Flowers For Algernon Research Paper

Has there ever been something that others can do or they are good at and you wish you could be as good? Well if so that's just like Charlie Gordon. In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is about a mentally challenged 37 year old named Charlie Gordon. Charlie gets the opportunity of a lifetime when he is offered to get a surgery that may triple his I.Q. All Charlie has ever wanted was to be accepted by society. He felt that he wasn’t accepted because he wasn’t intelligent enough.This surgery may allow him to be accepted.Charlie should have got the artificial intelligence surgery (A.I) because he realized his “friends” were bullies, he was able to experience emotions, he got to know what it felt like to have his
I.Q increased. Before Charlie had the a.i surgery, he was bullied by people who he thought were his friends.
Due to his disability, he was completely unaware that his “friends” were bulling him. After Charlie got the surgery he became aware that his “friends” weren't friends. “It's a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the other liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me”(Keyes 231). This shows that Charlie now knows that his “friends” were bulling him. As a result not only was he no longer bullied but, he gained new true friends. Another reason Charlie should have had the A.I surgery is he got to experience emotions. Before Charlie got the surgery he experienced very few to no feelings. In addition to the surgery Charlie experienced love and many other important emotions. This can be seen when Charlie said “I’m in love with Mrs.Kinnian” (Keyes, 234). This shows that Charlie has experienced emotions. Experiencing emotions was a great thing for Charlie. Lastly Charlie was able to experience a high I.Q level. Mrs.Kinnean was his teacher and she was quite intelligent. Even she had said “It’s true Charlie, you’re already a better reader than me.” (Keyes 233).This showed that Charlie is gaining intelligence. Luckily Charlie got a great experience of having a high
intelligence. Although many readers may state Charlie was better off before A.I surgery there are many more reasons why he was better off after A.I surgery. One reason someone may state that he was better off after. One reason someone may state that he was better of before is that due to him being unaware about what the surgery would do. I understand that he was quite unaware about the outcome of the surgery but his mom had signed it meaning that she agreed and after the surgery he had even stated “I’m grateful that I saw it all for a littel bit”. That shows still he was satisfied that he had had the surgery. Now can you see how Charlie felt? Charlie was thankful that he gained new real friends unlike Frank and Joe. He also got to experience emotions like love and last but not least he got to experience a higher intelligence level. Don’t forget even Charlie was thankful he got the surgery.