. These new friends help Charlie see things with a positive perspective, and to be confident in himself. When his friends move away, Charlie experience isolation and has a mental crisis that leads him to be internalized in a clinic.
The drastic contrast between Charlie’s positive view of Aunt Helen and what is later learned adds to the unexpected nature of the reveal and betrays of the trust of the audience. Charlie no longer having a smoking addiction changes the story by removing a character flaw Charlie had. By removing the flaw, Charlie’s character is changed from a high school student that has flaws that he brought onto himself to a victim of circumstance. The book portrays Charlie as a boy that not only
Greed, being a key human condition, has shaped society from the very start. In fact, some scholars believe that greed was the first major milestone of human success, when the first human wondered why he/she had to scrounge around for necessities; it is a part of being human to be greedy. Wanting a new car, to be loved by another, or to desire the feeling of well doing when feeding the needy, these are all factions of greed...