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How Is Charlie Measured In Flowers For Algernon

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“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. …show more content…

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

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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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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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578 Words | 3 Pages

Kinnian admitted him to Doctor Nemur, Doctor Strauss. When the doctors found out about Charlie they wanted to work with him right away because they wanted to make him smarter. But first they wanted to test Charlie before they started to test on him. Charlie was so excited because the doctors were going to do the operation on him. So then have been experiencing different ways to make Charlie smarter.

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1202 Words | 5 Pages

Last time he did this the Rorschach test, “[he had] pretend[ed] a fowntan pen with ink leeking all over a table cloth. ”(Keyes 6) As the effect of the experiment reached to it’s peak, Charlie’s use of scientific words is increasing which is causing no more grammatical or language usage mistakes. For a man who is 37 years old, learning and remembering things would be pretty hard. But Charlie Gordon is a man who never gives up, and is forever willing to do anything that makes himself in a good social status.

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545 Words | 3 Pages

Charlie was able to find that the effects of of A.I. increase were directly proportional to the rate of decrease, Charlie also could have made improvements in the technique used for artificially increasing intelligence. This quote shows how Charlie could have made an advancement in science. “ I have checked and rechecked my results a dozen times in the hope of finding an error. I am sorry to say the results must stand. Yet for the sake of science, I am grateful for the little bit that I here add to knowledge of the human mind and of the laws governing the artificial increase of human intelligence.”

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620 Words | 3 Pages

Firstly, Charlie’s progress in intelligence hurt other's lives. For example, Charlie broke Ms. Kinnian’s heart after he rejected her proposal, and became more distant from her. “Miss Kinnian came to the door but I said ‘go away, I don’t want to see you.’ She cried and I cried too

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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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472 Words | 2 Pages

His I.Q. during childhood and in the beginning of the novel is slightly less than 70. Charlie does wind up being chosen for the experiment and he receives brain surgery. The surgery is a success and Charlie’s intelligence quickly soars. He is happy for a while being able to learn many new things and have mature, adult conversations with others. However, this quickly takes a turn for the worse when his I.Q. surpasses everyone he can have a relationship with, which makes his life more boring and sad: “I am just as far away from Alice with an I.Q. of 185 as I was when I had an I.Q. of 70” (126).

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897 Words | 4 Pages

  In addition, Charlie writes in “progris riport 1- martch 5 1965”, ” Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart,” page 182.   This quote reveals that Charlie is motivated and determined because because he has the want to be intelligent as he explains in his first “progris riport.”

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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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775 Words | 4 Pages

The surgery that Charlie has gone through has also happened on Algernon. Their growth and IQ has deteriorated at the same

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1144 Words | 5 Pages

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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455 Words | 2 Pages

His doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter. When Charlie volunteered to be the patient, the doctors or any one else did not tell him what the side effects could possibly be. Even though he did benefit from the surgery for a few months he didn’t stay intelligent. He was able

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435 Words | 2 Pages

Lastly, nobody wants to die. After Charlie experienced all of these fascinating things, it will all be taken away not only by progressive amnesia, but by death, the worst cost from his adventure. Algernon the mouse died because of the surgery, and Charlie will soon come to the same fate. Charlie states, “I’ve got to try to hold on to some of it.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

There is a lot of evidence that Charlie will die. This is shown because Algernon went through the same side effects and died. Charlie also understands this and he writes ’Everyone identifies me with Algernon in a way we’re both the first of our kind.’ This shows that because of the relation towards the surgery they will come out with the same result and that means that Charlie will also die. During the end of the story, Charlie understands that he will most likely die from the surgery also because he has been through the same side effects and surgery as Algernon, he died and this shows that Charlie will do the same Charlie explains that ’ guess the same thing is or will soon be happening to me’ this proves that he will die because Charlie is smart enough to know what will be happening to himself because his IQ is about 200 and he is very smart so his prediction must be correct.

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