Comparing 'Flowers For Algernon And Awakenings'

'"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

comparing and contrasting the novel and film.
In the book Flowers for Algernon, is about a man named Charlie Gordon. He is the main character and the protagonist. Charlie is not normal, he has a very low I.Q. and his brain doesn't function normally like other people. He goes to see Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss at a hospital somewhere near New York, to take different kinds of tests and to see if he was eligible for a special experiment/operation, that could change him.The doctors have already done the operation on a white mouse named Algernon. Algernon was a normal, dumb mouse, but after the operation he was a smart! So then, Dr. Nemur and Strauss wanted to find a human to experiment on. Later, Charlie is chosen to be the person the doctors choose to be experimented on. After Charlie gets the surgery, he and Algernon challenged one another and become closer with one another, and Miss Kinnian came to teach Charlie. Miss Kinnian is a teacher at the Beckham College Center for Retarded Adults, who helped Charlie and he soon figured out that he loved Miss Kinnian, but later tells her he doesn't, because of what was going to happen to him. After a while, the doctors and the person who watched Algernon, see a difference in him because he wouldn't cooperate anymore and was biting, and eventually Algernon passed away. This foreshadowed Charlie's future and he knew what happened to Algernon would happen to him, so he wrote a letter to Dr. Strauss about the whole experiment and about his journey, and also how he was going away.
The movie Awakenings, is about a doctor named Dr.

Sayers, he was a new doctor and worked at a mental hospital in the Bronx. The hospital he worked at had all kinds of patients with weird and different diseases or disorders. Dr. Sayers had a goal and according to the article, Bringing Statues to Life, his goals was, "To help these people breakout of their semiconscious state"(Fehlhaber). This quote explains all he wanted was to achieve this and the goal to be successful. He looked at the many different kinds of disorders and diseases, before the one had caught his eye. The disease/disorder that had caught his eye were the patients, who had the extreme version of Parkinsonism. These patients have been catatonic for decades. The article Bringing Statues to life, it explains that, "He had heard about a new experiment drug, L-Dopa, which was being used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease" (Fehlhaber), so he thought he would try it on the others with the disease. Leonard was the Dr. Sayer first patient to try the drug and the main patient he worked with. He video taped Leonard throughout the experiment and explained the disease and what was happening. During his journey, Dr. Sayers discovered that the patients would move to certain kinds of music, catching a ball or an object, or touch familiar objects. A while after using L-Dopa, they had seen a jaw dropping sight, Leonard was out of his catatonic state and was awake! So then they decided to use the drug on the other

patients, and the same thing happened! Although the L-Dopa worked, it wasn't a permanent solution for the disease. They noticed Leonard was having body spasms and he was having troubles talking , focusing, writing, and many other signs that showed he was going back to his catatonic state. Then soon enough, the other patients were slowly returning to their original state too and eventually did. Even though this sounded like a smooth journey at first, it wasn't, Dr. Sayer had obstacles like the other doctors he worked with and all the patients at the hospital.
To start with, the book Flowers for Algernon and the film Awakenings, have similarities that are important. The first example is that in the book and the film Charlie and Leonard both fall in love. A quote to support this is on page 527, when Charlie said, "I'm in love with Miss Kinnian", this quote proves that Charlie had feelings for Miss Kinnian. Also in the movie Leonard meets a woman in the lunch room and after a while they start to have feelings for each other. Regardless of what they felt, they both tell had to the woman they fell in love with that they couldn't see each other anymore or that they don't love them anymore, because of the disorder that was coming back. Another similarity is that they both return to their original state. Even though the short story doesn’t explain that Charlie had gone back to his original state, Algernon showed signs/symptoms of what would soon happen to him after the operation. For Leonard though, the drug wears off, doesn't cure the disease, and him and the other patients go back to their original, catatonic states. The last similarity between the two; even though there are more, is how Charlie and Leonard both had a condition that stopped them from being "normal". Charlie had a mental disorder, that stopped him from being thinking the same way and not being able to understand things the same way others do. Leonard goes into a catatonic state, which is caused by a rare form of Parkinson disease that stopped him from moving, talking, thinking, etc. and in general wasn't able do anything other people are able to do. It is clear from all the information provided that the two have notable similarities.
However, the two have noticeable differences.

To start off, Leonard was a smart student and had friends, before he got the harsh disease that ruined his whole life. On the other hand, Charlie had the mental retardation since he was born, never really had friends, and never got to experience what it felt like to think the way everyone else did and comprehend the things surrounding him. Furthermore, in Flowers for Algernon Charlie had Algernon who had the same operation as him, that foreshadowed his fate. He explains, "Algernon died two days ago. His brain had decreased in weight, and there was a general soothing out of cerebral convolutions as well as a deepening and broadening of brain fissures. I guess that the same thing is or will soon be happening to me" (pg.533). In Awakenings, viewers were lead to believe the drug would be permanent and cure the disease. The doctors had no idea whether or not it would work, but after it had worked we were most likely convinced that L-Dopa had worked. Also the patients would stay that way forever, but sadly they just had to face the truth when the drug wore off. The third difference contrasting Flowers for Algernon and Awakenings is how after their doctors did whatever they did on them and was normals, they had different interest. Leonard wanted to explore and interact with society and nature and Charlie isolated himself the outside the world. Something to support this is that in the movie, Leonard tried to get out of the

hospital and go for a walk and he, and him and Dr. Sayers went out and explored. While Charlie isolated himself from the doctors and Miss Kinnian because he didn't want to do much, but learn about himself and think. Even with all the significant similarities, they have many differences that make them different one another.
In conclusion, the book Flowers for Algernon and the film Awakenings make it difficult to hold back from differentiating the two, because of the significant similarities and noteworthy differences that can be used to study them together. Also although the two characters are different in ways, they are also similar. For example, they both had a life changing disorder, but Leonard wanted to interact with the world while he had the chance to and Charlie isolated himself. Dr. Sayer explains in the film Awakenings, ”The human spirit is more powerful that any drug, and that is what needs to be nourished with work, play, friendship, and family. These are the things that matter“.