Everything comes at a price even intelligence. In the Science Fiction short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is a mentally disabled 32-year-old man named Charlie Gordon. Charlie was chosen to have a life-changing surgery to boost his intelligence three times. After having the surgery he realizes that the surgery is not permanent and begins to go into a state of panic. After losing his intelligence he is forced to move away from everyone he knows Charlie should not have had the surgery
In the novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the author seems to be portraying how nothing in life lasts forever. This is shown multiple times throughout the story, such as when Charlie first received the surgery, lost his job at the bakery, and when the surgery results wore off. The author presents this idea to communicate to the readers how it is important to not get too uncomfortable when things in life change like moving schools or houses and to not hold on to materialistic items. In the
some trouble) or would you prefer to know about almost everything? When comparing “Flowers for Algernon” and “Mars is Heaven” it is clear that the authors had similar ideas such as intelligence as a much more important aspect of life than being happy. First off, the authors both suggest the idea that people who do not know about something, they come to conclusions that are in their own favor. In flowers for algernon, you know that Charlie Gordon starts out with an IQ of 68, then his intelligence triples
Flowers for Algernon Madison McClain If you were ever mentally slow, and you had the chance it wouldn’t work, or it could make it worse or anything else could go wrong, would you take the pain or pass the opportunity? Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man who has a very low IQ. Doctor Strauss and doctor Nemur give him an operation, so he can be smart. He got the operation, he got but he was better off without it. After Charlie got the operation, people were so afraid
“To be, or not to be,- that is the question:” (Shakespeare's Hamlet). Whether someone will pay to be intelligent for a time, or stay within their inability to understand the world around them. “Flowers for Algernon” a science fiction story by Daniel Keyes, follows the events from the life of a man by the name of Charlie Gordon who had to answer this very question. He did not have the same mental capacity of the average person, so he had the opportunity to rapidly gain intelligence. Ultimately he
the people that aid them in their everyday life. Those who are not exposed to this reality can never understand how hard it would be to live with a mental deficiency, let alone to work with or care for those afflicted with one. In the novel, Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes demonstrates that nothing can be made to be perfect in this world, and all there is to do is deal with it and live life to the fullest. He shows that changing Charlie's intelligence was not really worth the cost of experimentation