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Stupidity And Genius In Flowers For Algernon By Daniel Keyes

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“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits,”(Einstein). “Flowers for Algernon” is written by Daniel Keyes and was published in April 1958. This short story is about a mentally handicapped man who goes through a life-changing procedure to triple his sixty-eight I.Q. Charlie only has a little time to experience the transformative moment of his life. Sadly, there appears to be more costs than benefits in Charlie Gordon’s surgery. To begin with, no one likes losing many of their closest friends and get taken advantage of by many people. For example, Charlie was hurt when the whole factory petitioned for him to leave or get fired, including his good friends (page 527). In addition, when Charlie helped arrange …show more content…

For example, Charlie showed signs of amnesia, major headaches, and was thinking of committing suicide a few weeks after the surgery (page 534 and 536). This shows that the surgery did not go in Charlie’s favor because he lost a copious amount of his memory, including what he had learned after the operation. Also, thoughts of committing suicide were another bad effect of the surgery. He felt like all the walls were closing in and he was continuing to lose all the benefits of the operation. Anyone who has ever thought of committing suicide understands just how deeply Charlie was impacted by the loss of the surgery benefits and how truly devastating this must have been for him.
Also, no one wants to recognize that their surgery results are deteriorating, especially their intelligence. In the story it states, “...Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed a book or rite good,” (page 538). This proves that the operation worked, but for a limited amount of time. He does not remember everything that he had learned after the surgery. Ever since the results began to decrease, he knew he wasn’t going to be smart forever. Everyone who has gone through surgery always hopes for good results. Charlie hoped for the best, but was disappointed that his 204 I.Q wouldn’t be

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How Did The World Changed In Flowers For Algernon

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There were many losses but there were also many benefits. Charlie Gordon should have had the surgery because the world changed for the better, he met Algernon, and advanced science. Charlie should have had the surgery because the world changed for the better. The world as he viewed it was completely different after the surgery. As his IQ increased charlie noticed a reasonable amount of changes in the world around him.

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How To Write An Argumentative Essay On Flowers For Algernon

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“Flowers for Algernon” Argumentative Essay Charlie Gordon should not have had the surgery because of the tragic outcomes. While Daniel Keyes in “Flowers for Algernon” portrayed hope of a mentally impaired man, the procedure failed with overwhelming results. First, Charlie realized that the society had turned against him when he gained the mental capability. Then, both Dr. Namur and Dr. Strauss sacrificed Charlie as a human experiment. Lastly, while Charlie still obtained knowledge, he understood the failure of the surgery.

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Within the novel Flowers for Algernon written by Daniel Keyes, the theme of not all things being as perfect as they seem is prevalent. The main character, Charlie Gordon, was born mentally retarted and currently in adulthood has a deep desire for greater intelligence: “I hope they use me becaus Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart” (Keyes 1). This shows Charlie’s wish for intelligence. He wants to be used since the college he attends for retarted adults is doing a study trying to artificially increase the intelligence in someone.

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Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a book about a 30-year-old man with developmental problems named Charlie. He is shamed his own family and by the rest of the world. He is contacted by a scientific university that has been running experiments on animals to boost IQ. They plan on using Charlie for their first human test subject. He is told to keep ‘Progress Reports’ or Journal entries to document his perspective of the experiment.

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Balance Of Awareness In Flowers For Algernon By Daniel Keyes

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However, after the surgery, Charlie finds intelligence was a nice treat but was far from an importance in life and only took him away from what truly mattered. One could believe Charlie was wrong to undergo the surgery because of the side effects that came with the surgery such as physical and emotional instability, and amnesia, the depresion it came with, and how he lost all of his friends and loved ones with his extreme intelligence. First off, one reason Charlie should not have gotten the surgery is the depression and suicidal thoughts it came with for

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Does Charlie improve after the surgery or no? Charlies life improves after the surgery because he realized he didn’t have any real friends. He accepted himself for who he was, and he decided to get intelligent naturally. Charlie didn’t The first reason, Charlie realized he didn’t have any real friends because after he got the surgery he started to realize that his friends had switched up on him and started to talk about him behind his back, made fun of him.

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1205 Words | 5 Pages

Second, charlie should have had the surgery because he had further expanded science how well, For instance, we can see this event happens when “charlie proclaims on April 28 I found out what a Rorshach is. It’s the test I took before the operation, the one with the inkblots on the pieces of cardboard… we went through the cards slowly, One of them looked like a pair of bats tugging at something. Another one looked like a pair of two men fencing with swords, I had imagined all sorts of things, but I guess I got carried away”. Pg.5 (Keyes) By looking at the evidence we can see that before the operation that charlie was having a mental problem within himself and that was one of the reasons before the operation he didn't see anything before just saw ink, now after the operation, he can see that there is a hidden picture Ex.

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Two doctors named Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss make Charlie take tests for his IQ, such as a maze test with a mouse named Algernon who had already done the operation. After the surgery, he teaches himself better grammar and learns how to spell. Charlie even listens to a TV while he is sleeping. He eventually

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However, after surgery he still had to work hard at certain things. In other words, the surgery was not a guaranty towards complete intelligence, rather it was a relative increase in knowledge like with motivation. Charlie had been working with Miss Kinnian to become smarter and a better learner. Charlie told her when they were reading “I said please let me try agin. Ill get it in a few minits becus Im not so fast sometimes.

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Soon after a couple months the surgery wares off and Charlie Gordon is “Non-Intelligent” again. Yet there is a downside of it. Charlie’s IQ goes even lower than 68 now. Which means the “Artificial Intelligence” (A.I) surgery is a failure and Charlie regresses even

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One reason that Charlie was better off before the surgery was because he had the motivation to learn. on page 268, Charlie Gordon says, “Mrs. Kinnian told that I was her bestest pupil in the adult nite scool becaus I tryed the hardest and reely wanted to lern.” This means that Charlie had the motivation to learn to be smart and he tried harder than anyone, so that was why she

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Flowers for Algernon explores themes of ethical dilemmas in scientific research. Charlie Gordon is the first human to undergo an experimental operation to triple his IQ from 68 to 204. His mental capacities dramatically increase, but the consequences are drastic when the operation fails and he regresses. Under Charlie’s circumstances, the operation was unethical. Charlie, mentally disabled, cannot give informed consent.

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Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story written by Daniel Keyes. The story is about Charlie Gordon, a man with an IQ of 68 who has to go through an operation that will triple his IQ. Charlie does not stay at an IQ of 204 for very long before he starts to regress back to his near mentally retarded self. The story also makes the reader think twice about if it is ethical to enhance human intellect and intelligence by medical procedures. Although the operation done on Charlie was not a success, it still improved Charlie’s life for the better.

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Flowers for Algernon is a story that proves that one who changes themself for someone else, will only make their life worse. In various journal entries, Daniel Keyes wrote in the point of view of the main character, Charlie Gordon, to show the thought process behind his actions to change himself. It goes through the process in which Charlie undergoes experimental brain surgery to become intelligent and raise his IQ by 300 percent. In Flowers For Algernon, Daniel Keyes presents the idea that one should always stay true to one’s self, no matter how difficult life can get because the critics in the world will never be satisfied for who someone truly is. No matter what his IQ was, Charlie’s coworkers never appreciated him for who he was.

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