Character Analysis: Flowers For Algernon

Have you ever felt like you were being made fun of just because you were not as smart as the other people? In the book “Flowers for Algernon” Charlie Gordon was not the most intelligent, but he wanted to learn to write and read a lot better than he could. Charlie was better off having the surgery than not having it at all because he learns how he is treated at work, he learns what it's like to be intelligent, and the effects of the surgery. Charlie Gordon had the biggest heart and he cared for people, but his mind did not have the right amount of intelligence for his age. In the book “Flowers for Algernon” Charlie tried hard to achieve knowledge by going to a slow class for adults. His teacher, Ms. Kinnian, told Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur that Charlie should get the surgery. Slowly but quickly Charlie was gaining intelligence. He learned that his so-called friends, Joe Carp and Frank Reilly, weren’t actually his friends they were just making fun of his lack of intelligence. He also learned that the people at his work said “you really pulled a Charlie Gordon” or “what are you trying to be a Charlie Gordon”. That meant that if you were doing something dumb or acting like you did not know to do something. At first, Charlie would just laugh with them and he did not notice …show more content…
Charlie was better off having the surgery than not having it at all because he learns how he is treated at work, he learns what it's like to be intelligent, and the effects of the surgery. In a situation like this, it's better to try than to not try at all. If Charlie would have never got the surgery he would have never known what it was like to have intelligence our got to experience it. Even though Charlie lost his intelligence, he's still got to experience it and he's going to try hard to keep as much knowledge in as he