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Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

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What would you do if you had the chance to triple human intelligence? This is the question Daniel Keyes answered in the story “Flowers for Algernon,” Charlie Gordon had this chance. Charlie learns about the struggles of becoming smart. Charlie has always wanted to become smart, but since he has a disability, Charlie isn’t able to learn like a normal human being. In the article, you will learn why Charlie Gordon should not have had this surgery. This question Daniel Key answers in the story “Flowers for Algernon.” Charlie Gorden is the main character who wants to be smart and has experimental brain surgery. After the surgery, Charlie’s spelling got better, along with his writing, vocabulary, reading, and many other educational aspects. Later …show more content…

When Charlie becomes astute, he wants to date his teacher, Ms. Kinnian, who is a teacher for adults. But as Charlie gets smarter and smarter, he isn’t able to spend more time with her and Charlie chooses to break up with her since she wasn’t able to teach Charlie any new information that he doesn’t know. Charlie was getting so smart that he wasn’t able to have conversations with anyone else around him. Second, Charlie should not have had the operation since he lost all his friends and Ms. Kinnian. For instance, we can see this event happen when Charlie states, “This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved. Before, they laughed at me and despised me for my ignorance and dullness; now, they hate me for my knowledge and understanding,” (Page 7). By looking at the evidence, we can see Charlie is unhappy being smart even though it’s something he’s always dreamt of. Now, he finally apprehends that being smart can be bad and result in losing many close friends and people he

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In his final entry, a farewell letter to Miss Kinnian and Dr. Strauss he states “If you ever reed this Miss Kinnian dont be sorry for me Im glad I got a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned a lot of things that I never even new were in this world and Im grateful that I saw it all for a little bit {sic},” (Keyes 28). Even with all the agony that came with his experiment, from both the rejection of his friends and from his depressing loss of the knowledge he gained, Charlie thinks it was still worth it. Instead of being bitter he returns to the optimistic person in the beginning who believed he could turn smart if he worked hard enough. Charlie wasn’t spiteful to the scientists who performed the surgery or hostile to Miss Kinnian who recommended him for the surgery because of his optimism. He always wanted to be smart and he got his wish.

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Charlie should have this operation because he doesn’t understand life as much as everyone else does. He got this little sense of, “Wow, I really had no clue what learning, love, and life was like. Now I do!” and that motivated him to become smarter. Charlie had to race against a mouse named Algernon who also had the experiment.

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Because Charlie maybe had not stayed as smart as he was for a long time after, but the surgery was at least able to let him understand more. Charlie changed at the end of the book a lot. Charlie at the beginning had not to be able to write very good, or understand his feelings. He was like a child in a 32 year old man’s body.

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His intelligence came with a price that made him rethink his entire situation. Charlie was happier with an IQ of 68 because he was oblivious to what was going on around him, people would treat him differently after the surgery, and he struggled with his identity. Charlie was happier when he was oblivious to what was going on around him. Being oblivious and ignorant is not a good thing, but in Charlie's case, not knowing

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Charlie had a surgery to artificially increase his intelligence, but his high intelligence has negatively affected his relationship with other people. At the end of the story, Charlie turns back into the old Charlie who has learning disability. Some of the people who know Charlie in the story do not agree with what Charlie did, which is artificially

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Nemur and Dr. Strauss need to decide if Charlie is suitable for the first surgical operation to see if they can make people smarter. The doctors did the surgery on animals before Charlie and they were successful, at the time. The doctors did a lot to prepare for the surgery before they did it on Charlie so they were pretty sure the operation would be a success. Charlie, as I told you before is basically a mentally handicapped man, so a slight increase in intelligence would be detectable and the results could be recorded easily. This would make the research a whole lot easier.

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Daniel Keyes betrays the theme that intelligence doesn’t affect who you truly are. Before the operation, Charlie has a motivated characteristic and it is still there after the operation when he was getting more intelligent. I know this because in the passage it says, “ I’ll show that mouse I can be as smart as he is (Keyes p. 352),” which shows that Charlie is motivated before the operation . The test also says, “ Miss Kinnian teaches me to spell better (Keyes p. 358),” which shows that Charlie was still motivated and still working to get smarter after the operation. Charlie is a motivated character and that doesn’t change after the operation.

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Now I can see that unknowingly I joined them in laughing at myself. That hurts most of all” (May 18). This moment of clarity not only demonstrates Charlie’s growth in empathy by acknowledging his previous lack of compassion and understanding towards those different from him, but also highlights his journey towards self-acceptance, marking a milestone in his personal growth and development. “I find the calculus of intelligence to be a fascinating study... in a sense, it’s the problem I’ve been concerned with all my life” (May 29). Charlie’s continuous pursuit of knowledge, not solely academic but rather for self improvement and enlightenment, reflects his insatiable curiosity and yearning to learn and connect disparate fields of knowledge.

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Charlie discovered that the operation was only temporary which means he contributed to science. Readers may argue that charlie 's surgery was a bad idea. Charlie being smart was only temporary. However, in the time period that he was smart he developed new feelings such as love, anger, and hate. “... I was angry at first when Dr. Strauss told me I was giving Dr. Nemer a complex.”

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The operation may have made Charlie smarter, but it made him unhappy as well. According to the short story “Flowers for Algernon” it states in progress report 12-April 30 “Now I’m more alone than ever before.” This is because everyone at his job except for one person wants him gone, even the people he thought were his friends. It also states in the June 30 progress report “He feels guilty”. They all do the same.

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The operation goes as foreseen, if not better for both Charlie and Algernon. Charlie soon becomes more intelligent than the doctors that performed the operation. His belief is that once he becomes smarter, his

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He could also do an insane amount of research and would bring worldwide breakthroughs that could benefit everyone. Second, Charlie is correct in having the surgery because he was able to experience what love is for the first time. For instance, we can see that Charlie is correct to undergo surgery when he goes on a date with Miss Kinnian. Charlie declares, “I'm in love with Miss Kinnian” (pg. 1). 6.

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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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Imagine being thrown, naked, into a tub of 35 degree water, developing hypothermia, and then being tossed into another tub, this time, into boiling water. Imagine being infected with a disease such as tuberculosis, and then being forced to work in the fields as a slave. Imagine being studied throughout the longevity of your disease and suffering by those who could care less about your well being and comfort. The ethics of historical human medical experiments, such as these, have been in question for a long while, and rightly so. We as humans have put our own race through extremely cruel and terrible things, and in no way is it ethical or correct to say that the hypothermia experiments of the Holocaust or the electroconvulsive therapy experiments on

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Are those who are happier also more likely to be more extraverted? Introduction Are those who are happier also more likely to be more extraverted? Extraversion is operationally defined by The Big 5 Personality measure as having high levels of activity, assertiveness and cheerfulness. Those who are considered to have this personality trait tend to be more friendly, excitement-seeking and enjoy being in social situations.

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