Flowers for Algernon and The Garden of Eden
Daniel Keyes's fictional story, "Flowers for Algernon", drew on themes, patterns of events, and character types from the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden. Both stories had a mutual theme: Ignorance is bliss. Both stories also shared a similar pattern of events. Charlie Gordon, the protagonist in "Flowers for Algernon", and Adam and Eve, the main characters in the Garden of Eden, all started out in a state of innocence, unaware of evil, until they were encouraged to become smarter. After they had gained intelligence, their eyes were opened to all of the badness in the world, and they suffered the consequences. There were also similarities in the characters in both stories, such as between the Serpent and Miss Kinnian and between Eve and Algernon. Daniel Keyes rendered the material new by changing the setting, the characters, and the events of the story to something much more modern.
In "Flowers for Algernon", Charlie wanted to become smart, but once he did, he realized that people used to make fun of him, and most people stopped talking to him as often as they used to, either because they were scared of him or couldn't understand him. Algernon died, and Charlie lost all of his intelligence. In the Garden of Eden, God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they didn't listen. The serpent convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and then Eve convinced Adam to eat it as well. When they ate the fruit, they gained knowledge and wisdom, became aware of evilness, and realized they were naked. God condemned them to a life of suffering and eventually death. The common theme of these two stories is ignorance is bliss. Sometimes it's better to know nothing than something.
The pattern of events in "Flowers for Algernon" mirror those of the Garden of
Eden. In the Garden of Eden, God created Adam and Eve. They were completely innocent and pure, but not perfect. God warned them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
In "Flowers for Algernon", Charlie wanted to become smart, but once he did, he realized that people used to make fun of him, and most people stopped talking to him as often as they used to, either because they were scared of him or couldn't understand him. Algernon died, and Charlie lost all of his intelligence. In the Garden of Eden, God warned Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they didn't listen. The serpent convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, and then Eve convinced Adam to eat it as well. When they ate the fruit, they gained knowledge and wisdom, became aware of evilness, and realized they were naked. God condemned them to a life of suffering and eventually death. The common theme of these two stories is ignorance is bliss. Sometimes it's better to know nothing than something.
The pattern of events in "Flowers for Algernon" mirror those of the Garden of
Eden. In the Garden of Eden, God created Adam and Eve. They were completely innocent and pure, but not perfect. God warned them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good