Flowers For Algernon Innocence Quotes

It has happened to each and every one of us. Some younger and some older, but it happens. The day we see the world a little clearer is the day we lose our innocence. The world we live in is a very cruel world. One might argue that it is a safe and loving place but it is not. Losing your innocence is shown in several ways in Daniel Keyes; Flowers for Algernon. Charlie Gordon embarks on a journey to undergo an experimental operation to increase his intelligence. Charlie’s innocence is slowly lost through gaining knowledge. As his intelligence grew, he started to realize the truth about reality. Charlie loses his innocence by being curious which leads him wanting to gain knowledge, fearing reality, and realizing what place the world is and what

As a kid no one is immune to the emotion fear; since kids are innocent, but as they grow up and learn, fear becomes one of the strongest emotions a person can carry. At the beginning of the book Charlie is a fearless guy that trusts everyone around him, but as the story evolves he starts fearing and worrying about the people he trusted. “What matters is that before I got involved in this experience I had friends, people who cared for me. Now I’m afraid. Fear is a normal reaction.” (110). He starts to feel afraid and vulnerable as well as betrayed which is a big sign of him losing his innocence. Kids don’t feel fear at all because they are practically clueless, so when Charlie explains how he’s scared he is, it clearly explains that he has lost his innocence. A memory that haunts him from his past is when young Charlie saw that his mother wanted to hurt him. “Charlie sees on the kitchen table the long carving knife she cuts roasts with, and he senses vaguely that she wanted to hurt him.”(185). This memory is very important because this was the first type of fear Charlie felt as a child and the fact that somebody wanted to hurt him makes him start to lose his innocence. At the time young Charlie felt his first sense of fear because he saw his mother and the knife. Additionally, Charlie has a break down and says “Oh, God, please don’t take it all away” (109). Charlie is referring to to his knowledge as well as his

People would take advantage of his innocence and use him. Everybody around him felt bad for him, but because of Charlie’s innocence he never let himself down. He always tried his best and was always a happy person. All he wanted was to gain knowledge, but little did he know that came with a price; his innocence. As being curious and wanting to gain knowledge were one of the ways he lost his innocence, fearing reality and realizing what the people he trusted are capable of. Charlie was excited to gain more knowledge despite the several warnings he had received from the people around him. After receiving knowledge the innocence losing away finally started to kick in. Charlie started to feel fear as the memories of his past were coming as well as when he met Fay and she was introducing to him to new things. As the story develops he slowly realizes that the people around him did not care about him and only used him for their own good. When Charlie sees this he can’t believe how his old self trusted them. Therefore this clearly explains his loss of innocence. Despite being warned, Charlie wanted to go through the surgery which led him to all these problems ultimately making him lose his