Preview

Charlie Gordon Character Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
640 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Charlie Gordon Character Analysis
Charlie Gordon is the narrator and the main protagonist of the novel, who has struggled the whole life toward the burning wish of "being smart". Over a nine-month period, Charlie keeps "Progress Reports" documenting his miraculous transformation from a mentally disabled person to a man of genius, which sets the stage for Daniel Keyes to address to the society a number of broad themes and issues.
Charlie’s limited intelligence has made him a trusting, ingenuous and friendly man, as he assumes that all the people in his humdrum existence — mostly his co-workers at Donner’s Bakery are as well-intentioned as he used to be. However, as the neurosurgery stimulates his brain centers and rapidly increases his ability to learn, thereby elevating his mentality, Charlie gains perspective on his past and present. He founds himself becoming aware of a hard-hitting fact that his associates have constantly taken advantage of him and have treated him roughly just for sport, knowing that he would never understand. What is worse, he recovers that even if some people have shown a kindness to him, it usually came out of compassion or condescension and out of attitude to him as an inferior.
…show more content…
He eventually convinces himself of feeling indifference even to Alice Kinnian, the only one person, whom has never betrayed Charlie and the only one, for whom he has maintained a deep affection throughout the life. And Algernon is the sole Charlie’s faithful companion, whom he shows concern for and treats as equal sentient being. Obviously, Charlie is the personification of Algernon to a certain extent. Both feeling caged up and forced to run through endless mazes at the scientists’ whim, with no dignity and no individuality, Charlie and Algernon are looking for the way to the physical liberation and their own emotional

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Charlie Gordon is a 37 year old man with an IQ of around 68. For his whole life, he has only wanted to be "smart" like everyone else. Charlie has two doctors named Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur. The doctor's want to use Charlie as a test subject to test out a surgery to increase the Human IQ. Ethics are if you really did the "right" thing, so Charlie's doctor's did not act ethically when performing the surgery on Charlie. They had not kept their choices opinion free, they had not put Charlie's social life over science, and they didn't inform Charlie of the potential risks and side effects of the surgery.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charlie Gordon Argument

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Charlie Gordon was a determined man. He wanted to learn as much as he could but he was unable to because he was mentally retarded. Meanwhile, his doctors were testing an operation which they wanted to perform on Charlie to make him more intelligent however, he would eventually lose his intelligence and knowledge leading to his death. He would be unable to connect with other people because he would be too smart. Despite these affects, people still believe that the operation preformed on Charlie was ethical. Charlie Gordon's doctors didn't act ethically when they preformed the surgery on Charlie Gordon to make him smarter.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Daniel Keyes’ story, “Flowers for Algernon,” is the progress reports of 37 year old, Charlie Gordon, who gets a surgery to gain intelligence. Throughout the reports, you can see where Charlie intellectually starts and his progress from there. Then, unfortunately, Charlie’s intelligence descends and he’s back where he started. The story teaches you that too much of anything is unhealthy.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As the novel progresses Charlie begins to evolve into a mature adolescent. Jasper’s influence on Charlie—whether it is from having his first swig of alcohol or changing and broadening his perspective on moral code—is a major element to Charlie’s understanding, as is discovery, mainly of the hypocrisy that runs through the town. Major honorable figures are soon seen as disgraceful citizens who contain contradictory morals, which co-exist nevertheless.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the scientific short story “Flowers for Algernon”, by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon should not have had the operation to make him intelligent. Charlie was better before the operation. For…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    What affects the successfulness of a person and how does that account for people around them? There are two different ideas that could determine this being one’s intrinsic interactions with their genetic make up and who they are personally, nature, and one’s extrinsic interactions with their environments and experiences with people around them, nurture. The Other Wes Moore provides multiple outlooks on these interactions and how they affect the author Wes Moore as well as his counterpart sharing the same name. One can read the book and determine the most key factor to one or both character’s success. Similar factors that can play in the division of intrinsic and extrinsic…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charlie Gordon should not have been the subject of the experiment. While Daniel Keyes in “Flowers for Algernon” portrayed hope for a mentally impaired man, Charlie Gordon, the operation failed with devastating consequences! Before the surgery, Charlie desperately longed to be a member of a society that he was unable to completely comprehend. Charlie, as a genius, was permitted to witness the horrendous actions towards those with mental ailments. Additionally, Charlie was viewed as an experiment, deserving no rights or respect. After the surgery, once again could not relate and function normally in society, which was his only desire. Lastly, Charlie, the genius, understood that the effects of the surgery were, unfortunately, temporary. Through Charlie’s investigation of Algernon’s life, it became apparent that the operation was a failure. Although Charlie enjoyed his time of being a genius, he was saddened to see how society truly was.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore, two people by the name of Wes Moore turned out to have different fates. One became a Rhodes Scholar while the other became a convicted murderer who's going to spend the rest of his life in prison. How did one become more traditionally successful than the other? One can say that it's because of how their mothers guided them and the environment they grew up around.…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    To begin with, when Charlie is smart everyone avoids him and acts almost scared of him. For example, people are avoiding Charlie he “guess[s] it’ll take a little time for them to get used to the changes in me. Everybody seems to be frightened of me.” Charlie really wants to be smart to fit in but in the process everyone avoids him. Along with people avoiding him, when he is smart everyone begins to see that Algernon is getting hostile and it foreshadows what will happen to Charlie. For example,“they’re all pretending that Algernon’s behavior is not necessarily significant for me. But it’s hard to hide the fact that some of the other animals who were used in this experiment are showing strange behavior.” After Charlie realizes what will happen to him he regrets ever having the operation…

