Charlie Gordon's Decisions In Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

Making decisions is critical, but making a decision for an operation is more important. In the fiction novel Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon deals with a mental disorder. To be smarter, he decides to have a brain surgery. Animals have only done this surgery, particularly a lab rat named Algernon. Within a week after Charlie’s operation, he is able to maintain information improved. After a month, his intelligence becomes tremendous; he is able to read books within minutes. Negative effects have also altered him. His emotions are a continuous scale of unsteady. If his operation did not take place, he would have been better off. The negative effects that take place after his surgery are worse than his life before it took place. Charlie’s emotions would never be crazy, people would still enjoy his company, and he would be able to walk through his life without knowing his friends did not care about him.
Before Charlie’s operation, his emotions are stable. He is usually calm but sometimes confused depending on the situation. Charlie writes in Progress Report 4, “I told her how can you get that thing from cards that somebody spilled ink on and photos of pupil you don’t even know. She looked angry and took the pictures away. I don’t care,” (6). Charlie’s emotion during this time is calm, a stable emotion. Compared to his feelings after the operation, this is normal. Yet, some people might say that Charlie’s emotions are not as strong as they need to be. Having strong emotions is not always beneficial. Charlie notes in one of his progress reports, “It made me angry with myself and I pulled back to my side of the seat and stared out the window. I hated her as I had never hated anyone before,” (80). His description of his feelings shows his rash and strong reactions. This event takes place after the operation. Thus proving the operation affected Charlie’s emotions in a dreadful