Flowers For Algernon

Flowers for Algernon
By: Daniel Keyes
Terri Thampan 804

    As I have said in my last blog post, I went back and re-read the book "Flowers for Algernon", and yes, I have cried. Don't Judge! It's a book, you wouldn't understand! Anyways, what surprised me was that this time reading it, I got a lot more from it then I did the last time I read it.
   The story is made from the Progress Reports of one Charlie Gordon, a 30-31 years old, mentally disabled man. He undergoes surgery to make himself "Smart" as in to raise his I.Q level. He is made to make progress reports so that the doctors who did the surgery can understand how his brain develops and grows, and for us as the reader to get into Charlie's mind in a way.
    The surgery before had been tested on mice. One mouse, named Algernon, had survived and showed signs of increased intelligence for a long time. What really interested me, was the relationship between Charlie and Algernon. Algernon had been the animal experiment, while Charlie had been the human experiment. They were connected, and in the book, Charlie can feel it as well. Charlie can place himself as Algernon, but tries to stop it. I feel like this is because, they were both made "intelligent" from a surgery. Charlie says that he and Algeron are both the "Man-made" geniuses.
    Charlie, when he starts to get smarter, starts to understand more about the people in his life. He starts to fall in love with the woman who suggested he try to operation (His teacher at the Center for Retarded Adults, who had always seen him try hard to be "smart"), Alice Kinnian. They both all in love, and what really touches me deeply about this, is that Alice, was always there for Charlie. She was his teacher, she was touched by his determination to become smarter, even before he became "Smart". She ad him then connected mentally. they started to understand each other, though soon he went past her level of smartness. Though what really stood out to me was that she still was there for him, trying to help him even though she herself didn't understand half the things he said because they were over her head. They started to cherish each other, and you can't help but want them to get married, and have a life together.
   Charlie also starts changing, in a bit more of a negative way. He realizes how people made fun of him. As a human being, I am disgusted that people would treat someone that way, no matter what was "wrong" with them. You don't bully, hurt, or make fun of a mentally disabled person. It isn't their fault that some things just don't stick with them. When Charlie recounts the tales of his "friends" I couldn't help but want to cry for him, because he was like a child. He wanted friends, he wanted to fit in, and play with them, so when they laughed at him, ad they played cruel jokes on him, I couldn't help but want to punch those jerks who did that. Because all Charlie did was smile, and laugh, and think you were the best friends ever. And that broke my heart. It really did. Because how can you live with yourself, knowing you got him beat up, you beat him up, you were making fun of him, you put him down, and he still laughs and smiles and thinks your the most amazing thing ever. It disgust me, so damn much.
   The realization that people made fun of him, makes him feel as if everyone is making fun of him, even when he becomes a genius. Dr. Strauss, the Doctor more for the psychology part, and Charlie's therapist, has to tell him that no one was making fun of him, and that the reason they didn't respond to some of his comments was because they didn't want to show that they didn't know. This gave Charlie a new look at these people. He suddenly didn't hold them up in the high position he used to. He realized that he had surpassed them. But I found kinda cool, was that Charlie told himself he had to be patient with them. Even though he saw their true faces, hypocritical, lying, greedy, he told himself that they were all just human beings like him. Then he reminded himself that he once, didn't even understand them. I feel, that because Charlie was once a mentally retarded person, he could hold himself back, from becoming a more dis-likable character, from letting his negative thoughts on those who didn't understand as much as him, overwhelm him. Now, I thought he was a bit stuck up about that, maybe more than a bit, but really, when someone smart talks to someone who doesn't understand as much as them, I guess their nature is to be a bit impatient and want to like think themselves higher than them, or to like leave them out of impatience. But Charlie got over that negative bit of his own nature, because he himself was once on the lower level of intelligence.
