...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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...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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...‘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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...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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...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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...“Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” (Keyes, 53) Is what Charlie Gordon tells the readers as he is writing in his progress report. In the story “Flowers For Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon has an IQ of 68. He doesn’t spell very well and really tries as hard as he can to fix that. There is an operation that helps him and triples his IQ, but there are many side effects. He will eventually die of brain deterioration which ultimately makes him end up moving away so that his teacher, Miss Kinnian, and the doctors don’t feel sad. I really do not think Charlie should have gotten the operation. First and foremost, he will eventually die of brain deterioration. After Charlie triples his IQ, he starts some more research about his operation and the mouse they did it on first, Algernon. After a while, Algernon dies. Charlie gets a little suspicious and does an autopsy. He finds out that he died because of the operation and he lost a lot of brain mass. “Dissection shows that my predictions were right. His brain had decreased in weight and there was a general smoothing out of cerebral convolutions as well as deepening and broadening or brain fissures. I guess the same thing is or will soon be happening to me.” (Keyes, 80) He is realizing that his brain is doing the same thing....
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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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...William Rumelhart Mrs. Veitch Period:2 Date:2/15/18 The Flower Wilted, but Left Behind its Seeds Imagine a bowl of candy for a hungry stomach, with the sweet juices of the candy oozing in every bite. Charlie Gordon’s surgery is like a dive into a bowl of candy, where every sweet pop is a new friend, another reassurance of “fitting in.”The science fiction short story “Flowers for Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes, follows the life of a developmentally disabled adult, Charlie Gordon and his experience after receiving an experimental, intelligence enhancing surgery. Unfortunately, Charlie’s intellect crashed as quickly as it rose; in a couple months. Many might...
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...If you were given the chance to increase your intelligence, would you? Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes focuses on Charlie, a man who surgically increased his intelligence. In my opinion, the operation improved Charlie's life because of his mental ability, emotional development/feelings, and understanding of others and the world around him. Charlie's life improved because of his mental ability did increase but it did eventually regress. The story shows that Charlie's mental ability increased because before the operation it said, "He said now sit down Charlie we are not thru yet," (page 1, paragraph 3) and after the operation it stated, "How was I to know that a highly respected psychoexperimenalist like Nemur was unacquianted with Hindustani...
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...and one of his successful students. Throughout the book, Morrie encourages us all to strengthen our relationships with each other and fully experience life as it happens. His words are extremely meaningful, because he sets out to share the truths of death, as he loses all function of his body. This book moved me to express, to live, and to just be. I’m extremely analytical about various aspects of my life, and this book truly taught me to simply let it go and live for the sake of living. Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper also influenced me in a similar way. In this novel she describes the life of a physically, but not mentally, disabled girl and the challenges she faced daily. This book immediately reminded me of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, like Charlie Gordon, the young girl begins to comprehend the cruelty of her classmates and the constant embarrassment of her dysfunctional body. The entire ordeal was absolutely heartbreaking, because she simply could not express how she was feeling. It made me view life as an experience not to be taken granted for. Everyone’s “norm” is different, and we should all aspire to accept and understand that more clearly instead of wasting time on materialistic and aesthetic...
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...Unit 1 Title: Flowers for Algernon Suggested Time: 5-7 days (45 minutes per day) Common Core ELA Standards: RL.8.1, RL.8.2, RL.8.3; W8.1, W8.4, W8.9; SL8.1; L.8.1, L.8.2 [Additional Tasks: RI8.8, RI8.9] Teacher Instructions Preparing for Teaching 1. Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis. Please do not read this to the students. This is a description for teachers about the big ideas and key understanding that students should take away after completing this task. Big Ideas and Key Understandings: * Students should work through the idea that different levels of intelligence, emotional and intellectual, lead to different types of interactions with people and society. * Students should evaluate moral/ethical decisions of characters. Synopsis A mentally challenged man is presented with an opportunity to have an operation that will triple his intelligence. The story chronicles the journey that he takes as his intelligence progresses and regresses. 2. Read the entire selection, keeping in mind the Big Ideas and Key Understandings. 3. Re-read the text while noting the stopping points for the Text Dependent Questions and teaching Tier II/academic vocabulary. During Teaching 1. Anticipatory Set: Discuss the following questions with students to guide deeper understanding of the main themes of the story: What is intelligence? Can a person ever be too smart? What is meant by the saying “ignorance is bliss”? 2. Students read the...
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