Charlie Gordon was a man who tripled his I.Q. by sacrificing everything he cared about. In the story “Flowers for Algernon'', a mentally challenged man named Charlie signed up for experimental brain surgeries in hopes to increase his intelligence. Although he became a genius, he lost more than he gained. Inevitably, the story raises the question, “should Charlie have had the surgery?” Charlie shouldn’t have signed up for the operation because his growth of intellect caused pain to others, had people treat him like a monster, and watched himself mentally regress after the effects of the surgery.
Firstly, Charlie’s progress in intelligence hurt other's lives. For example, Charlie broke Ms. Kinnian’s heart after he rejected her proposal, and became more distant from her. “Miss Kinnian came to the door but I said ‘go away, I don’t want to see you.’ She cried and I cried too but I wouldn’t let her in because I didn’t want her to laugh at me. I told her I didn’t like her anymore.” (Keyes, 10-11). Although Miss Kinnian did choose to love Charlie and would have her heart broken either way, that type of reasoning could also imply that Charlie chose to have abusive friends. Charlie wouldn’t have known that his friends abused him similar to how Miss Kinnian wouldn’t have known that she would be rejected.
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For instance, Charlie was fired via petition by almost all of his coworkers because of his growth in intelligence. Charlie laments, “The first I knew of it was when Mr. Donnegan showed me the petition. Eight hundred and forty names, everyone connected with the factory, except Fanny Girden… …All the rest demanded that I be fired.” (Keyes, 6). Some may say, Charlie would still be treated poorly if he didn’t have the surgery. Charlie would be treated unfairly, but Charlie would still be happy since he doesn’t know that he has bad