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Intelligence In Flowers For Algernon

1424 Words6 Pages
Have you ever looked at your life and thought that maybe if you were smarter or wiser, maybe it could have gone another way? Have you ever wished that you could have natural intelligence that, like other people, could help you through your life? If you could have an operation that could make you smarter, would you do it? Many people think that having intelligence or being a genius is the most important thing to have in life, as if knowledge and wisdom is the only thing that can get us anywhere in this world. But, as illustrated in the story Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, it’s the people around us who help us get through our everyday lives because of the happiness and even hurt that they may give us. The love and support, as well as hate, that they give us influences and changes our whole life, as well as what we do with that life and how it impacts the life of others. Would you want to risk that interaction with others for some artificial intelligence? Like Charlie Gordon, Algernon, and the dishwasher boy, would you want your newfound intelligence to cause you harm and hurt? This story truly makes you wonder; is gaining intelligence really worth the sacrifice? When referring back to the diagram above, Charlie Gordon, the main character within the story, is shown as a spiral that progresses from white to blue. When reading the story, Charlie was distinguished as this color and shape mostly because of how the author wrote about Charlie’s rapid deterioration through
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