Charlie Gordon is the main character in "Flowers for Algernon." He under goes an operation to enhance his level of intelligence preformed by two doctors, Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss. Since Charlie has an IQ that is below average and is the first patient to agree to commit to this surgery, his side affects could include loss of memory, unable to complete certain tasks, poor grammar and spelling, and even fatality. Charlie wants to proceed with the operation since he believes that he should as intelligent as normal human beings and he is sick of others making fun of him because of his disabilities. The experimental surgery that Charlie underwent to triple his intelligence had three major effects on his life. Charlie first experienced that his intelligence increased when he he could compare and contrast the natural world. He was able to disagree with Dr.Strauss and Dr. Nemur's conversation. "I …show more content…
Charlie worked as a janitor in a plastic box factory, unfortunately other had found out about the operation and they had begun to fear him. Since Charlie's coworkers had been brought to their attention that Charlie may have actually gotten smarter, most of them had made and signed a petition for him to quit his job. "Eighty-hundred names, everyone in the factory, except Fanny Girden" (Keys 15). Charlie then had been forced out his job which meant he couldn't pay rent or do anything fun related. Charlie's surgery to triple his intelligence had three significant events. Although certain events may have affected his life, I believe that this surgery was mandatory for Charlie. Not only did this operation help with Charlie's low IQ, but he also helped science by being their test-subject. This surgery made Charlie's life worth living and he could relate to others and share his opinion about the natural world. Charlie should be thankful for the operation and its affects, otherwise he would've lived a mediocre and meaningless
To start, it is a good feeling to feel normal and everyone should feel that way. In the story, Charlie wants to be smarter and Dr. Strauss can do that for him. Charlie wants to be smarter so he can just be normal like other people. The thought of his I.Q. being tripled was amazing to him. At one point in the story Dr. Nemur said,“remember he will be the first human being ever to have his intelligence tripled by surgical means” (page 518). Anyone who has wanted just to be normal would understand what Charlie was feeling. If Charlie didn’t have the operation he would not be able to experience the benefit of being normal.
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
And therein lies the tale. Charlie does indeed get smarter. He struggles to absorb as much knowledge as he can in whatever time he has. He suggests a new way to line up the machines at the factory, saving the owner tens of thousands of dollars a year in operating costs, and the owner gives him a $25 bonus. But when Charlie suggests to his factory friends that he could use his bonus to treat them to lunch or a drink, they have other things to do.
Charlie Gordon is a thirty-two year old man who is diagnosed mentally challenged but, is very eager to be smart. In order for this to happen Charlie will have to have surgery. There will be two doctors assisting Charlie; Dr.Strauss and Dr.Nemur. In the novel the two doctors are to totally different in how they motivated Charlie, treatment for Charlie and their reasoning for helping him.
They failed to see Charlie as a human being, not a test subject. They also weren't acting ethically when they chose Charlie as the test subject, when he was not mentally capable of making such a decision to say yes to the experiment. Although Charlie's doctors were unethical when they performed the experiment on Charlie, they were going into an unknown field of study where no known procedures were in place with patient interaction and concern. All in all, Charlie Gordans' doctors did not act ethically when they performed the experimental surgery to improve his intelligence.
...nce thought. Charlie’s greatest leap towards intellectual growth occurred in an argument with Prof Nemur after the cocktail party. Nemur says “We had no control over … your personality… you’ve developed from a likable, retarded young man into an arrogant, self-centered, antisocial bastard” (Keyes, 247) these points that Prof Nemur makes are potent enough to alter Charlie’s perception completely. In fact Charlie realizes the he doesn’t have to be arrogant or inconsiderate to grow intellectually.
Firstly, Charlie's operation turns him into an extremely intelligent person. Charlie becomes much smarter as the novel unfolds. A little after his operation Charlie's IQ slowly starts to increase. He finally beats Algernon after losing to him in a race repeatedly. After the victory Charlie says, " I beet Algernon. I dint even know I beet him until Burt Selden told me…But after I beet him 8 more times. I must be getting smart to beat a smart mouse like Algernon."(Keyes 30). Algernon is a smart mouse, who has undergone the same operation as Charlie. Charlie victory shows his increase of knowledgeable. This also shows that his brain is developing. Charlie then gains more knowledge. After writing a few more progress reports one can see a huge change in Charlie's writing, especially in his grammar. While having a conversation with Joe, Charlie says, "Everybody on the floor came around and they were laff laughing…you been here long enuff enough."(Keyes 34). By correcting his own mistakes, Charlie shows that he is progressing towards a more educate...
My first reason that I think that he should not have the operation is because a while after the operation he becomes dumb again. In the beginning he gets to experience some of the advantages of being smart such as being able to spell, read, and write better. The operation makes him so smart that he was able to use his new knowledge to do scientific research, that he “took the liberty of calling the Algernon-Gordon Effect” (Keyes, 80). Charlie ended up doing a study about how the
Strauss says, with three times my IQ of 68, then maybe I'll be like everyone else and people will like me and be friendly.” (Progress report 11) This proves that Charlie wanted to be smart because the people around him didn't like him. These people would make fun of him because he wasn't as smart as they were. That ended up pushing Charlie to want to become intelligent and change who he already was. Charlie also faced other forms of discrimination and acceptance even after he gained his intelligence. After Charlie became smart people were too scared to talk to him because of how smart and how fast he had gained it. A second quote from the story that proves this theme is when Charlie said, “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 ignorance and dullness; now, they hate me for my knowledge and understanding. What in God's name do they want of me?” (Progress Report 12) That shows how at first the people didn't like Charlie because of how low his IQ was but now even after he is a genius they still don't like him. They are making Charlie start to regret his decision about having the surgery and are making him start to have doubts about who he is as a person. Through Charlie's co-workers making fun of him and not accepting him at first they have pushed him to want to be smart just like them. And now they have gotten him fired from his job because of how smart he is. Now you can clearly tell that the theme that appears in the story as by not accepting someone you may end up pushing them to change and do something they may regret later.But that's not the only time the other showed this theme in his
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.
In the story Flowers for Algernon a man named Charlie Gordon has an IQ of 68 and his friends were bullying him and he eventually found out and he gets angry and he feels like he is dumb. Charlie was happier when he did not know that his friends were bullying him but when he does find out he is wary of who real friends are like people that are trying to help him and bullies people that he is trying to avoid that want to hurt him.
Others may say that charlie wouldn’t have been fired from his job but i argue that he still got his job back still. Another may say that he realized he was being bullied but i argue that his friends came back around and helped him out at the end for instance”the new men who came to work there after i went a way made a nasty crack he said hey charlie i hear you're a very smart fella a real quiz kid.Say something intelligent.I felt bad but joe carp came over and grabbed him by the shirt and said leave him alone you lousy cracker or I’ll break your neck…”. (keys,243) and that’s my
Have you ever had something about yourself you wanted to change? The story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is about a man named charlie who is 37 years and old has a low IQ. People make fun of him for not being as smart as they are. He does a operation to triple his IQ. After a couple months the operation wheres off. Charlie gets really disappointed and then runs away from New York. The story was both suspenseful and sad.
Charlie Gordon is a slow learner and has been his whole life. He is given the opportunity to undergo an experimental surgery to make him smarter, which he has always dreamed of. The experiment appears to be great for him at first, but as the story goes on it shows that it was bad for him. The experimental surgery had a negative impact on Charlie because after the surgery he is depressed, realizes that people make fun of him, and he loses his job.
After Charlie took the surgery, he gradually became more intelligent and ultimity more aware of the world around him. Thus, he began to understand the cruel actions of his friends. As his so called