...Charlie Gordon is the protagonist in the short story “Flowers of Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes. He is a 37 year old with a mental disability and an IQ of 68. Charlie works as a janitor and although he has quite a low IQ, he has a good attitude about changing his life, and to do whatever it takes for him to get smarter. Charlie goes to Miss Kinnian’s class for slow adults to get better at spelling and writing and potentially get smarter. Miss Kinnian teaches literacy skills to mentally retarded adults because she believes that being mentally disabled doesn’t make you less of a Human. Charlie and Miss Kinnian start out the story with a teacher-student relationship, but soon, it becomes a little more than back, but as the story reaches it’s...
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...Charlie Gordon is the protagonist of “Flowers for Algernon”, which is written by Daniel Keyes. He is a mentally retarded man who volunteers to go through a experimental brain operation. It was supposedly going to make him a genius. Charlie is determined to become an astute man, but lots of obstacles get in his way. Charlie is a static character since his spelling, low intelligence level, and his belief in superstitions has stayed the same all through the story. His spelling in the beginning of the story is comparable to his spelling in the end. It is seen through his progress reports. His spelling was terrible at the beginning of the story since he has an IQ, an intelligence quotient, of sixty eight. This number is lower than the IQ of an average person, so a bunch of things in his daily life are affected, such as his ability to learn, and remember things. Having a hard time to learn means that Charlie could not remember how to spell. The quote, “I think I faled it”, is a segment from the beginning of the story, proving his spelling skills are not too strong. His not too strong spelling skills still move on towards the end of the story....
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...Flowers for Algernon Rita Ghatourey, a famous Indian writer, once said “I do not exist to impress the world. I exist to live my life in a way that will make me happy.” Flowers for Algernon is a story, in which a man by the name of Charlie Gordon tries to change to impress the world. After reading Flowers for Algernon, one can see that Charlie Gordon was far better off before the surgery. He was happier, content with his job, and he had friends. He was living in a way that made him happy. In this story, Charlie Gordon is a man with very low IQ. He is chosen for an experimental surgery that can greatly increase his intelligence. Before the surgery, Charlie’s IQ is 68. He is living in his own apartment, going to night school to better himself, and is working as a janitor at Donnegan’s factory. Charlie has guys that he thinks are his friends. While he longs to be smarter, he is for the most part happy. After the surgery, Charlie slowly begins to get smarter; starts seeing things differently. He now notices that Ms. Kinnean, his night school teacher, is his age, and that she is very pretty. This was something he hadn't noticed before. He also realizes that the guys that he thought were his friends, are not. They make fun of him and laugh at his expense. Charlie’s intelligence goes from being inferior to greatly superior. In this story, there is character who is similar to Charlie, his name is Algernon. Algernon is a mouse who ...
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...The Wrong Choice “Charlie Gordon “wants to be smart.” His is a passion which leads to risk greatly and achieve greatly--at great cost.” (“CAN HUMAN INTELLIGENCE BE INCREASED?”). Charlie Gordon from the story Flowers for Algernon had a lifelong goal to be smart, so he decides to take part in an intelligence-altering surgery. Due to the operation, his IQ increases to 208, but this comes with side effects and death. In the story he competes with a mouse named Algernon, later they become friends. The doctors in the story were Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur, and the lab worker's name was Burt. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, doctors Strauss and Nemur made the wrong choice by selecting innocent Charlie Gordon for the intelligence-altering surgery. Dr. Strauss...
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...fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” is about a boy named charlie gordon who was chosen to be involved in an experimental surgery that was said to triple his intelligence. the reason that he was selected for this is because he has an extremely low IQ level. although he faces many hardships throughout the story, he is determined to succeed. That is why I think that the theme of the story is that if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything. First, at the beginning of the story, charlie is just an average person with an immense desire to become smart. He was going to school after work every night and his teacher, Mrs. Kinnian said that he is one of the most hard working students in her class. In the story when charlie first takes the Rorschach test, the tester asks...
