Preview

Charlie Gordon's Characterization In Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
324 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Charlie Gordon's Characterization In Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon
Charlie Gordon has been ridiculed his whole life for having a low IQ. His story begins with his initiative to have a surgery done to improve his intelligence. Daniel Keyes develops the characterization of Charlie in “Flowers for Algernon” in order to convey the central idea of how a journey for intelligence can affect people. Charlie's journey to become intelligent has an impact and is influenced by the people he associates with. In progress report two, Charlie explains that “He (the man giving the inkblot test) was very nice and talked slow like Mis Kannians does…” Charlie see’s the inkblots as just that, inkblots; others usually laugh or yell at him for thinking this way, but he was kind and encouraging which builds up Charlie's courage

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Was it wise for Charlie Gordon from the book “Flowers for Algernon” by daniel keyes to get genetical intelligence surgically implanted in him? I believe that he should have got it regardless of the negative things that happened to him due to the surgery.…

    • 96 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The doctors had to make a big decision, if they did not give Charlie the surgery then he would probably never be smart. On the other hand if they did give him the surgery then he would be smart, but then eventually he would turn back to dumb. The surgery that the doctors gave Charlie should be given to other people around the world. The question people should ask them self's is "do I want to smart for a little bit, or never be smart at all." That’s the question Charlie had to ask himself. Even Charlie said “I don’t know what’s worse to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.” He means that no matter what he did to himself people would never like…

    • 370 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    <br>The plot of both the novel and film version of Flowers for Algernon share common similarities. They both feature a retarded middle-aged man, Charlie Gordon, who receives an operation to heighten his intelligence. Charlie's IQ eventually surpasses human normalcy to reveal that the experiment did prove successful. In both the film and novel, Charlie became even more intelligent than the professors who worked with him. In the film, Dr. Strauss was embarrassed to reveal that Charlie was smarter than him. That played a milestone event in Charlie's identification of himself. Slowly his intelligence began to decrease and he eventually returned to his original state of mind. Throughout the story, Charlie encountered many different emotions that he had never experienced before because he didn't have the common knowledge to understand them. The episode when he was at the nightclub with his co-workers gave him the opportunity to experience betrayal and anger. "I never knew before that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around just to make fun of me" (Keyes 30). The plot for both versions also carefully depicted Charlie's psychological traumas that he suffered after his operation. These outbursts were often caused by romantic anxiety and the painful memories he would recall. Whenever Charlie got intimate with Alice he would tend to get extremely nervous or have a hallucination, causing him to ruin the moment.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Charlie Gordon showed us that surgerys are very risky and we should really think before we do risky things. In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keys, Charlie has a passion to get intelligent but in my perspective the surgery was useless and risky. Charlie Gordon should not have had the Artificial Intelligence surgery because i was risky and it wasn't permanent.…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    First off if you have not read the story,”Flowers for Algernon”, here is some background Information on who Charlie Gordon is. Charlie Gordon is a 38 year old man and he was born with an IQ of 68 (that is low) and is going to have an operation that is going to make him smarter. But after the operation is done, Charlie is loving life because he is smarter, but he did not know what kind of trouble that he was getting himself into.…

    • 344 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people have hopeful ideas for the future of equality in America, but nobody is thinking along the lines of the extremely egalitarian world that Kurt Vonnegut envisions in his short story, “Harrison Bergeron.” Throughout the story there are examples of people acting or being forced to act in ways that differ from the ways we expect people to act in real life. In “Harrison Bergeron, Vonnegut applies setting, characterization, and plot to generate a feeling of incredulity at the unrealistic futuristic world he portrays in the story.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the story Flowers for Algernon the main character Charlie has a learning disability and he wants to learn to become smarter. So he undergoes an operation on his brain by Neurosurgeons named Doctor Strauss and Doctor Nemur. Charly´s emotions changed after the operation, for instance he became happier, he thought he was better than some people, and he didn't become kinder. The first sign of him becoming happier after the operation was when he finally realized that he was slowly gaining knowledge and enhancing his reading abilities. Now he can be what he always wanted to be smart.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The story “Flowers for Algernon” is about a mentally troubled man named Charlie Gordon, who gets a surgery to make him smarter. In my opinion, Charlie’s life is better off with him being smart. Even though there are some bad things about him being smart, there are also many good reasons that he is. He is smart enough to know what’s going on. Whether it be at work or at the lab, he knows how people are actually treating him. In my mind, Charlie is better off being smart, shown through how other people treat him, how he treats other people, and his potential contributions to the world.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    flowers for algernon

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the story “Flowers for Algernon” written by Daniel Keyes, the main character, Charlie Gordon, and he has a decision to make. Should Charlie make the decision by getting the operation to triple his IQ of 68? Charlie made the wrong decision by getting the operation because it brought pain; he was able to see the true side of his friends, and he was able to see the sad realities of life which he was oblivious to before the operation. He was happy and non-emotional. He thought his friends liked him. He went to adult night school so he can become smarter.…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    When reading Daniel Keyes's "Flowers for Algernon", the change in Charlie's is easy to notice. As Charlie's intelligence increase he became more self aware and develop a different thinking process, which made me wonder what type of impact this experience would have on his dreams when he was sleeping. Since dreams usually include information we experience/learn in our real lives, it would seem that Charlie's dreams would have at least increase in quantity and give him more things to dream about. Being in love is an example of this, because in the beginning Charlie doesn't mention another about love until after his operation when he begins to be attractive to Ms. Kinnian as well as to be able to communicate better with her (page 689). Also,…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    After an array of tests, including a maze-solving competition with a laboratory rat named Algernon, who has already had the experimental surgery performed on him, Charlie receives the operation. In the beginning he is disappointed that there is no immediate change in smartness, but with work and help from Alice, he gradually improves his spelling and grammar. Charlie begins to read adult books, slowly at first, then voraciously, filling his brain with knowledge from many academic fields. Charlie amazes the workers at the bakery by inventing a process designed to improve productivity.…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the reasons Charlie's experience is not worth the risk is he realizes that humans can be cruel. This is seen throughout the story for example in the way Charlie Gordon's so-called friends treat him. After the operation, on of Charlie's friends Joe Carp teases him about the operation saying "hey look where Charlie had his operation what did they do Charlie, put some brains in." Another time Charlie realizes humans can be cruel is when Charlie is in a restaurant and the bus boy who is mentally challenged drops the dishes on the floor, the people start laughing at him and make fun of him. This makes Charlie upset and he begins to yell at the customers in the restaurant saying "Shut up. Leave him alone. It's not his fault he can't understand. He can't help what he is. But he's still a human being." Charlie also does not realizethat his friends are laughing at him and not with him until his IQ beginsto increase, and he figures out what Joe Carp and Frank Riley mean by "he pulled a Charlie Gordon."…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is made clear in the novel Flowers for Algernon that there is no correlation between emotional and intelligence maturity, because Charlie is a grownup man, he is not emotionally mature, but is still learning emotions through his…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everything comes at a price even intelligence. In the Science Fiction short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is a mentally disabled 32-year-old man named Charlie Gordon. Charlie was chosen to have a life-changing surgery to boost his intelligence three times. After having the surgery he realizes that the surgery is not permanent and begins to go into a state of panic. After losing his intelligence he is forced to move away from everyone he knows Charlie should not have had the surgery because he realized that he didn’t really have any friends, and he could not communicate with an average person. But Charlie should have had the surgery because he no longer being laughed at.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays