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How Does Charlie Change In Flowers For Algernon

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“In Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is a middle-aged man that has the inability to become smart because of his low IQ of 68. However, he is anxious to learn and agrees to an experiment that is planned to triple his intelligence. Charlie is the first human ever to have this test done, but a mouse named Algernon had it done previously with “successful” results. Without even considering the consequences, Charlie undergoes the operation after Dr. Strauss convinces Dr. Nemur that he is motivated and eager to learn. As Charlie’s IQ begins to grow, so does his ability to understand how cruel the world really is. When Charlie’s knowledge grows, his attitude along with those around him change. Charlie Gordon was better off not …show more content…

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. Eventually on April 30th, everyone at the company agreed it was best to fire him. Charlie was left without a job and felt abandoned by his “friends”. He had lost two of the most meaningful things of his previous life just to be smarter. Also, when Charlie wrote in his journal on June 15th, it was obvious that he was upset about losing the knowledge he had gained. He was even considering suicide because he could feel the “darkness closing in.” This evidence proves, that the surgery brought up Charlie's hopes of always staying smart, and it made him feel desperate to stay intelligent just to live a “happy life” as long as he

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831 Words | 4 Pages

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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290 Words | 2 Pages

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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536 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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448 Words | 2 Pages

Charlie was a likable person before the operation, all the doctors came to wish him luck: "lots of people who gave me tests came to bring me candy and wish me luck"(314). This shows Charlie was loved and liked by many people in his life before the operation. After the operation, he was not that liked by the doctors who were angry at his unwillingness and for missing two weeks of journal entry's, "Dr.Strauss is very angry at me for not having written any progress reports in two weeks"(329). He also started to lose respect of the doctors after learning they only knew two languages:"I realized Dr.Nemur is not all genius. . . . Dr.Strauss on the other hand might be called a genius, although I feel that his area of knowledge are to limited"(330-1).

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718 Words | 3 Pages

But when Charlie got the surgery, he realized when his intelligence was wearing off, he got super depressed but he powered through the depression. One quote from the book that indicates depression is “please... please let me not forget how to read and write.” (keyes 25). Even though he is forgetting how to read and write and he is getting depressed, he powers through the depression. On the last page he says “im taking a cuple of books along and even if i cant reed them ill practise hard and maybe i wont forget every thing i learned.

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359 Words | 2 Pages

His intelligence is fleeting, and he recognizes that his short-lived stroke of genius was of no benefit to his life. “Making fun of me.all used to,” is evidence of Charlie’s early unawareness of the ridiculing, but it was his absentmindedness that let him be joyful with what he thought he

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283 Words | 2 Pages

IQ is only a number. Real happiness does not come from intelligence. It comes from the small things in life. Sometimes not knowing something is better than knowing. In the book, Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon was much happier when he was less intelligent.

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704 Words | 3 Pages

There is an important theme in the story Flowers for Algernon By Daniel Keyes. It is a fiction novel about a thirty year old man who has been battling to overcome an intellectual deficit all of his life and has an opportunity to become more intelligent than he ever had imagined through an experimental operation. He takes the opportunity and in a few weeks he becomes a genius for a short time before his itelligence receded as fast as it increased. The author includes many important themes throughout the passage. Daniel Keyes develops the theme that intelligence doesn’t affect who you truly are through Charlie’s experiences both before and after the operation.

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553 Words | 3 Pages

Charlie finally gained the intellectual capacity to understand what it meant to “pull a Charlie Gordon”, which was used to mock him and insult him. Finally, Charlie tried to defend a man at a restaurant that he attended, but he had realized that they were the same. Charlie realized how discourteous the society had been to all the Charlie Gordon’s in the world, including Dr. Namur and Dr. Strauss.

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702 Words | 3 Pages

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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886 Words | 4 Pages

Before Charlies operation he was not able to express his feelings accurately, but Charlies temporary intelligence

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444 Words | 2 Pages

In the story, Charlie presents as a good person who is kind and eager to please. However, things begin to change for Charlie when his desire to be smarter leads him to take part in an experiment that alters who he is. When Charlie first meets the doctors involved in the experiment he tells them, “all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb.”.

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435 Words | 2 Pages

Charlie gains intelligence like he always wanted, but only to have it be taken away in a time frame of a couple months. Charlie states that, “The hypothesis here proven may be described simply in the following terms: artificially increased intelligence deteriorates at a rate almost proportional to the quantity of the increase.” With realizing the cost of the surgery, he states, “Now that it’s definite, I don’t want it to happen.” Charlie experienced emotions such as anger, sadness, and even love with his intelligence. Now all this will be taken away; like taking away a favorite toy from a child.

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576 Words | 3 Pages

Although, if Charlie did not have the surgery, he would not have had the experience of becoming super smart. Charlie would agree with me that he did not feel happy with himself that he had the surgery. He decided that he wanted to leave New York because he was so embarrassed about pulling a “Charlie Gordon.” Charlie should not have had the surgery because, before the surgery, he had the motivation to become smart, and after the surgery, he became depressed and realized that the world plus the people in it are

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926 Words | 4 Pages

He learned how to feel love towards others and find his true friends, he made a scientific discovery, and finally he learned how to accept himself for who he was. Charlie was able to accomplish more in that short period of time, compared to people who dedicate their life to understand those things. Thus, the operation was more of a help to Charlie than an expense. Just remembering that it is not how smart one is, but how intelligent one can

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