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Charlie Gordon's Motivation In Flowers For Algernon

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Charlie Gordon is a simple minded 32 year old. The first piece of evidence showed that he has a basic mindset and would stick to what he was told by his mother, even in situations when the advice isn’t applicable. Additionally, the fact that he did not understand simple instructions reveal that Charlie is not that clever. On page 9, it is confirmed that Charlie is mentally retarded as he has an IQ of 68. However, he is still hard working and wished to get the surgery done so he could become smarter. The fifth quote reveals the motivation Charlie. Despite knowing himself that he wasn’t the brightest student, Charlie still gave everything his best and stuck to his mother’s words. His low IQ and high motivation made Charlie an ideal candidate …show more content…

The first excerpt makes it obvious that Charlie spent a lot of his life in New York, and that he still resides there now. Also within the state, is Marks Street: Charlie’s home from his once forgotten childhood. The dirty, torn down holds the ghost of bright houses and children playing, that Charlie longfully watched from his window.
Although discovering where the story took place was quite simple, finding the time period proved to be more laborious. . There was no clear evidence that flat out told the year, so therefore I had to infer when the story took place with minor details. Flowers for Algernon was written around the early 1960s. Elements that were considered futuristic around that time, other than the surgery, remained absent. For instance, smart phones or tablets were not mentioned anywhere in the book and instead, most conversations were exchanged face to face. Additionally, news was delivered by mouth or by a physical newspaper. With this in mind, it is obvious that the story did not take place within 20 years of present time. After doing more research, I discovered that there was a prominent Disability Rights Movement in the 60s. After and during this movement to increase awareness of disabilities, disabilities were more understood. However, in this novel, those with disabilities weren’t even considered people. On page 89, Professor Nemur indirectly told Charlie that he

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People with lack of acceptance have differences in personalities, experiences, and behaviors. There are many major similarities and differences concerning the characters in “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keys and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Even though The Book Thief was based on a little girl named Liesel, another character, Max, in the book experiences a lack of acceptance. The setting of The Book Thief is during World War II, when Jews were being persecuted for their religion and beliefs. Max has a worldly personality, so he is knowledgeable of the series of events happening around him.

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Charlie Gordon is a none smart, caring person, living in New York. He has a desirer to be smart and fit in with the world around him. He is 37 years old, with an IQ of 68. Two doctors get him though a surgery to make him smart. They acted un-ethically toward Charlie while going though this preacher.

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The author refers back to Ely, New Hampshire at certain times in the novel: “She drove down the center of Ely, the light just beginning to flood storefronts now,” (80). Later on in the book, Kathryn travels to London, United Kingdom and the quote that supports this is: “She looked at her watch: 8:14 p.m. in the evening. It would be 1:14 a.m. in London. The plane lumbered to the runaway.” (202)

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"The summit of happiness is reached when a person is ready to be what he is." -Desiderius Erasmus. In a way, Charlie thought he could reach happiness by becoming intelligent. His eagerness to go through with the operation made Charlie think that he was ready to become who he was supposed to be. Who was Charlie supposed to be?

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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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Although he was motivated before, now that he knew what it was like to be smart he wanted to try even harder to have that feeling again. Although he doesn’t remember much of what happened at that time, he has reminders like certain books. This is evident when Charlie says, “ I lerned a lot of things that I never even new were in this world and I am grateful that I saw it all for a littel bit … I remember a little bit how nice I had a feeling with the blue book” (Keyes 215). This shows how even though he lost it all he still wants to try again. This shows how he still has hope left in him and if anything that hope has grown.

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His motivation doesn’t change because of his intelligence because that is who Charlie truly is as a person. Charlie is a person who strives to be accepted by the people he is

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His I.Q. during childhood and in the beginning of the novel is slightly less than 70. Charlie does wind up being chosen for the experiment and he receives brain surgery. The surgery is a success and Charlie’s intelligence quickly soars. He is happy for a while being able to learn many new things and have mature, adult conversations with others. However, this quickly takes a turn for the worse when his I.Q. surpasses everyone he can have a relationship with, which makes his life more boring and sad: “I am just as far away from Alice with an I.Q. of 185 as I was when I had an I.Q. of 70” (126).

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Like everybody around here’s been saying, Charlie, it’s not right.” Charlie’s response to that was, “But how can you say that, Fanny? What’s wrong with a man becoming intelligent and wanting to acquire knowledge and understanding of the world around him?”Charlie was disappointed in Fanny when she said that it wasn’t very possible for Charlie to become smart that quickly. This is another very important event that happens in this story because Charlie tries to change himself to fit in and then realizes that’s not what matters. What matters is that he’s happy and it doesn’t matter what other people

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Starting with how Matt, Charlie's father, accepts his low intelligence, "That's not true! But I realize there's nothing we can do. When you've got a child like him it's a cross, and you bear it, and love it. Well, I can bear him, but I can't stand your foolish ways. You've spent almost all our savings on quacks and phonies-money I could have used to set me up in a nice business of my own.”

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The novel Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes effectively explores the complex human experiences of disability and the impact that it has on individuals and society through its three major themes; Self-realisation , Alienation and loneliness and treatment of the mentally disabled by society. Through these themes this response will highlight the difficulties experienced by people with disabilities and the people in their lives. The first theme in Flowers for Algernon is self-realisation. Charlie’s new found knowledge has allowed him to have the ability to voice his needs and wants for understanding, acceptance, and love.

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Flowers For Algernon Person Vs Society. Our day to day lives force us to interact with people everyday, as a result, people must interact with those with less intelligence. Throughout the book people look at Charlie differently because he has a lower intelligence. Later in the book, as he is getting smarter, people start looking at him like he’s a human being and not some type of alien. This is because Charlie gets a special operation that makes him smarter and smarter each day.

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For example, on page 299, “I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide bright eyes of a child, uncertain but easy to please. And I had been laughing at him too. Suddenly, I was furious at myself and all those who were laughing at him.” Here, Charlie was realizing that people were mean and rude to people who weren’t like them. That people looked down to people who were different than them or not as smart.

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At an IQ of 68, it may not be possible for his brain to make an informed decision. It is unethical to perform a potentially harmful experiment on someone who is unable to give permission. Charlie’s logical-mathematical and linguistic intelligences skyrocket,

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The book "Flowers Of Algernon" by Daniel Keyes is a science fiction short story based on a man named Charlie, who has a learning disadvantage. He gets a chance to mend himself by getting surgery. The surgery was a dangerous idea which leads to his death. Charlie was better off before the surgery because it changed Charlie's life by making him a miserable and grievous person. One of the reasons Charlie felt this way was because the knowledge he obtained from the surgery was short-term.

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