I believe that “Flowers for Algernon” has a theme that presents itself in several different instances throughout the story: don’t judge a book by its cover. Whether it encompasses the surgery or Charlie’s personal life, the theme still can be used. There were other, less cliched themes that could be found in the story, but this one can be applied to a larger portion of the plot. One of the prominent uses of this theme finishes developing when Charlie is beginning to regress in his cognitive ability and writes his letter to Dr. Strauss on page 239, where it says “...I have checked and rechecked my results a dozen times in the hope of finding an error. I am sorry to say that my results must stand. Yet for the sake of science, I am grateful …show more content…
Before Charlie’s surgery, his coworkers took advantage of his low intelligence, which he realized on page ____, where it says “Everybody was laughing. Frank said, ‘I ain’t laughed so much since we sent him off for the newspaper that night at Muggsy’s and ditched him.’ … I didn’t know what to do or where to turn… I wanted to hide myself… Now I know what it means when they say ‘to pull a Charlie Gordon.’” He unfortunately did not realize that his “friends” were making fun of him due to the fact that they had taken advantage of his low intelligence and set up a weak cover for each prank or crack, making them seem like they were laughing with him in his perspective. He had judged them for what they seemed on the outside, which reiterates the theme. After his post-surgery regression, though, they stood up for him after thinking about their actions. This is shown on page ____, where it says “ One of the new men who came to work there after I went away made a nasty crack he said hey Charlie 1 hear your a very smart fella a real quiz kid. Say something intelligent. I felt bad but Joe Carp came over and grabbed him by the shirt and said leave him alone you lousy cracker or III break your neck. I didnt expect Joe to take my part so I guess hes really my friend. Later Frank Reilly came over and said Charlie if anybody bothers you or trys to take advantage you call me or
Before Charlie had the operation preformed on him, he had friends at the bakery he worked at. They were not really his friends because they always made jokes about Charlie, but he was not smart enough to realize it. As he gets smarter he loses his friends because they think he is just trying to act smart.
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.
Firstly, Charlie's realizes that his co-workers aren't his true friends after all. When Joe Carp and Frank Reilly take him to a house party, they made him get drunk and started laughing at the way he was doing the dancing steps. Joe Carp says, "I ain't laughed so much since we sent him around the corner to see if it was raining that night we ditched him at Halloran's" (41), Charlie recalls his past memory of him being it and not finding his friends who also ditched him and immediately realizes that Joe Carp was relating to the same situation. Charlie felt ashamed and back-stabbed when he realized that he had no friends and that his co-workers use to have him around for their pure entertainment. It's after the operation, that he finds out he has no real friends, and in result feels lonely. Next, Charlie unwillingly had to leave his job from the bakery where he worked for more than fifteen years. Mr. Donner treated him as his son and took care of him, but even he had noticed an unusual behavior in Charlie, lately. Mr. Donner hesitatingly said, "But something happened to you, and I don't understand what it means... Charlie, I got to let you go" (104), Charlie couldn't believe it and kept denying the fact that he had been fired. The bakery and all the workers inside it were his family, and the increase of intelligence had ...
Others may say that charlie wouldn’t have been fired from his job but i argue that he still got his job back still. Another may say that he realized he was being bullied but i argue that his friends came back around and helped him out at the end for instance”the new men who came to work there after i went a way made a nasty crack he said hey charlie i hear you're a very smart fella a real quiz kid.Say something intelligent.I felt bad but joe carp came over and grabbed him by the shirt and said leave him alone you lousy cracker or I’ll break your neck…”. (keys,243) and that’s my
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
The societal problems became a reality for Charlie as he overtook the brain of a genius. Every day, Charlie woke up thinking he was best friends with Joe and Frank; nonetheless, after the operation, Charlie’s brilliance knew Frank and Joe were not his legitimate cohorts. All the mocking was assumed to be friendly until Charlie was able to comprehend the actuality. Charlie’s acquaintances turned around
In the first place, Charlie’s colleagues are taking advantage of Charlie’s disabilities. They call him names because they are aware the he does not know they are insulting him. In one of the progress reports, Charlie stated, “Everybody laffed and we had a good time and they gave me lots of drinks and Joe said Charlie is a card when hes potted. I dont know what that means but everybody likes me and we have fun” [SIC] (205). Charlie does not know that Joe and Frank are insulting him. If he was intelligent, he would get upset and hurt. After the operation, Charlie started to realize that Joe and Frank were calling him names and made him embarrass himself in front of people. For example, when Joe and Frank made him dance with Ellen, he used trip over someone’s foot. Charlie had mentioned, “It’s a funny thing never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me. I’m ashamed,” (209). He was embarrassed and hurt. Before the operation, Joe and Frank used to
Charlie's too smart for them now. He's even smart enough to assist with the research on intelligence enhancement. He's smart enough to suddenly perceive Miss Kinnian with new eyes...and fall in love. Everybody is Charlie Flowers for Algernon is such a beloved classic that it has remained in print since 1959 and is now in its 58th edition. It has received science fiction's highest honors, the Hugo and Nebula Awards.
