Charlie's Isolation In Daniel Keys Flowers For Algernon

English Nov. 3, 2006
Essay Assignment
Flowers for Algernon was written by Daniel Keys, the novel is about a retarded adult who is turned into a genius by an operation. Then soon discovers how lucky he really was before the operation. Although the cause of the isolation may be different it always has a negative effect on the character.
Charlie Gordon is the protagonist and author of the progress reports. Charlie is a thirty-two-year-old mentally retarded man who lives in New York City. He works at Donner's Bakery as a janitor and delivery boy. Charlie has no friends or family that he can talk to; Charlie spends most of his time alone
and desperately wants to be normal. Charlie who has an I.Q. of 68 does not want to be isolated from the world any longer, so he agrees to take part in a experiment which will make him smarter then what he is. When Charlie finishes the experiment his life gets turned upside down. Charlie is now getting smarter but he is still emotionally a child and can not have sexual relations with someone that he loves. Charlie fells even more isolated then ever because he is the only one who knows how it feels to be going through what he is going through. Soon Charlie gets to have sexual relations with a girl but it is not love only a matter of principals because now he knows that he can have sex with out his inner Charlie telling him not to. After Charlie has sex for the first time he feels that he has accomplished a big obstacle and can move on with his life. Charlie soon finds him self staying out late, drinking and having sex often to try to fit in with society when really he was becoming isolated form the person he truly cares about Alice. When the late nights pass Charlie tries to figure out a way to save his
Intelligence he writes the Algernon-Gordon effect.
When Charlie finds out that he has family he searches for them and finds that they are nothing as like he remembered them. Charlie's mother Rose was actually crazy and made Charlie as a kid, to stay inside the house when all the other children played she made Charlie isolated from the world. Now Charlie knows how his isolation started, he forgives his mother because of her mental illness something Rose could not do for Charlie. Charlie's I.Q. is decreasing and is the only living patient left that has had the operation a mouse named Algernon died and that will be Charlie's death soon to, unless he figures out how to stop the decrease. Charlie is getting dumber by the day and will loose all of his intelligence soon so he isolates himself from all you care about him and starts think of ideas to save himself. All of Charlie's intelligence is gone and he finds himself dumber then before the operation so Charlie packs his things and leaves to live his rest of his days at the Warren House where his final isolation begins, he is now isolated from his family, friends and the outside world. There fore all these key points and reasons are why Charlie Gordon is the most isolated character in the novel after Charlie, Alice is the second most isolated in the
novel.
Alice Kinnian is Charlie's teacher at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults.
She teaches many retarded adults but fines Charlie to be one of the smartest so smart that she recommends Charlie to do the operation to make him smarter. Alice lives in an apartment in New York City, she has never had to serious relationships with another person. Alice enjoys cleaning and is a neat freak for her everything has to be perfect. After the operation Charlie finds an interest in Alice and takes her on a date afterwards Charlie wanted a kiss but Alice at the time did not have the same feelings for Charlie. Every time Alice met Charlie she started to like him a bit more soon she wanted to have sex with him but Charlie this time backed away and couldn't go through with it. Alice was alone most of the time her only friends where her students at Beekman. When Charlie started to loose his intelligence Alice didn't care she just wanted to be with someone to talk to listen to and to have a relationship with. Soon after Charlie has lost most of his intelligence he tells Alice that he wanted to be alone and never wanted to see her again which made Alice isolated from Charlie. Charlie now lives at the Warren House and Alice lives in her apartment they are both separated because the Charlie that Alice loved is dead and the Charlie that was her student is at the Warren House her feelings are mixed because their where really two Charlie's. Alice is isolated because she lost her student, her
friend and lost her love of her life all in one. The third most isolated character in Flowers for Algernon is Fay.
Fay Lillian is Charlie's neighbor they first meet when Charlie forgets his keys inside of his apartment and needs to go through the fire escape which connects Fays and Charlie's apartments together. Fay is in her early 30's where's very revealing clothing and always puts on a lot of makeup. Charlie describes Fay as messy-kind hearted free spirit person. Fay is an artist but does not make a lot of money she is not shy and accepts Charlie for who he is. Fays favourite past time is havening sex, drinking and dancing. Fay dumps Charlie when he starts spending nights at the laboratory on his work. Charlie tries to explain things with Fay but she does not care, she just wants to have a good time. Just because Fay might always have someone with her that doesn't mean she isn't isolated, Fay needs to act that way because if she didn't she would be alone and she can not live with that she always needs someone to be with her. Fay is isolated from love no one that she meets or has sex with truly loves her she knows this and drinks, dances and has sex to deal with that pain of no love in her life. Although the cause of the isolation may be different it always has a negative effect on the character. Every Character in the novel needed love and companionship to not be isolated, if they had that they would be fine and the book might have ended happily ever after.