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Charlie Gordon's 'Real Happiness In The Book Flowers For Algernon'

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IQ is only a number. Real happiness does not come from intelligence. It comes from the small things in life. Sometimes not knowing something is better than knowing. In the book, Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon was much happier when he was less intelligent. Before his surgery, his coworkers would make fun of him every time he did something ridiculous. They would always laugh at him and say he was "Pulling a Charlie Gordon." "Pulling a Charlie Gordon" means to do something stupid but Charlie never picked up on that. Charlie always thought they were laughing with him, not at him. Though he did not know what it meant, he was still happy with his life the way it was. Then, he had a surgery to increase his intelligence and expected that it would
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The operation is meant to increase his intelligence and with intelligence he can touch the sky. With education, there are endless possibilities. In the story, Charlie does not know how to read, write, or spell. After his surgery, he meets

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The operation caused Charlie’s life to change traumatically, including his social environment. Social issues became a reality for Charlie. Over time he found out that Joe and Frank are not as friendly as he thought they were. Furthermore, Charlie received a petition from his coworkers against him, because they did not accept that he was different, which caused him to be fired. Additionally, he realized that when people said “pulled a Charlie Gordon” it was not humor, but an insult.

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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.

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Another thing was Charlie got let go from his job. When everyone at work heard that Charlie had gotten brain surgery, they all stopped saying “quite pulling a Charlie Gordon” and later, everyone, even his friends, had signed a

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He realized Frank and Joe weren’t his friends. He became smarter than them and noticed they made fun of him every day, by just saying his name. Charlie realized he had more potential than working at a box factory where he was made fun of. After the operation started affecting Charlie, the

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In addition, he was very strict with himself himself when he was “trying to cram a lifetime of research and thought into a few weeks” (Keyes 28). Thanks to the successful experiment on Charlie, he wasn’t disrespected anymore. There were no more “what are you trying to be a Charlie Gordon” (Keyes 11) anymore. As a matter of fact, “it’s a good thing about finding out how everybody laughs at [him],” (Keyes

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The confidence and self-esteem allowed him to feel accepted and smart like his peers. He did not feel alone anymore. Charlie was grateful for the surgery because it allowed him to finally feel the way he had wished to feel. He was feeling accepted in society by his peers. He even says “I am grateful for the little bit that I have add to my knowledge of the function of the laws governing of artificial intelligence.”

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In “Progress Report 9---April 3”, Charlie is oblivious to his “friends” making fun of him, but he “had a good time” getting drinks. This shows, that Charlie was happy to be around people, even if he didn’t realize they weren’t his true friends, and that he enjoyed his job before becoming smart. As soon as he realized they were being mean to him, he felt “ashamed” of himself and it brought down his self-confidence. Instead of going to work where he was the most “happiest” he only focused on increasing his intelligence. The surgery also caused his co-workers to become scared of him.

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It can be seen that the more intellect one has, the more likely they are to suffer unhappiness. In the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon — a man with an IQ under 70 — undergoes an operation to increase his intuition. As his brain power grows, the fact that he gets progressively more sorrowful supports this fact. It is clear that sadness is brought by intelligence because Charlie was happy and ignorant in the beginning, he became suicidal

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Charlie gains intelligence like he always wanted, but only to have it be taken away in a time frame of a couple months. Charlie states that, “The hypothesis here proven may be described simply in the following terms: artificially increased intelligence deteriorates at a rate almost proportional to the quantity of the increase.” With realizing the cost of the surgery, he states, “Now that it’s definite, I don’t want it to happen.” Charlie experienced emotions such as anger, sadness, and even love with his intelligence. Now all this will be taken away; like taking away a favorite toy from a child.

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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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