Innocence In Daniel Keyes 'Flowers For Algernon'

The loss of innocence is something that everyone has to go through in their lives. Losing your innocence is when you are faced with many challenges and conflicts throughout your life, on your pathway to being an adult. Before people lose their innocence, they are very naive and curious about life, and about the world. In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes uses a lot of symbolism to show that Charlie Gordon started to slowly realize that there was beginning to be a huge split between all the people he once knew and loved. Charlie was a 37 year old man, trapped in the body of a small child, because of his mental state. Charlie was able to do everything that an adult could do, but wasn’t fully aware of what he was doing, and

the meaning of what he was doing. Many people would make fun of Charlie, and he was not able to realize it. Charlie was sent for a number of tests, and that gradually had him put in for an operation to make him smarter, and act like a “normal” adult. Charlie overtime started to realize what love and true friends are. He also saw what it was like to be smart, and have his mental state correct for his age.
Even though Charlie’s mental state was built for a child, he saw many things that he never would have noticed before his operation. “He explained to me that the last time he had used the same exact words he was using now. I didn’t believe it, and I still have the suspicion that he mistled me at the time just for the fun of it.” (Keyes, Page 10) He is very astonished that the same pictures he had once looked at as blobs of ink, were now coming alive has things like bats, men fencing, and more. Charlie feels that since he was unable to see figures before his operation, and felt he could not lie and say that there were figures in the ink, that the person doing all of the tests were misleading him and giving him tricks so he would get confused. “I was just like him. Only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Now I can see that unknowingly I joined with them in laughing at myself. That hurts most of all.” (Page 14) Charlie saw many people making fun of a boy who was “mentally retarted.” Charlie saw himself laughing along with everyone else who was laughing at the boy. He then realized that that is what everyone would always do to Charlie. He is seeing that his friends do not respect and treat him the way he would have hoped or thought that they would. His friends would constantly “ask” him to do things that he wasn’t aware was bad, like drinking, or doing drugs. They were aware that they could easily manipulate or trick him into doing things that they wanted him to do. After Charlie’s operation, he started to realize that his friends were not really his friends. Charlie is saying that the thing that hurts the most, is that he ould laugh along with everyone at himself, without being aware of it. He was making more of a fool of himself than they were.
Although Charlie’s friends treated him like a child, and made him feel like he wasn’t worthy, he eventually realized what his friends were doing to him, and what their actions toward him really meant.

He also realized what true love and beauty was, especially when he was with Miss Kinnian. “The thought of leaving her behind made me sad. I’m in love with Miss Kinnian.” Charlie soon realizes that his mental state will gradually decrease, most likely causing him to die. One of the one things that he does not want to do, is leave behind Miss Kinnian. Charlie is realizing what true beauty is, and soon, what true love is as well. He saw how smart Miss Kinnian is, and how good she is at her job. Charlie learns to be compassionate, loving, and kind to others, in a way more complex than even many adults could. something about how algernon is his friend* Even things like Algernon the mouse had many impacts on Charlie’s life, like Charlie seeing what a real friend is. When Charlie was with Miss Kinnian, he realized that she was very smart, good at what she did, and was very kind to Charlie, and to others. “Once again now I have the feeling of shame burning inside me. This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved. Before, they laughed at me and despised me for my ig-norance and dullness; now, they hate me for my knowledge and under-standing. What in God’s name do they want of me? They’ve driven me out of the factory. Now I’m more alone than ever before.” Charlie feels a lot of despair, when he sees that his friends only laughed at him, and hated him, but now they loathe him even more for containing knowledge and wisdom that they don’t have. His friends could only tolerate him when he was “dumb, stupid” and “retarded,” and even then, they still didn’t take a liking to him, but what hurt Charlie most, was that when he became smart, they hated him more now than they did before, because he held emotions that they couldn’t possibly feel,

like sorrow, pain, despair, compassion, love, and even for his knowledge and wisdom.
Charlie felt many new things, and learned even more valuable lessons throughout his short life. In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes used a lot of symbolism throughout the story to show that there was a wedge between the people Charlie used to know, and used to love being with and being around. Charlie’s rite of passage throughout life, was him having many epiphanies about his feelings, and actions toward others, and their actions toward him. Charlie was faced with many conflicts and problems throughout the story, that capture his loss of innocence, before and after the operation altering his mental state.