Psychoanalysis In Flowers For Algernon

Psychoanalysis is a system of psychological theory and therapy that aims to treat mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind by techniques such as dream interpretation and free association this plays a vital, imperative role in the novel Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes as the main character, Charlie Gordon, uses that process to connect and describe his thoughts and feeling regarding other characters in the novel. In Progress Report 10, in the bakery, the reader sees how Charlie uses Psychoanalysis to organize his thoughts when he is put in a challenging position. Mr. Gordon is feeling surprised as he thought his friends would be there for him, regardless of the time, as he

When I went over to Gimpy and tapped him on the shoulder to ask him something, he jumped and dropped his coffee all over himself. He stares at me when he thinks I’m not looking. Nobody at the place talks to me any more, or kids around like they used to. It makes the job kind of lonely.

, This is one of the many examples of how Charlie responds to the way he is now treated. Later in Progress Report 12 he also feels distraught by the way Professor Nemer treated him before the surgery,“Our relationship is becoming increasingly strained. I resent Nemur’s constant reference to me as a laboratory specimen. He makes me feel that before the experiment I was really not a human being.”(105)

Besides using psychoanalysis to bring out the reasoning on why people act certain ways he also does this as a way to recall memories through thinking and solving. For example, Charlie writes, “It’s astonishing how my power of recall is developing. I cannot control it yet, but sometimes when I’m busy reading or working on a problem, I get an intense feeling of clarity”, but Charlie knows that the clarity of understanding is endless; thus, making Charlie