Charlie vs. Doctors
“Intelligence without ambition is like a bird without wings.” -Salvador Dali. Throughout the story, Charlie Gordon experiences life and learns many valuable lessons. All he wanted was to be intelligent and have friends, and he definitely had the motivation. Before the procedure, he had an IQ of sixty-eight, and after, it was tripled to two hundred and four. But now, Charlie is going to die because of the results from the surgery. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur made a poor decision by choosing Charlie Gordon as the test subject for the intelligence-changing procedure.
Charlie should not have taken place in this surgery because he would still end up being an outcast. His motivation
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was obvious from the begin, especially when he stated, “Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart” (Keyes 182). Charlie just wants to be resourceful and live a normal life. He did the surgery so he would fit in. Before the surgery, he was an outcast because he was so unintelligent. After, he was an outcast because he was too intelligent. Then Charlie says, “840 names, everyone connected with the factory, except Fanny Girden” (Keyes 198). Charlie Gordon was all of the sudden so smart that colleagues at the factory felt threatened and no longer wanted to work with him. So, they all signed a petition to have him removed. Now some might argue that it was good for him to be removed from the factory. That he would have more opportunities somewhere else… but they are wrong. Charlie was happy working at the factory. “You used to be a good, dependable, ordinary man -- not too bright maybe, but honest” (Keyes 198). People accepted him for him, and he was well-liked. Not to mention some of his friends worked there alongside him. Isolating Charlie from the one place where he could be himself and not get punished for it was wrong, and the only reason the workers feared his intelligence was because of the surgery. In addition to Charlie still being the odd man out, the doctors did not exactly follow the Ethics of Fieldwork.
Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss picked Charlie for the experiment because they knew he was gullible and he would not understand the risks. When Charlie was talking about the doctors, he quoted, “He said I had a good motor-vation. I never even knew I had that” (Keyes 185). Charlie often times takes things literally and does not have a wide set vocabulary. The Belmont Report also states that the subject can not have diminished autonomy, which means a person has to be able to do things and make decisions on their own. They have to be self-reliant. Charlie has a hard time reading, writing, and especially spelling. He noted in a journal entry, “He rote somthing down on a paper and I got skared of faling the test” (Keyes 183). If Charlie can not even spell, how can he be able to do things solely on his own? If he can not be an independent person, he should be ineligible for the surgery. Others may say that it is Charlie’s fault for not wanting to know more about the risks, for not asking more questions. Once again they are wrong. Charlie is stupid, vulnerable, and is easy to take an advantage of. He states that the doctors say he has “good motor-vation” (Keyes 185). Charlie easily misunderstands concepts, which shows there is no way he could have understood all the dangers of the surgery. Being so naive made Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur’s job of finding a willing patient …show more content…
very uncomplicated. Above all, Charlie will ultimately die because of the surgery.
On Progress Report 13, Charlie says, “I visited the lab to see him as I do occasionally, and when I took him out of his cage, he snapped at my hand” (Keyes 203). Slowly, Algernon begins to deteriorate, which makes Charlie realize that his knowledge is only temporary. Then Algernon dies, which leads Charlie to conclude that the same things will happen to him. Charlie says, “Anyway I bet Im the first dumb person in the world who ever found out something importent for sience” (Keyes 210). It is not that he is saying he is going to die, but the tone of his sentence seems very negative. Charlie sounds as if he is giving up on his knowledge because he knows it is not worth it, because he knows he is going to die. Arguing that his death will be okay because he made contributions to science is disrespectful and just wrong. In addition, the Belmont Report states that “We can not sacrifice humans for scientific advancements” (Belmont Report). The doctors knew the dangers of the surgery, yet they failed to communicate with Charlie how severe those dangers were. They risked Charlie for science, for their own
success. Considering all of this, Charlie should not have participated in the surgery, and the doctors made a mistake of choosing him. Charlie was not intelligent, but he was ambitious. He wanted to become smarter and help. But sadly his ambition does not out way how naive, vulnerable, and clueless he was. Therefore, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur should not have picked Charlie for this surgery.
