What Are The Similarities Between Flowers For Algernon And The Garden Of Eden

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a work that draws from the biblical tale of the Garden of Eden. Daniel Keyes manages to renew the story as his own while still using the same theme and plot. In Flowers for Algernon a grown man, named Charlie Gordon, who has learning disabilities gets an operation to make him smarter. After the operation is complete Charlie goes through the process of learning at an excelled rate and learns many things, some of which are good, and some of which he would be better off not knowing. However, in the end the operation is not permanent and Charlie loses his gained intelligence. In the tale of the Garden of Eden God creates a man, named Adam, and soon later he creates a woman, named Eve. Adam and Eve live in The Garden of Eden. In the garden there is a tree called the tree knowledge. The tree of knowledge contains a fruit that they were told not to eat, eventually they eat the fruit and gain knowledge.

In Flowers for Algernon Charlie gets an operation and gains knowledge, however, Charlie also learned things which he would rather have not when he gained his knowledge. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve eat a fruit and gain knowledge, after eating the fruit they find out that they are naked and suffer due to their knowledge. The stories are similar due to the protagonists gaining knowledge and suffering because of it. Another way the stories are similar is the benefits they gain from knowledge. Charlie was mentally disabled and got to experience what he had always wanted, which was to be smart. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve were punished for eating the fruit, but if they had not eaten the fruit they would never procreate or grow in wisdom or knowledge. In both stories the main protagonists benefit and suffer for becoming smarter. The stories’ many similarities are further evidence that Daniel Keyes drew parts of his story from the Garden of