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