I Dr. Strauss, chose Charlie for the surgery, it got me a lot of grief from Dr.Nemur but I knew it was the right choice. Charlie is a man of low intellect but he is very cooperate, motivated, and not hostile. These traits are exceptionally rare in a man of 68 IQ. Another reason that Dr. Nemur and I chose Charlie was that he worked extremely hard in Miss Kinnians class. Working hard got him to be the best because he picked up spelling and writing faster than others in the class. Some other reasons I chose Charlie was because he did all the tests without much complaint. We almost lost Charlie when he tested against Algernon in the maze and didn't write the progress reports for 2 weeks. When the tests were to
'"What's wrong with a man becoming intelligent and wanting to acquire knowledge and understanding of the world around him"' (pg.528). This quote comes from the Short story, Flowers for Algernon. The quote shows how all Charlie wanted was to be normal and smart, like everyone else on planet earth, and wanted to understand what was happening around him. Also to make the most out of the things around him and make himself and others proud of what he can do, but people are not understanding him. Flowers for Algernon the novel and the film Awakenings can be studied together because of their important similarities along with some notable differences regarding Lenard and Charlie, making it difficult for the reader and viewer to refrain from
In the end, Charlie is returned to his previous mental state proving that scientific experimentation leads to a destructive nature of man. In Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes shows the reader a destructive nature of man through stereotypes, absence of family, and the various IQ levels needed to mature. Therefore, science experiments should be left for chemicals and labs not humans and animals.
Although Charlie was a thirty seven year-old man, his understanding and comprehension of a situation was far too low to understand such consequences that the surgery could come with. In the article, "Five Steps to Better Ethical Decision Making", it says to ask yourself if you could understand making that choice (Dobrin). The doctors in "Flowers for Algernon" did not ask themselves if they were lacking as much intelligence as Charlie, could they make the choice to have the surgery? Charlie didn't know what could happen to him if the there were side effects until it was too late. Therefore, the doctors did not act ethically when choosing Charlie as the test
He was able to see the world through the new eyes that he had gained from the operation learning new things about the world and being able to talk and interact with the people around him as a normal person. For a moment in time Charlie was normal ,and even after he had lost everything Charlie still learns in the end that even though he may have lost everything he was still happy to be able to finally fulfill his dream of being normal. In conclusion I still think Charlie should have undergone the operation for these reasons ,because in the end if he hadn’t he would have experience these many great things and finally fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming smart and
In conclusion, I believe that Charlie?s life was better before the surgery. Although ?
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
With his simple minded approach to life, he was able to live happily without problems or difficulties that we face in relationships today. Although he was never smart, Charlie was a good person before the surgery.
Charlie worked hard trying to discover how long his smartness would last. While studying Algernon, he noticed that he was becoming more jumpy and that he would attack Charlie sometimes. Charlie wondered whether this was because of the experiment. Algernon got worse and he refused to do the mazes and to work. After a few weeks Algernon died. Tests showed that Algernon’s brain had started to shrink, causing him to die.
My last reason why charlie should get the operation is he will be mature. Instead of
Being mentally impaired, Charlie had to be repaired. Charlie wanted the doctors to use him in their experiment. He wanted to know what it felt like to be smart, and to finally understand the things in life that he had not before. Meanwhile Charlie has received this once in a lifetime opportunity, the operation superseded his life. Charlie was a human being but to the
Charlie Gordon should have not done the surgery because he is unhappy with his life after it. He should’ve thought of the consequences that follow. Charlie says, “Then all of a sudden I rememberd some things about the operashun and me getting smart and I said holy smoke I reely pulled a Charlie Gordon that times. I went away before she came back to
With the AI surgery, Charlie also made a contribution to science. Charlie spent some time while his IQ was increased researching the AI surgeries. Charlie realized that the Algernon Gordon Effect was a failure. Charlie said, “I’m grateful for the little bite that I here add to the knowledge of the function of human mind” (Keyes 239). Charlie knew that as quickly as he increased his intelligence is the same as the time it will take for him to decrease in intelligence but Charlie was still grateful that he made a contribution to
In Charlie’s case he could have died from the operation, but there is a possibility he killed himself too. Anyone can infer that he died or committed suicide because he left a note saying, “P.P.S. Please if you get a chance put some flowers on Algernon’s grave in the back yard.”(Keyes, 245). Since he left a note any person can tell that he definitely cares but, is not coming back. If he did not get the operation he would not have ever went through this and died so young. Once again this is another one of the terrible outcomes that happened with this operation. Charlie probably just felt so stressed out because of so many bad things happening so quick. Like Algernon dying, friends leaving him, and dying while becoming less and less smart everyday. All of this proves that if he never got the operation, he would never be in the
If Charlie didn’t have the operation he would not be able to realize that Joe and Frank were making fun of him. Joe and Frank would just keep making fun of him and he would not be able to stick up for himself. Once in the story Charlie said,“It's a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me. Now I know what it means when they say "to pull a Charlie Gordon.” I'm ashamed” (page 524). Somebody who has been made fun of before should know that anybody would want to stick up for themselves. This shows that it was a blessing for Charlie to have this operation because now he can stick up for