Charlie Gordon's Surgery In Flowers For Algernon

In the short story, “Flowers for Algernon”, the main character, Charlie Gordon, is considered dumb due to his intelligence levels. In the story, he undergoes surgery to try to enhance his intelligence by three times.Charlie Gordon should not have had surgery to triple his intelligence because he can lose what is most important to him and he will lose his friends. The first reason is he can lose what is most important to him. An example of this is in paragraphs 121 and 122 where Charlie states, “I’ve quit my job with the Donnegan’s Plastic Box Company. Mr. Donnegan insisted that it would be better for all concerned if he left. The first thing I knew, Mr. Donnegan showed me the petition. Eight hundred and forty names, everyone connected with the factory.” This shows that his unexpected intelligence made everyone so afraid they made him lose his job.This also hurt him because he became very close with Algernon,( a mouse that had the same operation as Charlie), then later on the product of the surgery started wearing off.

The second reason is that he will lose his friends later on. In paragraph 127 of the story Charlie states, “Before they laughed at me and despised me for my ignorance and dullness; now they hate me for my knowledge and understanding. They’ve driven me out of the factory. Now I’m more alone than ever before.” This shows that he has come to the realization that before he had the surgery they would be able to play around with him, now they can’t even be around him. So he now has no outside friends and is lonely. Others argue that he should have had the surgery because it caused him to see the world from another perspective. In paragraph 24, Charlie says, “If the operation works I’ll show that mouse I can be as smart as he is. Maybe it's smarter than