Charlie Gordon's Flowers For Algernon

Should humans tamper with something as complex as the mind? Changing the intelligence of a human being could result in numerous outcomes, many of them negative, and all of them leading to unhappiness. In Flowers for Algernon, an operation aiming to increase the IQ of humans has been tested on Charlie Gordon. However, this neurosurgery has only been tested on mice before, and with inconclusive and insufficient data, the outcome for Charlie is unknown.
As result of the operation, for instance, could be that Charlie deteriorates to worse than his original mental state after his IQ becomes too high. The maximum human intelligence, which he surpassed, can be too much for his brain to handle, finally leaving an injury in his mind to last forever. Charlie’s mind resembles a collapse, a pressure too much for a human being to handle. Now that his mind is inferior even more to those of his peers, the bullying and rude comments passed towards him are relentless. Charlie can remember bits and parts of his time as a regular person, but other than that, his …show more content…
If he began regressing to his original state, Charlie might continue to remember what has happened to him. Possibly memories of his former intelligence could cause sadness, especially now that he understands exactly how his friends have been treating him as a joke. He might resent the fact that he must go to Warren State, a symbol of how far he has fallen from what he achieved. He had always been living with the fear of the same happening with Algernon, and that all the things he had done to achieve his goal has been setback. He will have to resume the lifestyle he threw away after the operation, attending Beekman College for Retarded Adults, working for Donner’s Bakery as a janitor, but will he be able to return to his own lifestyle after getting a taste of what it truly feels like to be