Background information:In the story of “Flowers For Algernon” charlie was abiviously not as itelligent as he should have been. What is trying to be said is that when someone did or said something to charlie he would do nothing but laugh because he didnt think for hmself or know what he was doing. The same concept goes with the story of “Adam And Eve”. In the story Adam and Eve, Eve was tricked by the snake of eating of the tree of knowledge. She also didnt know any better and could’t think for herself.Eve and Charlie both had bad the same differnce outcome.
For Charlie, Ignorance is bliss. He realizes that his so called ? friends? were just using him to entertain their perverse humor. Also, he was also fired from the job that he loved so much because his new intelligence made those around him feel inferior and scared.
The plot of both the novel and film version of Flowers for Algernon share common similarities. They both feature a retarded middle-aged man, Charlie Gordon, who receives an operation to heighten his intelligence. Charlie’s IQ eventually surpasses human normalcy to reveal that the experiment did prove successful. In both the film and novel, Charlie became even more intelligent than the professors who worked with him. In the film, Dr. Strauss was embarrassed to reveal that Charlie was smarter than him. That played a milestone event in Charlie’s identification of himself. Slowly his intelligence began to decrease and he eventually returned to his original state of mind. Throughout the story, Charlie encountered many different emotions that he had never experienced before because he didn’t have the common knowledge to understand them. The episode when he was at the nightclub with his co-workers gave him the opportunity to experience betrayal and anger. “I never knew before that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around just to make fun of me” (Keyes 30). The plot for both versions also carefully depicted Charlie’s psychological traumas that he suffered after his operation. These outbursts were often caused by romantic anxiety and the painful memories he would recall. Whenever Charlie got intimate with Alice he would tend to get extremely nervous or have a hallucination, causing him to ruin the moment. “I dropped a fork, and when I tried to retrieve it, I knocked over a glass of water and spilled it on her dress” (56). One of Charlie’s most painful memories was the one about the locket incident. Both versions did a great job of emphasizing this particular moment. “His clothes are torn, his nose is bleeding and one of his teeth is broken” (38). These flashbacks occurred many times in the novel yet the f...
Charlie’s intelligence started to fall. Slowly he lost it all, from foreign languages to math equations to reading and writing.
When was the last time you wanted something so much, you would sacrifice your life to have it; even if just for a moment? Charlie Gordon, a 37 year old man with a learning disability, did just that. In the story "Flowers for Algernon", by Daniel Keyes, Charlie gets a chance to alter his I.Q. substantially through operation. The only drawback to this is, the long-term outcomes of the operation are unknown. The operation does succeed, but later Charlie is sent on a riveting downward spiral into the life he tried to run away from. The operation hurt Charlie in every imaginable way; and did nothing to help him.
In society, many individuals attempt to change their appearance or personality for the benefit of others or to improve their own self worth. Ultimately, these changes have the ability to boost one’s self esteem. In Daniel Keys’s Flowers For Algernon, Charlie Gordon undergoes surgery to increase his intelligence. Even though his intelligence is not a permanent transformation, it allows him to become more aware about his own life. Charlie’s transformation is ethical and therefore the result is worth the attempt.
“Flowers for Algernon, first published in 1959, is considered a landmark work on both science fiction and disability literature,” (Werlock 2009). The American Library Association reports that this novel was banned as an obscene for its love scenes. When the main character, Charlie Gordon, increases his IQ from 68 to a level that makes him a genius (after received experimental brain surgery), his maturity leads him to fall in love with his teacher, and a sexual encounter ensues. This caused Flowers for Algernon to be banned and challenged in many places (Plant City, Florida- 1976, Emporium, Pennsylvania- 1977, Oberlin High School (Ohio) - 1983, among others). Most people consider the sexual scenes fairly mild, but there are those who consider any mention of sexual behavior inappropriate for teens or pre-teens, hence the attempts at censorship. Many of the challenges have proved unsuccessful, but the book has occasionally been banned from school libraries including some in Pennsylvania and Texas. Flowers for Algernon has won numerous awards, even for the film, and it is regularly taught in schools around the world; therefore, it should remain on shelves.