Authority In Flowers For Algernon

Authority figures play many different roles in our lives, and far from all can be trusted. In the story Flowers For Algernon for example : the ‘scientists’ that Charlie trusts to cure his lack of cognitive ability, they know full well this will not end well for Charlie, and they treat him as more of an experiment rather than a human. Algernon, the original experiment in the story shows the repercussions of the experiment before as he was the first initially tested on, eventually passing from the regression. This being hidden as best as can from Charlie as the scientists want to continue on the experiment, despite the severe consequences that Charlie will have to live through. Of course we need some authority in society to run our lives

Dr Nemur, and Dr Strauss test their ‘breakthrough’ experiment on a mouse prior to Charlie, named Algernon. In the long run Algernon does become brighter, but not forever, as he shows signs of regression and eventually, death. After Algernon's death the doctors try to keep this hidden from Charlie so as to not startle him into backing out or running away, or something of that nature. Once Charlie finds out he begins to work like a madman essentially locking himself in the lab, doing his own work/experiments, before he goes back to how he was. This ate Charlie alive as he began to lose his smarts, he could no longer go to work, or even get out of bed because of how badly it affected him. In the end the pressure put on by this experiment was too much for him, as the doctors ran a faulty experiment that they knew would happen on a human, and Charlie began to be treated even worse than before he felt. This led to Charlie wanting to leave New York in the end, and start a new life somewhere else where no one knew that Charlie Gordon was once a

They don’t treat him fairly before he becomes smart, and that continues as the experiment improves his cognitive function, leading to him pursuing a new life somewhere else. For real life, unlike the story, many cannot improve the way they learn/ take in information, being unable to be given fair opportunities from ‘normal’ people to be treated like the humans they are. The story, and real life are connected in almost all aspects of life; besides the experiments. This includes how people of higher authority also treat disabled people, for centuries, they were treated as if they were seen as separate people to them, never allowing the chance for them to have an equal shot at life. Flowers For Algernon is the opportunity to improve their lives drastically however, the outcome is not what Charlie had anticipated because, the people he knew before this improvement, don’t understand how someone can change like such, because it is the first time something so drastic of this sort has occurred. This left Charlie feeling defeated and wanting to give up on his job, friends, and much more in his life, eventually pushing him to leave New York, and start a new life. Thus proving that trusting authority figures in many aspects of life is not as easy as it seems, because it is so