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...Flowers for Algernon Is knowledge the key to happiness? Does the fact that you know almost everything, complete your life? Or does it make you distant to your friends and family? These are some of the main questions Daniel Keys raise in his prizewinning fictional novel “Flowers for Algernon” from 1966. The Novel is about the mentally challenged Charlie Gordon, who will do anything to learn, and become ‘a smart person’. Charlie accepts the terms of an experiment, which will triple his IQ, even though he is not told of the consequences of the experiment. The novel “Flowers for Algernon” is written in the diary form, and the story features a first person narrator called Charlie Gordon. The novel is combined of several progress reports that show the current intelligence of Charlie. As we follow his everyday life, we get detailed information about his increase in artificial intelligence. Throughout the story the reader almost gets a feeling that there are multiple narrators telling the story. Nevertheless the sudden huge growth in grammatical skills is not simply because of another narrator expressing the story, it it’s merely due to the fact that the experiment triples Charlie’s IQ. This experiment takes Charlie’s writing skills to a point, where it’s almost flawless. Having this in mind, the story in a way switches narrator three times. The story starts of with Charlie before his operation, where he’s not exactly mentally gifted. Actually he would be referred to as a mentally...
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...‘Flowers for Algernon” Persuasive Essay 1 out of 5 American adults have an I.Q. of 70 or lower, what if we told you there was a surgery to fix it. In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is 37 years old, and has an I.Q. of 68. Then Charlie was offered to have a surgery to have his I.Q. tripled (204). Charlie Gordon was right to have the A.I. surgery because he contributed to science, raised his I.Q. , and got to be normal. Charlie Gordon wanted to be normal after a lifetime of being different. Charlie was different from everyone else from the beginning. Charlie states “I want to be smart like other people” (Keyes 225). This is Charlie before the surgery, he wanted to be normal more than anything....
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...If you had the chance to increase your intelligence would you? In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon had the opportunity to have an Artificial Intelligence surgery (A.I.). Charlie was better off having the surgery because he got to help out many people in the science field, he also got to experience the real world and he got to feel all his emotions that have been trapped before. One positive thing that happened after the surgery is Charlie got to experience the real world with an advanced mindset. He got to see his real friends and he was able to experience interactions with other people outside the lab. “You’re like a giant sponge now, soaking things in. Facts, figures, general knowledge.”(Keyes...
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...Flowers for Algernon -Mikkel Bæk Rasmussen The way people connect by emotions and similarities, show us the level of intelligence the human race have in comparison to animals. We connect in ways that no other living species does and have time and time again proved that we are the most technical gifted race. But some people aren't as lucky. Some people are born with disabilities, that makes it impossible to understand and communicate normally with other human beings. Should we try and do something about that? or continue to ignore the problem? Charlie Gordon is 37 years old and he's working as a janitor. Charlie has an IQ of 68, which basically means that he is a retard. Because of this, he's having a huge issue understanding the social behavior of other people. He goes to Beekman College Center which is a school for mentally retarded adults. It is here, he met miss Kinnian, his teacher. Miss Kinnian advised Charlie to apply as a test person for some medical research which should make him smarter. It's here that Charlie meets Dr. Nemur and Professor Strauss who is going to perform his surgery. He starts taking a lot of tests, where he is feeling very insecure, because he keeps failing them, what he doesn't know is that failing the tests is what got him in. The tests keeps on coming, and he is competing against a mouse called Algernon, which had gotten the same surgery as Charlie. Suddenly Charlie shows progress by beating Algernon for the first time, and from that point...
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...While Daniel Keyes in “Flowers for Algernon,” portrayed hope for a mentally impaired man, Charlie Gordon, the operation was unsuccessful with devastating consequences. Therefore, Charlie should not have had the surgery; nevertheless, Charlie did not regret the surgery. After the operation, the conflicts between societies developed into something existent for Charlie that he had never experienced before. Charlie was thrilled with the research in effort to make him an ordinary human. What Charlie could not apprehend is that he was merely used as a human experiment to modify other mentally impaired individuals. The failure of the operation permitted Charlie, as a genius, to recognize every individual problem. Following the surgery, impediments...
