Intelligence versus Happiness
The ability to apply and acquire knowledge and skills versus a feeling of pleasure or showing
contentment. Charlie Gordon is a 32- year- old science fiction character by Daniel Keyes in his novel
Flowers for Algernon. Charlie was born with a brain disability where he can’t comprehend things. He
had lots of life troubles when he was a kid. When he grew up and became an adult, his dream was to
become “smart”. So, he volunteered to be a test subject to improve his IQ. Greater intelligence doesn't
equal to greater happiness because Charlie was nice before the operation and he had friends, after the
operation he passed everyone up in his intelligence and his “friends” no longer liked him, and after the
operation he …show more content…
He felt happy with his “friends” and had a
good time. He laughed at himself and thought that he was laughing with them, even though they
were laughing at him. Charlie was nice, even though that he did not understand things. “We had a lot of
fun at the bakery today. Joe Carp said hey look where Charlie had his operashun what did they do
Charlie put some brains in. I was going to tell him about me getting smart but I remembered Prof Nemur
said no. Then Frank Reilly said what did you do Charlie open a door the hard way. That made me laff.
Their my friends and they really like me.”pg.22. This shows that Charlie really doesn’t understand that
his “friends” are not really his friends. They make fun of him. Charlie doesn’t understand a lot of things,
but he is happy and enjoys his life.
After the operation, everyone that he knew and thought liked him, did no longer like him because
he became smarter than them. Charlie’s emotions didn’t grow even though his intelligence did. He
didn’t comprehend that he was smarter than everyone else. Alice tells Charlie “She slammed down
The ability to apply and acquire knowledge and skills versus a feeling of pleasure or showing
contentment. Charlie Gordon is a 32- year- old science fiction character by Daniel Keyes in his novel
Flowers for Algernon. Charlie was born with a brain disability where he can’t comprehend things. He
had lots of life troubles when he was a kid. When he grew up and became an adult, his dream was to
become “smart”. So, he volunteered to be a test subject to improve his IQ. Greater intelligence doesn't
equal to greater happiness because Charlie was nice before the operation and he had friends, after the
operation he passed everyone up in his intelligence and his “friends” no longer liked him, and after the
operation he …show more content…
He felt happy with his “friends” and had a
good time. He laughed at himself and thought that he was laughing with them, even though they
were laughing at him. Charlie was nice, even though that he did not understand things. “We had a lot of
fun at the bakery today. Joe Carp said hey look where Charlie had his operashun what did they do
Charlie put some brains in. I was going to tell him about me getting smart but I remembered Prof Nemur
said no. Then Frank Reilly said what did you do Charlie open a door the hard way. That made me laff.
Their my friends and they really like me.”pg.22. This shows that Charlie really doesn’t understand that
his “friends” are not really his friends. They make fun of him. Charlie doesn’t understand a lot of things,
but he is happy and enjoys his life.
After the operation, everyone that he knew and thought liked him, did no longer like him because
he became smarter than them. Charlie’s emotions didn’t grow even though his intelligence did. He
didn’t comprehend that he was smarter than everyone else. Alice tells Charlie “She slammed down