Flowers for Algernon

Charlie Gordon is the main character in the story “Flowers for Algernon”. He’s a 37 year-old adult with an IQ of 68. He is mentally challenged but he desperately wants to be smart. Charlie is asked to have a surgery that the doctors think will make him smarter but the results are not guaranteed. Charlie will do anything to gain more intelligence and therefore agrees to have the surgery and take part in the scientists’ experimentation on him and his advances. Charlie’s surgery does in fact…

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” - Ernest Hemingway. In the book, “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon, the protagonist, has low mental ability. This story takes place in the 1960s, and during this time period, people used different ways to measure intelligence. Charlie faces the decision to artificially increase his intelligence by having a surgery performed on him. Intelligence is not worth it when your happiness is at risk. Charlie Gordon should…

the opportunity and it improved his life greatly. This was a good choice because he achieved his dream, he learned about himself and others, and he helped people.Not only did this have benefits for Charlie, but others around him as well. In Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyers, the doctors made the a good choice by choosing Charlie Gordon for the intelligence-alternating surgery. This experiment helped Charlie achieve…

Name: Cohen Hill Hours: 4 & 6 Mrs. Trimble Flowers for Algernon Ethics Ethics consists of right and wrong, telling humans what should be done, by ones own standards. It does not include feelings, beliefs, law, or what society accepts. In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon, age 37, has mental disabilities and seeks help from doctors that could make him smarter. The surgery made him smarter, but soon figuring out, from Algernon the mouse who also had the surgery, that the test is not…

In Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon a mentally disabled 39-year-old man wanted to become intelligent. He was motivated in his night class to do better than everyone else to become smarter and to get picked for a surgery. After the doctors saw his motivation to be smarter, the doctors finally picked Charlie to go through an operation to become intelligent. Before Charlie’s operation, Charlie couldn’t even spell, or have any good grammar. The most important thing Charlie…

“How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?” This quote, taken from Plato's, “The Allegory of the Cave”, poses an important rhetorical question, rooted within the short story, “Flowers for Algernon”. This short science fiction story, written by Daniel Keys, is told from the first-person daily entry logs of Charlie Gordon. A hollow man at first, Charlie is plagued with the burden of very low intelligence; he struggles with reading and writing.…

conducting an experiment, in 1965, to boost Charlie’s intelligence. Charlie is operated on after Algernon, a white lab mouse, begins to show signs of improvement; this causes him to get fired because his co workers are afraid that he will eventually figure out how mean they were to him because of his increased intelligence. Algernon passes away due to the surgery and Charlie realizes he will end up like Algernon so, as he starts to lose everything he learned, Charlie writes a letter about…

able to make a decision for oneself and acting upon it, despite overwhelming obstacles is an important quality when defining humanity. This quality allows humans to share how they feel and take a stand on certain situations. In the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, a mentally stunted individual named Charlie proves his humanity when he makes his own decision and acts on it, even with overwhelming peer pressure. As Charlie is eating his dinner in a local restaurant one day, he…

leave the safety of ignorance without feeling the real consequence? The main question and biggest obstacle that one faces before becoming intelligence is "ignorance are bliss". One man who went through this adventure was Charlie Gordon. In "Flowers of Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, Charlie pays the price for temporary knowledge, and sees the true meaning of "ignorance is bliss". Through this emotional rollercoaster, we can see how Charlie Gordon goes through his changes to become a "genas".…

This Story is called “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. Charlie Gordon shouldn’t have the operation. Some people are treated differently not only for how they look but, because they aren’t smart. He thinks at the beginning of the story that because he thinks he failed a test that as he said “I had a test today. I think I failed it. Maybe they aren’t going to use me.”(Keyes,54) So Charlie is going to have an operation to make him become smarter. Here are three reasons why I think that…