Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Charlie Gordon is about to go on a quest that has never been done before. He was picked as the ideal patient for an experimental surgery that experts hope would boost his intelligence because he was born with an extremely low IQ. The treatment has already been quite successful when tested on a lab mouse named Algernon.
Charlie’s IQ grows as the medication takes hold, eventually surpassing that of the medical professionals who created his transformation. Up until Algernon’s rapid decline, the experiment seems to represent a major scientific advance. Will Charlie experience the same thing? It is a potent, timeless tale of a man who has surgery that makes him brilliant but also exposes him to heartbreak.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
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The storyline is simple enough. Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old mentally disabled employee at a bakery, is retarded. He has yearned to be intelligent his entire life. When he is chosen to be the first human subject for an experimental method of increasing intelligence, he gets his opportunity. Scientists have reason to expect that this novel method will be equally effective on humans because it has previously demonstrated its efficacy on the mouse Algernon. The surgery is successful, and Charlie soon has an IQ that is far higher than when he was lower. Charlie realizes, however, that great intelligence is not without its own issues.
When he discovers that his “friends” at the bakery only liked him because they made fun of him and exploited him, he becomes resentful and antisocial. He discovered that the scientists he thought were brilliant were just experts in a few areas. With an IQ of brilliance, Charlie is just as much of an outcast as he was when he was handicapped, and this time he is aware of it. What’s worse is that Charlie’s own research demonstrates the procedure’s temporary success. As swiftly as he got intelligence, he will also quickly lose it. Charlie reaches his previous level at the book’s conclusion, albeit probably a little wiser than he was even at that height.
He no longer comprehends his contribution to science, but he at least recovered the humanity he almost lost, and he has a little improved understanding of what it means to be intelligent.
The journals or progress reports that Charlie Gordon is compelled to write as part of the experiment served as an excellent vehicle for Daniel Keyes to depict Charlie Gordon’s development and degeneration. The initial posts portray a simple and innocent Charlie who makes spelling and grammar errors. Charlie genuinely doesn’t know what is happening, yet he still wants to be liked. Because of his eagerness to study as much as he can despite his poor intelligence, people like him, even his pals tease him.
As Charlie’s IQ increases, he starts to utilize a more sophisticated vocabulary and uses better spelling and grammar. He also starts to come out as more haughty and less endearing. The vocabulary Charlie uses to write the progress reports gets worse as he starts to regress to his earlier state. The book’s final chapter is tragic and rather unsettling. Few things are more feared by the majority of people than losing their minds. Even death is thought to be better, and a person’s fear of dying is frequently actually a fear of oblivion or mindlessness. As Charlie reverts to low intelligence, Keyes does a fantastic job of conveying his dread and anxiety.
