“This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved.” This quote was written by Daniel Keye’s character, Charlie Gordon, in the novel, Flowers for Algernon. Charlie Gordon, a 37-year-old male who has a mental disability, is the main character of this novel, all he wanted was to be smart like everyone else around him, so to achieve this dream of his, he decides to get brain surgery, that would triple his IQ of 68. Before getting operated on, the doctors give him tests to try to complete to see the way his thought process is. After the surgery, Charlie not only improves in reading and writing, but his intelligence improves as well, not only does he gain education, he gains knowledge mentally. Before Charlie …show more content…
Although, there was one person by his side throughout his entire decision, Miss Kinnian, or Alice. Alice was the one person who truly understood Charlie and supported him no matter what, she would teach him and be patient with him, hoping to help him understand and learn better, but he never saw her more than just his educator, until after the surgery. Once he gained the knowledge of feelings, he realized he was in love with Alice and the feelings were mutual. Ultimately, this story raises the question: Should Charlie have had the surgery? In the story, Charlie should not have had the surgery because he lost everything he gained afterward, even after the surgery and before the downfall Charlie had to go through, he contemplated suicide, knowing that soon he was gonna die anyway. He had to suffer through major painful side effects as well as having to grieve the loss of his first-ever friend and the break up of his first true love. Even after the surgery, he still wasn’t accepted as who he was, even with intelligence, he was still treated like an outcast and many people thought he was unnatural. He felt as if he was accepted and couldn’t fit him, the surgery making him more alienated from
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.
Learning. Progressing. Regressing. These are just a few processes Charlie Gordon experiences in the science fiction story “Flowers For Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man with an I.Q. of only 68. Charlie’s goal in life is to be intelligent along with everyone else. Having intense motivation for achieve his goal, he volunteers to be a subject for an experiment for artificial intelligence. This changes his life immensely by tripling his I.Q. Charlie's life improved dramatically after the A.I. surgery. For example Charlie got to experience emotions, feel like an adult, & achieve his lifelong goal.
In this article, you will learn why Charlie should not have had this surgery. Firstly, Charlie is the main character who wants to be smart and has experimental brain surgery. After the surgery, Charlie’s spelling got better, along with his writing, vocabulary, reading, and many other educational aspects. Later on, Charlie learns his friends are fake. At the climax, Algernon dies, which
In this article, you will learn why Charlie should not have had this surgery. Firstly, Charlie is the main character who wants to be smart and has experimental brain surgery. After the surgery, Charlie’s spelling got better, along with his writing, vocabulary, reading, and many other educational aspects. Later on, Charlie learns his friends are fake. At the climax, Algernon dies, which
Do you think that if you were smarter, you would be happier? In Daniel Keyes’ novel Flowers for Algernon, the main character Charlie Gordon, who is a mentally retarded 32-year-old who undergoes a surgery that improves his intelligence threefold. All his life all he wanted was to be smart and now that he is smart, he finds life isn’t much better when you are smart. I believe that in this particular case, greater intelligence did not lead to greater happiness, because once he becomes smart, he gets arrogant and his friends don’t like him anymore. Charlie’s also not emotionally intelligent enough to balance out his factual intelligence.and when he leaves the convention, all he finds are the
On the other hand, it’s evident to consider the benefits of his life after the operation, and his acceptance of his mental regression at the end of the story. Charlie Gordon had huge opportunities he had yet to experience before the operation, such as his educational advancements. With his increased intelligence, Charlie had the opportunity to engage in concepts and ideas and document his progress, which gave him a sense of accomplishment. He also contributed to science as a participant in a groundbreaking scientific experiment. His experiences and research helped his doctors.
However, some would say that Charlie should've had the surgery because he found love and learned new stuff. Irregularly, Charlie shouldn't have had the surgery because he forgets his relationships and loses the knowledge he gained from the surgery. Losing feelings for Alice, forgetting everyday things, and forgetting proper English. Second, Charlie is incorrect in having the surgery because he gained memories and experiences just to forget them, also likely bringing him a premature death. For instance, we can see Charlie is incorrect in undergoing the surgery when he realizes he will lose his memory and
Being a human is an opportunity of a lifetime that other organisms on the planet could not possibly begin to fathom. Humans are a particular species in which they are not always grateful for their abilities or the life they happen to have. However, humans have certain luxuries that no other organism has on this Earth. In the novel, Flowers for Algernon, the author, Daniel Keyes, writes about a character named Charlie Gordon. Charlie was a mentally deficient adult with an I.Q. below a 70; and his intelligence was enhanced from a surgical procedure.
While I came upon reading the short story Flowers for Algernon I realized that the surgery Charlie had done, made his life worse. I believe that because the way he lived his life decreased. Charlie Gordon no longer was able to experience regular human contact or human interaction. Charlie didn't have to work hard to be smart or work hard to retain information it was all done for him.
In addition, any type of legal action often takes quite a while, and there are only two days from the beginning of the story and when Charlie had his surgery. Taking into account the rapid surgery time, and no mention of any court of law, it can be assumed that no legal action was taken to determine Charlie’s competency. Due to this, Charlie was unable to give consent to have the surgery
Albert Einstein once said,” Everybody is a Genius. But If You Judge a Fish by Its Ability to Climb a Tree, It Will Live Its Whole Life Believing that It is Stupid.” Our main character is Charlie Gordon. He is 37 and he is a simple man with great qualities,like motivation and he is kind to others. However he has a very low IQ of 68.
In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, 37 year old Charlie Gordon was born with a mental disability that prevented him from learning normally and had an IQ of 68. He is approached with
When Charlie comes to this realization, he is no longer weighed down by the questions he had previously relied on his IQ to answer: “Here in your university, intelligence, education, knowledge, have all become great idols. But I know now there’s one thing you’ve all overlooked: intelligence and education that hasn’t been tempered by human affection isn’t worth a damn” (Keyes 175). This is the most vital lesson that Keyes conveys to his
In the novel "Flowers for Algernon", the main character, Charlie Gordon undergoes an experimental operation to elevate his intelligence because of his mental disorder. Charlie’s intelligence level essentially skyrocketed after the surgery, his outlook on life changed notably. In terms of his happiness ironically ,these changes are not positive which shows that happiness is not directly proportional with intelligence. Happiness is difined as a sense of content.
He was happy to have an operation like Algernon. The operation made him smarter it really did. But, I do not think he should've had the operation.. Charlie was getting so smart after the operation. He was starting to spell correctly and it was coming easy to him he even read the grammer book and understood it.