Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

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.

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

smart gene affected Algernon’s increase and decrease in intelligence over time. He was able to link that study to his own changes in intelligence. Charlie said, “by all indications, my own mental deterioration will be very rapid” (Keyes, 80). So Charlie was able to predict that he would become dumb again. Why would anyone choose to have the operation, if it was only going to work for a little while?

My next reason is that because Charlie had the operation, he had to quit his job.

He said, “I’ve quit my job at Donnegan’s Plastic Box Company. Mr. Donnegan insisted that it would be better for all concerned if I left. What did I do to make them hate me so?” (Keyes, 72). All Charlie dreamed about was becoming smart, but did it have to cost him his job, just because his co-workers are almost scared of him because they don’t understand what has happened to Charlie? Then as he loses his intelligence and becomes dumb again, he decides to go back to his old job at the Box Company because he needed money. After working there again, he realizes that things can never be the same. He says, “Evry body feels sorry at the factery and I don’t want that eather so Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed or rite a book good” (keyes, 85). He then decided that it would be best for everyone, if he left New York to go someplace where no one would know that he had been been a genius. So Charlie shouldn’t have the operation because it affected Charlie’s relationships with his co-workers and boss and made it hard on Charlie to have to give up his job, not once but two

times..

My last reason why Charlie should not have the surgery is because his friend, Algernon dies. Algernon was a rat that had a smart gene. The doctors decided to use Charlie in their experiment after using Algernon. They said, “We will use Charlie.” (Keyes, 58). Charlie and Algernon were both being studied by scientists to see if the operation would work. Dr. Strauss did the operation on Charlie and the only reason that Charlie became smart was because they put the smart gene in Charlie. Charlie didn’t like Algernon at first, because Algernon could do the maize and Charlie couldn’t do his tests. Charlie tells the doctors, “If the operashun works I’ll show that mouse that I can be as smart as he is” (Keyes, 58). Charlie formed an attachment with Algernon throughout the testing phases of the experiment. Charlie said, “I beat Algernon!” “I must be getting smart to beat a smart mouse like Algernon” (Keyes,63). “Algernon bit me” (Keyes, 77). After Algernon bit Charlie, he figured out that Algernon was changing. Charlie says, “Everyone identifies me with Algernon. In a way we’re both the first of our kind” (Keyes, 77). What Charlie meant was that they were the ones that had been given the operation to see if they could be made smarter. Algernon gets worse and then dies. Charlie says, “I put Algernon’s body in a cheese box and buried him in the backyard. I cried” (Keyes, 80). Algernon and Charlie had formed a bond with each other. If Charlie had not had the operation, then Algernon might not have affected Charlie at all. At the end of the story we see Charlie reminding others to “P. P. S, Please if you get a chanse, put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard.” (Keyes, 86).

Charlie chose to have the operation, because his dream was to be smart. However, I don’t think he should have had the operation because he became dumb again, had to quit his job two times, and he lost his best friend. Charlie could have kept his job, see Algernon, and not experience all of the bad things that happened to him.