Essay On Flowers For Algernon

Improved Essays
“I was able to see it through Charlie’s eyes and feel his emotions. I was able to write it, because it happened to me” (Keyes, 76). Daniel Keyes drew on past experiences that altered writing structures such as point of view, plot, and character development when composing Flowers for Algernon. Daniel Keyes did not originally have the novel written from Charlie’s perspective. But after reviewing the text, Keyes seemed unpleased with the idea that readers would laugh at Charlie instead of with him. Keyes previous experience of being laughed at and called a moron after dropping plates working as a server allowed him to sympathize with Charlie. The novel was altered and then written from Charlie’s perspective through progress reports in order to eliminate the idea that the reader could laugh at him. Instead, the reader could laugh with him (Keyes, 253). Keyes experience also allowed him to sympathize with the fact that people laughed at the mentally challenged to feel superior. Taking this into consideration, Keyes started to wonder about Aristotle’s poetic work and how in it, tragedy can happen only to the …show more content…
Strauss, and Ms. Kinnian were also influenced by Keyes past experiences. During his freshman year at New York University, his Biology class dissected white mice. A few years later, Keyes read an article about a man who was a guinea pig for brain surgery. The idea of surgery made him recall his experience freshman year at New York University and he developed the idea that Algernon should be a white mouse while Charlie should represent the guinea pig undergoing surgery. Dr. Strauss was the person who administered the inkblot test to Charlie at the beginning of the novel. Keyes previous shrink, who gave him an inkblot test, was the model for Dr. Strauss (Keyes, 214). Finally, Keyes developed Ms. Kinnian after himself. Ms. Kinnian taught Charlie and many other low I.Q. students at a college university, like Keyes had

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Most people don't think about what it's like to be incapable of learning. Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes features Charlie, a middle-aged man with a mental disability which prevents him from learning like most people. He is selected for an experiment to increase his intelligence. Indirect characterization is when an author indirectly describes a character. Keyes uses a variety of methods of indirect characterization to show that Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss are selfish, unconfident, and argumentative.…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hannah Davis Hour: 3 & 6 Date Nov 15 Mrs. Trimble Medical Ethics in "Flowers for Algernon" In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon was a thirty seven year old man, who had an IQ of sixty eight. To make himself smarter, Charlie participates in a surgery that could triple his IQ. Unfortunately, the effects of surgery were temporary and Charlie now has trouble remembering things. Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Charlie Gordon is 37-years-old and mentally challenged. He writes daily progress reports about everything that has happened to him. “Mr. Strauss says I [should] [write] down what I think and [everything] that [happens] to me from now on,” as Charlie states in progress report 1- March 5,1965. As Charlie’s intelligence increases since he had the operation, the progress that he has made in his writing and perspectives on things is very clear. In progress report 2- March 6 Charlie goes into take an inkblot test that he thinks he failed.…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The main idea of this book is to not judge someone without knowing them, and to not make fun of mentally retarded people because you don't know what the went through. While Charlie was waiting to be approved for the brain surgery, there was a "test" that he had to take to be approved. That test was to try and find a picture, or multiple pictures in a paint splatter.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I dont want to do nothing like that agen. I dont want Miss Kinnian to feel sorry for me. Evry body feels sorry at the factery and I dont want that eather so Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed a book or rite good” (Keyes 192). Charlie wants to prevent the people he loves from watching him die, just like he had to watch…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The term hillbilly refers to an unsophisticated country person, associated originally with the remote regions of the Appalachians. However, J.D. Vance uses the word to describe a community of people who are a product of their environment. Throughout the book he lets us into his life, telling many different stories about his life as an adolescent. Facing drug abuse, domestic violence, and an unstable family structure he speaks of his struggles to overcome the tough times and trails he faced growing up in a place where nothing ever changed. He proves to the readers that even though society may view him as destined to fail where you come from doesn’t always define where your headed.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book and movie Flowers for Algernon, Charlie, a mentally handicapped man, has a surgery to make him smarter, but later finds that it is temporary. When Charlie begins to get smarter, he starts to get rejected by his friends at the factory. All he wanted was to fit in, but when he became smart, he was treated as though he was an alien. Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss begin to argue and everything isn’t what Charlie thought it would be. Then he slowly begins to go back to who he was before.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A key theme within the text is writing and literature. The film opens with Charlie writing to an anonymous entity to whom he refers to as ‘friend’, “Dear friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand”. Throughout the…

    • 1025 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Give it Your All You never know what you have until it is gone. “Flowers for Algernon” is a story about a middle aged man named Charlie. Charlie is living a battle between his level of knowledge and his mental condition. In the story Charlie is offered the chance to have an operation performed on himself.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Flowers for Algernon Argumentative Essay Being smart is not always a good thing. You might be happier being dumb rather than being smart. In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, a man named Charlie Gordon undergoes surgery to become smart. The surgery was a success and is tripled Charlie’s IQ of 68. As Charlie progressed, he learned that who he thought were his friends were always making fun of him.…

    • 717 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Life is like a difficult puzzle, you can try to solve it all, but there’s always gonna be missing pieces” - Anonymous. In the novel, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes shows how being smart can be difficult. Charlie has trouble with his emotions after the operation. Charlie also faces problems in his social life due to his brilliant mind. Therefore, Charlie’s life is more difficult now that he is intelligent.…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Being A Cripple Quote

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the book Charlie says, “I re-read my paper on the Algernon Gordon Effect and I got the strange feeling that it was written by someone else.” (P.g. 59) This quote proves that Charlie cannot read his own writing, which leads to the sign of dumbness. Also, if you think about it, Charlie wrote the book and he does not know how to read it! The words were too complicated for him to understand causing him to search the words in the dictionary.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Our Actions and Their Consequences Have you ever wanted to change yourself? You may want to rethink that. During the short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie undergoes a experimental surgery to increase his intelligence. The story is a collection of all of Charlie’s progress reports from before to after his surgery. He continually writes better and with more intellect, and then he begins to decline.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Flowers for Algernon is a character study of one man, Charlie Gordon. Charlie is a 32-year-old developmentally disabled man who has the opportunity to undergo a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities. Flowers for Algernon is a character study of one man, Charlie Gordon. Charlie is a 32-year-old developmentally disabled man who has the opportunity to undergo a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities. This procedure had already been performed on a laboratory mouse, Algernon, with remarkable results.…

    • 233 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "What's in an Inkblot? Some Say, Not Much." The Rorschach tests were not appropriate for determining if Charlie was suitable for the procedure to improve his intelligence. This argumentative essay is about why the Rorschach tests would not help Charlie. The Rorschach tests are not for helping intelligence, they help determine the emotional fitness of warring parents.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays