New intelligence comes new emotions and loss of innocence, which is portrayed in Charlie in “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. Not long after the operation, it is obvious that Charlie was losing his innocence that he had when he was mentally disabled, and that the Keyes’s novel is a coming of age story. When Charlie’s co-workers brought him to a party after the operation, he realized that his co-workers/”friends” were “laughing at [him]. And the kids playing hide-go-seek were playing tricks on [him] and they were laughing at [him] too” (Keyes 42). This explains that unlike previous times, Charlie realized that he was being manipulated and he got upset by it. His lack of understanding of the situation before the operation made him