Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for AlgernonMedical operations are carried out everyday, but for some,
an operation can change a person's life. One experiment was
done on a mentally retarded person to try to raise his
intelligence. The experiment worked, but after months, the
patient regressed dramatically. In the book, Flowers for
Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, this intelligence operation was
preformed, and the patient was Charlie Gordon. After the
operation, Charlie was very bright, but experienced
psychological traumas, loneliness, disillusionment, and social
inadequacies. Charlie's psychological traumas or emotional
upset was caused by his memory recalls. After his operation,
he remembered every aspect of his childhood, whether it
was good or bad. "...He's normal! He's normal! He'll grow
up like other people. Better than others..." Charlie had
dreams of how his mother was ashamed of him. His mother
always thought her son was normal and would grow up and
be somebody. "...He's like a baby. He can't play Monopoly
or checkers or anything. I won't play with him anymore..."
Charlie's sister also ignored him. To her, Charlie was dumb
and could not do anything. Charlie had dreams of his sister
yelling at him and making fun of him. He also had memories
of the night his parents took him to the Warren Home. He
was terrified and his dad would never answer his questions.
Charlie remembered his childhood and through his
memories, he felt guilty for hurting his family. After the
operation, Charlie also suffered from disillusionment. In the
bakery he used to have friends. Friends that would talk to
him and care about him. "...Why? Because all of the sudden
your a bigshot. You think you are better than the rest of
us..." Charlie then realized that he had no friends but merely
knew people that made fun of him. The bakery employees
just liked him because they could blame their mistakes on
Charlie. Then, they could not do this after the operation, so
they all turned against Charlie. "...I had to find out just how
much they knew. I found out. Nothing..." "Both frauds"
Charlie also found out about Nemur and Strauss. He
realized they were not professionals, but two men...
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