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Analyzing Daniel Keyes 'Flowers For Algernon'

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Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is about a mentally disabled man that went through an experiment to make him smart. Charlie Gordan started off as a clumsy and unintelligent man. His goal in life was to become the opposite of what he was. He then had the opportunity to become a more intelligent man by becoming a test subject for a surgery that is supposed to make anyone become smart in an instant. Little did he know that the experiment could ruin his whole life. After the surgery was completed, Charlie did become smarter but he also started to become aware of what his “friends” actually thought of him. Because of this, Charlie felt more insecure, embarrassed, and ashamed of what he used to be like. If the doctors warned Charlie about the side effects or if he never agreed to doing the experiment, he would've been way better than how he was after the experiment. …show more content…

Strauss and Dr. Nemur should’ve notified Charlie about the dangers of the experiment before Charlie gave his “consent”. In the book, it was heavily implied that Charlie had a very low IQ and was unintelligent. It seemed as if Charlie couldn’t really give his actual consent due to this. Also, the doctors and Miss Kinnian didn’t explain very well to Charlie about what would happen to him during and after the experiment. In the book they only notified him once about the dangers of the experiment. “They said you know it will probably be tempirery. I said yes. Miss Kinnian told me. I dont care if it herts.” (Charlie, pg. 286) With Charlie’s very low IQ and him saying he doesn’t care if the experiment hurts, he most likely didn’t even know what temporary meant and just assumed that they were talking about how the experiment would hurt physically. With Miss Kinnian, Dr. Nemur, and Dr. Strauss knowing Charlie wasn’t a smart person, they should’ve explained to him in a way Charlie would understand that the experiment had a chance of not

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590 Words | 3 Pages

Strauss and Dr. Nemur worked as cunning opportunists who intervened Charlie's life just to prove their hypothesis. In their specialization of psychology, they decided to perform an operation on Charlie to improve his intelligence. However, the operation had changed people around Charlie. He said, "Everybody seems to be frightened of me... People don't talk to me much anymore or kid around the way they used to.

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545 Words | 3 Pages

From his normal life and he didn’t understand everything to knowing more sophisticated language then before, learned how to read faster, found out that there were people that liked him a lot and he got to live several days being almost 4 times as intelligent as he was before. “If you ever reed this Miss Kinnian dont be sorry for me im glad I got a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned a lot of things that I never even new were in this world and im grateful that I saw it all for a littel bit.” Charlie remembers the beginning when Miss. Kinnian says that he always has a second chance if he doesn’t want to be tested on. which is why he most likely said yes to be tested

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583 Words | 3 Pages

They needed a Human test Subject to try the experiment out on. This is where they made a mistake and made a bad choice by picking charlie Gordon. So some background Information Charlie Gordon was a man but had a mind of a kid he worked at a box factory cleaning the toilets. He lives In a messed up house with a small bed.

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448 Words | 2 Pages

Charlie was a likable person before the operation, all the doctors came to wish him luck: "lots of people who gave me tests came to bring me candy and wish me luck"(314). This shows Charlie was loved and liked by many people in his life before the operation. After the operation, he was not that liked by the doctors who were angry at his unwillingness and for missing two weeks of journal entry's, "Dr.Strauss is very angry at me for not having written any progress reports in two weeks"(329). He also started to lose respect of the doctors after learning they only knew two languages:"I realized Dr.Nemur is not all genius. . . . Dr.Strauss on the other hand might be called a genius, although I feel that his area of knowledge are to limited"(330-1).

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311 Words | 2 Pages

The doctors only did it so they could get credit and the fame. The scientist did not ask Charlie if he was sure about the experiment. Charlie looked back on it and said that he wouldn't of done it again at the end of the book. The doctors just took him and did the experiment. " Has the patient been informed of

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718 Words | 3 Pages

But when Charlie got the surgery, he realized when his intelligence was wearing off, he got super depressed but he powered through the depression. One quote from the book that indicates depression is “please... please let me not forget how to read and write.” (keyes 25). Even though he is forgetting how to read and write and he is getting depressed, he powers through the depression. On the last page he says “im taking a cuple of books along and even if i cant reed them ill practise hard and maybe i wont forget every thing i learned.

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702 Words | 3 Pages

“I want to be smart”(Keyes 1), and “I hope they use me”(Keyes 1), were things Charlie said in the beginning of the story, so it proves he did not think about the precautions. Charlie only wanted to do this in hopes to be smart and smart only, he did not know what he was getting himself into. Others may say that Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur told Charlie all the results, though while all the conditions were stated, they all went in one ear and out the other, Charlie only had one thing on his mind. Charlie wrote “ He rote somthing down on a paper and I got skared of faling the test”(Keyes 1). So, is only worry is not getting chosen, not death, not amnesia, he only wants to be smart.

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997 Words | 4 Pages

But there were many cons and now he’s even worse off than he was before. After the operation, Charlie starts experiencing some short periods of amnesia and he went back to 68 IQ. These prove that the operation should never have been done and was an awful bout of unluckiness for Charlie. But those are not the only cons, there is still one significant reason that the experiment was a bad thing for

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1036 Words | 5 Pages

There are many stories out there, each with a message for its readers. Finding these messages and their deeper meaning is referred to as a literary theory. An example of this is in The Scorpio races, Puck Connely risks her life just to get some money so her older brother Gabe won’t move away. The reader will see throughout the story that kate tries to keep a relationship with her brother, train for the races, and deal with the hardship of being a woman riding an ordinary horse in a made-out-to-be men’s race. The story represents the rags to riches, leaving family, and the heros journey archetype.

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897 Words | 4 Pages

He has a good natcher hes interested and eager to please,” on page 185.   This quote is what the doctors were saying about Charlie. This quote reveals that his perspective is surprising because most people of his level of of intelligence are hostile and do not want to

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702 Words | 3 Pages

However, after the surgery, Charlie finds intelligence was a nice treat but was far from an importance in life and only took him away from what truly mattered. One could believe Charlie was wrong to undergo the surgery because of the side effects that came with the surgery such as physical and emotional instability, and amnesia, the depresion it came with, and how he lost all of his friends and loved ones with his extreme intelligence. First off, one reason Charlie should not have gotten the surgery is the depression and suicidal thoughts it came with for

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620 Words | 3 Pages

Before the operation, Charlie has no knowledge of his past, but after, he remembers he was treated poorly which hurts him emotionally. Another way Charlie changed throughout the story is his social interactions. Before the operation, Charlie enjoyed time with his “friends” at the bakery. He never realized that they we’re making fun of him all the time: “Joe Carp said hey look where Charlie had his operashun what did they do Charlie put some brains in… Their my frends and they really like me” (22).

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568 Words | 3 Pages

Aviva Keating Putman Hour 2 and 5 15 November 2016 Argument Paper Scientists have not yet achieved the feat of improving humans with artificial intelligence. The story Flowers for Algernon is a fictional account of a man 's experiences before and after having surgery to improve his intelligence levels. Charlie Gordon, the man who undergoes the experiment, had an IQ of 68 when he was approached by two doctors about an opportunity to triple his intelligence. He accepts the offer and completes multiple tests to track his progress.

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662 Words | 3 Pages

While being tested for eligibility for the operation, Charlie writes in his report, “I told them becaus all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb. But its very hard to be smart. They said you know it will probly be tempirery. I said yes. Miss Kinnian told me.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

He also became bitter which made him all alone without friends or family at the end of the story. The surgery was a disturbing encounter physical and intellectually and just caused Charlie to feel isolated. If the knowledge was permanent the surgery could have

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