“Intelligence is quickness in seeing things as they are,” said George Santayana, a famous Spanish Philosopher. Can intelligence really be measured or is it human beings seeing things as they are? “Flowers For Algernon'' is a short story by Daniel Keyes, based on the protagonist of the story Charlie Gordon. Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old middle aged man with an I.Q of 68, who has struggled his whole life towards the goal of being smart. Charlie took part in an experimental procedure aimed at increasing his intelligence. After the operation Charlie gained intelligence,specifically his spelling, beating Algernon in the maze, and his ways of using his imagination.
The first example of Charlie’s intelligence increasing is because his spelling and grammar improved. Specifically, throughout the story Charlie learns how to spell at a rapid pace. In the April 18 entry, Charlie states “I read over all my old progress reports from the beginning. Boy did I have crazy spelling and punctuation”. This indicates Charlie knows his grammar and spelling have improved after his operation and knows the mistakes he has made in his previous progress reports. As you can see, Charlie’s spelling and grammar have improved dramatically from the beginning of the story.
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To go into more details, Charlie had many trials and errors trying to beat Algernon, at last Charlie was able to beat Algernon in the race. According to April 6, Charlie says “I must be getting smarter to be a smart mouse like Algernon''. This is important because Charlie reached a milestone and was able to beat Algernon in the race not long after his operation, in comparison before his operation he had a hard time beating Algernon. As you can see Charlie’s intelligence was able to help him beat Algernon in the