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...Flowers for Algernon (Writing Prompt) Overall, Charlie Gordon’s intelligence improved but his Life took upon a terrible turn. Now he is solemnly stating how he regrets the operation and that it was the biggest mistake of his life. Now because of his grasp on this deadly operation there is a possibility for him to die. When he starts to notice the aftermath signs of the operation than he says, “ I have already begun to notice signs of emotional instability and forgetfulness, the first symptoms of the burnout.” Charlie Gordon’s brain is already deteriorating back to where it once was though it won’t just stop there. His brain will keep reducing in size which is sure to cause traumatic damage. Due to the death of Algernon who went through the same operation; the reader can guess what will happen to Charlie Gordon in the future. As he is starting to catch a hold of the symptoms of his old self and the things he did....
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...through a simple medical procedure? In his most famous novel, Flowers for Algernon, American author Daniel Keyes not only poses this provoking question, but shares his own answer through the story of Charlie Gordon, a mentally disadvantaged man whose IQ skyrockets within a matter of months after an experimental operation. Through Charlie’s eyes, readers are able to experience the ascent from mental incapability to profound intelligence, as well as the range of emotions that accompany it. However, Keyes was a far cry from mentally incompetent, and although he could not relate to Charlie’s IQ of...
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...about yourself if you had the chance? In ¨Flowers for Algernon¨, Charlie Gordon wanted to be smarter. Luckily, he was found by somebody that could help him achieve this goal. Charlie had a once in a lifetime opportunity to be a part of a scientific miracle. The operation helped him to see the world from a different perspective. He was able to realize the cruelty in the world around him. The decision to have the operation made Charlie the happiest that he has ever been. The IQ surgery was a good idea for Charlie, because he had the chance to advance scientific research, he got to see the world in a different way and he had always wanted to be smart. Charlie should have had the surgery, because he was able to advance science. Charlie was a part of a new, rare surgery. If the operation works, many other people can benefit from the results. Charlie writes his progress in a journal. By doing this, his doctors can see how his writing improves. They can also see how he slowly learns to understand things around him. Charlie’s newly found intelligence helps him to create a lab study. The study is called the ¨Algernon- Gordon Effect¨. This report helps to show people how the experiment works. Charlie...
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...should do. In the short story "Flowers for Algernon" there is a man named Charlie Gordon. Charlie has an IQ of sixty eight and he is thirty eight years old. Charlie had the chance to get an operation, which would triple his IQ. Charlie was chosen for this test because he had the motivation to become smart. Charlie's doctors had to make ethical decisions about the operation. Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter. Charlie's doctors did not think of the consequences the operation would have on Charlies quality of life. Quality of life is "the principles of beneficence, nonmaleficence, and respect for autonomy" (Siegler). The doctors do not think of Charlie or even consider what will happen to his quality of life after the surgery. When Charlie became smart he lost his job and his friends. Which is evidence of his quality of life decreasing due to his surgery. Charlie Gordon's doctors did not act ethically when they performed the surgery to make him smarter....
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...In the book Flowers For Algernon, I think Charlie Gordon would be better before surgery rather than typically after At the end of the book (after surgery) Charlie basically lost his mind, almost literally. “Please...please do not let me forget how to read and wright…”(pg.243). He forgot almost everything he did and he also lost the knowledge of different languages, his spelling and writing abilities as well. He refused to see anyone and only after he told the women he loved to get away from him and told her he did not lover her any more, did he only then decide to get a job. “Miss Kinnian came to the door but I said go away I don't want to see you.” (pg.243). Before surgery he was his paying rent hanging out with his friends, “last night...
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