    • 680 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He lost his job, he realized how dumb he was before, and he severed good relationships (not to mention it wore off, possibly leaving him dead too). In the story it said, “Algernon died 2 days ago.” This quote is strongly hinting that Charlie will probably die too, because Charlie and Algernon underwent the same experimental operation to synthetically enhance intelligence by almost 3 times the patient’s original IQ. Obviously, dying doesn’t do much good to a person’s life. Some people could say “it gave Charlie a glimpse of what normal people see!” but what good is a glimpse when you can’t even comprehend what you experienced a few weeks ago?…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men” (pg.199). In the novel, Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes expresses the lifelong changes of Charlie Gordon. Charlie Gordon is thirty two years old, he’s a sweet kindhearted loving man who just wants to be accepted for the person that he is, while having the mindset and characteristics of a six year old. In this novel Charlie Gordon, a dynamic character, is inspired to changes with his personality and intelligence, to his lifestyle, and his final passing.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charlie Gordon, a mentally challenged 32 year old man, is chosen by a team of scientists to undergo experimental brain surgery designed to boost his intelligence. Alice Kinnian, Charlie’s teacher at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults, has recommended Charlie for the experiment because of his exceptional eagerness to learn. After the surgery Charlie’s intelligence increases until he has the IQ of an exceptional genius. Soon after, his intellect gradually diminishes until he once again becomes mentally handicapped. The entire narrative of Flowers for Algernon is composed of the “progress reports” that Charlie was asked to keep by the directors of the experiment, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur.…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Andrew Cooper retired when he was 65. He’s 86 now. He spent over 40 years building a business and supporting his family. He gave Cooper Construction over to me when he retired. His hair is losing color and now he has wrinkles on his face. I’m his son Rodney and I go to work at Cooper Construction every week and run the business the way dad always did. My wife spends her days taking care of dad. It’s hard for him to do much with Parkinson’s disease. This is his story.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon's doctors do not act ethically while they tried to increase his intelligence with a surgery. Ethics are the standards of right and wrong, and what we as humans are supposed to do. Ethics are also the development of ethical standards, and how one lives up to those standards (Siegler). Charlie Gordon is a grown man who has an extremely low intelligence for his age. He was chosen to go through several experiments and tests to raise his I.Q.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to being subjected to this Charlie is forced to grow and step out of his comfort zone to take on the challenges and obstacles set before him throughout the course of the story. An…

    • 1097 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays