Flowers for Algernon, a superhuman science fiction novel published in the late 1950s, is a work of literature that is rich in multiple themes related to the topic of the mentally disabled: their treatment, their purpose in society, their inner feelings… Daniel Keyes, a man with experience in the company of mentally disabled individuals through his prior position as a teacher, writes this novel where, Charlie Gordon, the main character, is a mentally deficient adult who undergoes an experiment, in which a surgery makes his IQ level reach incredible new heights. When he reaches this intellectual climax, Charlie becomes another man; a genius who takes a new approach to life and to the way people have been, and still are, treating him. In the end,
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Among these tools, motifs are ones used recurrently. Charlie Gordon often stares out through windows, “It made me angry with myself and I pulled back to my side of the seat and stared out the window… I can’t just hang around here all alone and look out the window…why am I always looking at life through a window?” This recurring gesture of his can be interpreted as a motif. In this work, the author uses the motif of Charlie staring out of windows to express reflection, pondering. Charlie constantly looking out the window is a motion that Keyes uses to represent Charlie’s different outlooks on things. As a genius, when Charlie looks out through a window, he is able to visualize how people saw him before, when he was mentally impaired. The tables have turned and Charlie is now, thanks to the window, in the position in which people once were viewing him. This scheme of the author allows the reader to perceive the mentally feeble through both sides of the spectrum and find out that even as a genius, Charlie rejects the degrading of the mentally disabled. This puts an emphasis on the main point the author is trying to make; it deems the way society treats the mentally impaired and exposes the flagrant repercussions, distress, suffering…, of discrimination towards the mentally handicapped. Another way in which Daniel Keyes depicts Charlie’s emotional state is by utilizing …show more content…
With the bullying and abuse shown in the flashbacks, the clever motif of staring out of windows, the overwhelming symbolism of the windows, Algernon, Charlie’s mother’s knife, the appalling characterization of minor characters such as Charlie’s mother, professor Nemur and Charlie’s co-workers, and though the heartbreaking tone set up in the novel, Keyes portrays social mistreatment of the mentally disabled and the devastating impacts engendered on them by society. By using Flowers for Algernon as his weapon, this author accomplished the heavy task of picking out at a major flaw found in yesterday’s and today’s society. By opening about the treatment of the mentally impaired in society, Daniel Keyes is able to expose to a broader audience an ancient yet, persisting and omnipresent problem society still fully has to deal with. To conclude, the study of this novel allows an enlightenment regarding the important topic of the mentally disabled in society. By pushing this science fiction genre to its limits with all his psychological, deep ideological concepts, the author does a wonderful job of depicting what he believes society has and is currently still doing to these people. Daniel Keyes, with Charlie Gordon, tells a brilliant and moving story that could, any day, be the one of any mentally handicapped
Among these tools, motifs are ones used recurrently. Charlie Gordon often stares out through windows, “It made me angry with myself and I pulled back to my side of the seat and stared out the window… I can’t just hang around here all alone and look out the window…why am I always looking at life through a window?” This recurring gesture of his can be interpreted as a motif. In this work, the author uses the motif of Charlie staring out of windows to express reflection, pondering. Charlie constantly looking out the window is a motion that Keyes uses to represent Charlie’s different outlooks on things. As a genius, when Charlie looks out through a window, he is able to visualize how people saw him before, when he was mentally impaired. The tables have turned and Charlie is now, thanks to the window, in the position in which people once were viewing him. This scheme of the author allows the reader to perceive the mentally feeble through both sides of the spectrum and find out that even as a genius, Charlie rejects the degrading of the mentally disabled. This puts an emphasis on the main point the author is trying to make; it deems the way society treats the mentally impaired and exposes the flagrant repercussions, distress, suffering…, of discrimination towards the mentally handicapped. Another way in which Daniel Keyes depicts Charlie’s emotional state is by utilizing …show more content…
With the bullying and abuse shown in the flashbacks, the clever motif of staring out of windows, the overwhelming symbolism of the windows, Algernon, Charlie’s mother’s knife, the appalling characterization of minor characters such as Charlie’s mother, professor Nemur and Charlie’s co-workers, and though the heartbreaking tone set up in the novel, Keyes portrays social mistreatment of the mentally disabled and the devastating impacts engendered on them by society. By using Flowers for Algernon as his weapon, this author accomplished the heavy task of picking out at a major flaw found in yesterday’s and today’s society. By opening about the treatment of the mentally impaired in society, Daniel Keyes is able to expose to a broader audience an ancient yet, persisting and omnipresent problem society still fully has to deal with. To conclude, the study of this novel allows an enlightenment regarding the important topic of the mentally disabled in society. By pushing this science fiction genre to its limits with all his psychological, deep ideological concepts, the author does a wonderful job of depicting what he believes society has and is currently still doing to these people. Daniel Keyes, with Charlie Gordon, tells a brilliant and moving story that could, any day, be the one of any mentally handicapped