His findings also make him feel happy which is great to come from a discovery which he made after the surgery. In Charlie’s last progress report when he is saying personal goodbyes to everyone who helped him on the journey to becoming smart, he mentions, “Evry body feels sorry... I dont want that... Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed a book or rite good [sic],” (Keyes 27). Charlie is moving out of New York because he does not want people to feel sorry for him anymore.
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.
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.
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
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
One time Joe and Frank took Charlie to a party. Charlie said he did not want to drink alcohol, so Joe gives him a coke and then tells him to go dance with a girl named Ellen then he tried to dance with her but he was always stumbling because someone was always tripping him. He saw .that everyone was laughing at him and then he ran out of the building and threw up because somebody spiked the coke. A quote from that part was “ now I know what it means when they say “to pull a Charlie Gordon.”
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
An individual’s life is truly successful and healthy when they are determined to follow their desires which pay back with happiness and satisfaction. However, some individuals describe life as a curse due to being restrained from pursuing their interests, thus being unhappy with life; in other words, compromising their happiness. The short story “On the Rainy River" written by Tim O’Brien suggests that when individuals compromise their happiness, they often face emotional and moral dilemmas resulting in low self-esteem. In other words, individuals do not feel as much confidence in their life when they are facing inner conflicts about their happiness. The main character in this short story, the author himself, explains how he is going through a crisis because of his unaligned
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.
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.”
Intelligence is what gets us by everyday; it gets us jobs and helps to provide for ourselves and others. I'm not saying you need to be the smartest person ever to be successful, but you at least have to be smart enough. Gladwell mentions that "Langan’s IQ is 30 percent higher than Einstein’s. But that doesn’t mean Langan is 30 percent smarter than Einstein. That’s ridiculous.
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
When Charlie is below average no one understands him, his family kicks him out, and his friends at work make fun of him. For example they often say “ to pull a Charlie Gordon” (Keyes 42), when they have done something stupid. When Charlie gains intelligence, still no one wants to be his friend because they do not understand him and they almost fear him. Not only does Charlie’s friends see him change but Charlie, himself, sees himself changing, “ I’m not myself.
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination,”(Einstein). Most people do not realize grades do not measure intelligence and age does not define maturity. The short story, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, is about a thirty-seven year old man named Charlie Gordon. He is a mentally disabled man who has an IQ of 68. As the subject of an experiment in human engineering, Charlie earns artificial intelligence that triples his IQ to 200; but this action came with more costs than benefits.
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
