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Six character traits of charlie gordon
Six character traits of charlie gordon
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“dont be sorry for me Im glad I got a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned a lot of things that I never even new were in this world and Im grateful that I saw it all for a littel bit.” [sic] In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes tells the story of Charlie Gordon. Charlie is given the option to go through an experimental surgery that is meant to triple his IQ. He is thrilled that he was chosen, and seizes his chance. Charlie changes in major ways throughout the beginning, the middle, and the end of the book. His intelligence, relationships with his friends, personality, and views on the world vary immensely. Maybe Charlie is not the smartest man, but through his experiences, he learns more about the world than many other …show more content…
The surgery allowed Charlie to learn many things and tripled his IQ, making it over 200. Now that he is “smart,” each time he races Algernon in the maze Charlie is able to win. He is taught many new subjects, including several languages. The operation caused Charlie to realize that Doctor Nemur and Doctor Strauss don’t know everything. When Charlie realizes that other people do not know as much as he does, he becomes frustrated. He doesn’t realize that before his surgery, he knew far less than normal people, let alone the doctors. Charlie said of Dr. Strauss, “I was shocked to learn that the only ancient languages he could read were Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and that he knows almost nothing of mathematics beyond the elementary levels of the calculus of variations.” This arrogance puts a strain on his relationships. Charlie doesn’t realize it, but he is acting conceited. He finds it hard to communicate with people on a lower intelligence level than him, and spends most of his time reading and learning. Even though Charlie is acting superior, he realizes how beautiful Miss Kinnian is and that he loves her. She tutors him until Charlie passes her level of knowledge. Charlie also realizes that his friends might not be as wonderful as he thought. He understands the meaning of “pulling a Charlie Gordon,” and sees his “friends” laughing at him. Charlie feels awful about this revelation. While eating at a diner, he sees people in a restaurant laughing at a waiter and tries to stand up for the boy. Charlie is very angry with the insensitivity of these people, when he realizes that he had been laughing as well. He is furious with
Is becoming smart always better than staying dumb? After considering Charlie’s situation, I have decided that the answer to this question is no. Charlie is the main character in the science fiction story Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes. In the book, Charlie is a 37 year old man who has an I.Q. of 68 and is on a mission to become smart. When the opportunity comes for him to participate in an experiment for an operation that can triple his I.Q., he willingly takes it. It turns out that the operation only grants a temporary intelligence boost, and Charlie experiences high intelligence only to have it start deteriorating. I think that Charlie was wrong to have the operation that temporarily made him smart.
The scientists who performed the experiment now need a human subject to test, and Charlie has been recommended to them by his night-school teacher, Miss Kinnian. Charlie's a good candidate for the procedure, because even though he currently has an I.Q. of only 68, he is willing, highly motivated and eager to learn. He's convinced that if he could only learn to read and write, the secret of being smart would be revealed to him.
Charlie’s story began with the surgery, the biggest decision he made in his life. Although he was a guinea pig in 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. Soon however, Charlie would encounter challenges he never faced with the intelligence of a 6 year old. Before his surgery, Charlie had great friends in Miss Kinnian and the bakery workers. After the surgery the relationships between Charlie and everyone he knew would take a drastic turn.
Every day, people go through operations and sometimes experience unpredicted and unwanted outcomes. The story, Flowers for Algernon, is exactly like that. In this story, a 37 year old man, named Charlie Gordon, has a mental disability and participates in an operation/experiment to increase his knowledge. After taking part in the operation, Charlie’s intellect gradually escalates to a genius status. Charlie, the man who had an IQ of 68, was slowly maturing mentally and he started seeing the world with a whole new different perspective. However, near the end of the story, his brain regresses back to where he started from. Charlie shouldn't have taken part in the operation: he started seeing the world in a different perspective, he experienced unpredicted outcomes, and the operation changed Charlie's whole personality. Charlie would have been better off if he didn’t undergo the operation and participate in the experiment.
Would you have an operation that made you smart? In the story“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie is a slub,who acts like a kid, irresponsible,and many more. That's why I think charlie should have had the operation.Keep on reading to figure out why you should say yes.
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...
In “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon, a 37 year old man who has a 68 IQ, has a will to become smart. He goes through many tests including a race against a mouse named Algernon. Charlie is chosen to go through and operation that will make him smarter, but has a chance of only being temporary. He experiences many changes in himself as he becomes smarter, after the operation. Because Algernon was given the same operation, his experiences show what will happen to Charlie . As Algernon’s intelligence deteriorates, Charlie's follows. Algernon dies as Charlie is showing the sames signs of losing his intelligence. He loses all of his intelligence and ends up back at a 68 IQ. There is a major difference in Charlie’s personality before
He regularly attends night classes for Retarded Adults at Beekman College and Ms. Alice Kinnian, his teacher, recommends Charlie to undergo an experiment that will raise his IQ to that of a genius. Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur are in charge of such experiment and they have successfully raised the intelligence of a white mouse named Algernon. With a willingness to learn, Charlie accepts to participate. After the operation, Charlie goes back to work and realizes that his “friends” pick and tease him. Then they ban together to get Charlie fired because they do not like his newfound intelligence. Charlie then spends most of his time reading at the university and begins to regain memories of his forgotten childhood. It does not take long for Charlie to surpass both Nemur and Strauss and discovers a fatal flaw in the experiment. Nemur’s remarks about how he viewed Charlie as a lab rat made Charlie mad, and so he takes Algernon and escapes from the lab. Charlie notices Algernon’s intelligence beginning to fade and speculates the same will happen to him, and so he begins to solve the flaw. During this, he befriends a woman named Fray and recalls more memories of his youth. Charlie’s mother was in denial about his retardation and would always try to come up with ideas that would make Charlie normal. This excessive desire faded
"I dont know why but he says its importint so they will see if they will use me. I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart,”(Pg 285 Progress Report l-March 5 1965). All his life Charlie Gordon wanted to be smart. Charlie is a 37 year old mentally disabled adult. He will do anything to be smart including experiments and operations. In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon,” Daniel Keyes, the author, portrays the theme to never give up even through the challenges.
He spent his days working as a janitor and his nights at school. He wanted to become intelligent but night school was only helping a little bit. He was asked to take some tests to see if he was eligible to be in a experimental brain operation. He struggled when taking the tests. Charlie said, “Please let me try agen. Ill get it in a few minits becaus Im not so fast somtimes.”(199). After all the tests were taken he also said in his progress reports,”I had a test today. I think I failed it.”(198). Charlie was giving up on himself. He had been trying so hard for so many years that he was just used to disappointment. He also was being made fun of by his co workers. They would bring him out to bars and give him alcoholic drinks. They knew better than to give him alcoholic drinks but Charlie just thought they were having fun with him. It was a good idea for Charlie to get the operation because he wanted to be intelligent and he would finally be able to see how people actually
With all of his heart Charlie wants to be smart. In the story “flowers for Algernon” Charlie is the main character. He is a thirty seven year old man who wants an operation to become smart. The story was written by Daniel Keyes. I think that he should not have the operation.
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
In the novel Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon did the right thing and went through with the surgery/ experiment to raise his IQ. A mental retardation sweetheart Charlie Gordon, had to deal with hardships of the world at the age of 32 and the IQ of 68. Until Prof Nemur and Dr. Strauss came into his life and changed it for the better but left with a tragic end. This surgery was good for Charlie because he was able to have experiences someone mentally delayed would not have done/ known about and he was able to regain his memories.
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.
This shows that as Charlie's intelligence grew he became more and more