    What I found really sad, was when Charlie started regaining his memories of the past, when he was younger, that he forgot because it "didn't stick". His mother Rose, was always pushing for him to be "normal", to have an average I.Q. I found it really sad, because she kept pushing him to go see different doctors and the like. Matt, the father, was always sticking up for Charlie, trying to get Rose to accept Charlie the way he is and to leave him alone, he seems like a kind-hearted man. Rose, was a bit more shallow, always trying to be the perfect woman, with the perfect house. She sort of reminded me of Petunia Dursley from Harry Potter, Petunia always tried to be normal, and really hated Harry who was different, as in being magical. The same thing applies here, as when as soon as Charlie's sister is born, Rose favors her, and starts to treat Charlie badly. How horrible. To be so shallow as to hate your own son for being disabled mentally; I mean, how would Charlie feel. All of a sudden, his mother who was always kind to him, started being cruel. It didn't help that His sister was a downright jerk to him, ad hated him and was mean to him. But she also had it hard, as you find out when Charlie sees her again, and you start to be a bit more sympathetic to her cause. What I found so disturbing was that Rose was willing to kill, KILL Charlie, HER OWN DAMNED SON, so that her daughter could have a normal life! That is not how you act! First of all, the mom is clearly CRAZY! Killing your son because he's different; I mean, Charlie woke up in the middle of the night to hear his parents arguing over him again (how horrible is it for a child to know that your own parents fight over you because you have a disability), and he hears his dad tell his mom to put something down before she hurts someone, and then to hear your mom say 'if he's not out, then I'm going to make him never ruin our daughter's life again!' And the, when your dad takes you away, to see your mom with this big kitchen knife! WHAT THE HECK!?! A normal child would be terrified, hurt, scared, and plain, just plain TRAUMATIZED! But poor Charlie, he gets the sense that his MOTHER INTENDED TO HURT HIM WITH IT! That's so sad, when he can sense that, coming from his own damned mom. What I actually found pretty hilarious, was the sister's name, which I purposefully omitted from other sentences mentioning her before, Norma. What a nice NORMAl name, without the L of course if you can get the joke.
       I'm going to go back to the whole Algernon-Charlie relationship here. Charlie got really offended when Dr. Nemur (The other Doctor who was a major role in the operation) kept referring to Charlie as not being human before the operation. That was pretty, I mean VERY VERY VERY RUDE! You do not insult one's humanity, especially when they are now SMARTER then you, basic rule (Must be why Charlie's SMARTER than him, if he doesn't know this rule). But, it also made me think of how Charlie and Algernon had a connection. Like, Algernon's I.Q was also increased. It made me wonder if Algernon sort of gained a self awareness besides his primal instincts, a more Human side. He seemed to recognize Charlie, even when he was deteriorating/dying. I found that was kind of cute and sad, because it showed they had a special bond.
     Another thing that interested me was the 2 Charlies. It was kind of interesting, as there was the intelligent Charlie and Not so intelligent Charlie. It's described that Not So Intelligent Charlie (NSIC) was always watching Intelligent Charlie (IC) from like a window inside his mind. I from this sort of symbolizing how back when he was younger, Charlie remembers watching the other kids play, and this time, he's watching this other self, this other him, going out and experiencing the world. I found this really sad, because, they both wanted to live, and IC tried not to forget, but he knew his own body was simply on loan from NSIC, and he had to return it. I feel like this time, IC is watching from the window, and watching over NSIC. What I found even more bittersweet was that both Charlies found a deep love and care for Alice Kinnian, whether it was as a teacher or lover, which also points to a special role she played in the lives of Charlie. I remember crying when Alice found Charlie back in the retarded center, and that he had forgotten all that they had together, and running out from the room crying. How sad to know that your loved one has now forgotten you, and you can never see them again. The last couple of pages were really sad and made me cry so much. But this is a really good book, that has so much depth and feel. And because this is such a sad post, I'll tell you something funny. This is my second favorite book. The Tale Of Desperaux is my favorite book.
Funny how both of my favorite books have pictures of Mice on the cover? xD