"I feel sick inside. Not sick like for a doctor, but inside my chest it feels empty like getting punched and heartburn at the same time.” Charlie a middle aged man, is mentally disabled and wants to be smarter. Charlie is hard working and believes he has many friends, but when charlie has a operation he and works extra hard to be “smarter” he realizes that his so called friends are not really his friends. Charlie also gets a taste of how people are in real life. In the story Flowers for Algernon, the author Daniel Keyes, portrays theme that, people need to fully understand a situation, otherwise it may lead to misfortune and deep sadness.
Charlie’s surgery lead to misfortune. Charlie's surgery lead to misfortune because he got so
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Kinnian supports the theme because she was one of the only people Charlie looked up to. Although she was a role model to Charlie and she was probably like a parent or family member to, I believe that she should have looked into the operation and since she knew Charlie, and knew how to explain stuff, like the effects of the surgery she should have explained this to Charlie before he had the operation. Mrs. Kinnian at least tried to support him and make him understand, but he was blindsided by the fact that he might become smart, “But it is very hard to be smart. They said you know it will probably be temporary. I said, yes. Mrs.Kinnian told me.” “She said I have confidence in you Charlie the way you struggled so hard to read and Write better than all the others. At the beginning of the story Mrs. Kinnian was very caring and supportive of Charlie and towards the end she didn’t seem to care about Charlie or want anything to do with Charlie it was almost like she was mad at Charlie. Which in turn caused Charlie to not have anyone who cared about him when he died, not that he would have wanted anyone there necessarily but he probably didn’t want to be alone.
That is how Daniel Keyes portrays the that “theme people need to fully understand a situation, otherwise it may lead to misfortune and deep
Charlie was glad in the end that he got to see a whole different view of life. In the end, it also shows that he would like to do it again if he could. One reason why Charlie was better off is after the surgery he is more satisfied in life then before. Charlie was proud that he got a second chance to become smart and wanted Miss. Kinnian to know that he was in the end.
The surgery worked at first, but then he gradually lost his newfound intelligence. Even Though he ended up where he began, his life was very different. Although Charlie had a nice life before the surgery, it allowed him to realize that some parts of his life were different than he thought they were and because of this he was better off after the surgery. Throughout the story Charlie begins to realize that some of his best friends actually are just making fun of him because of his low intelligence.
When she confesses the truth about the night Charlie died, she realizes that the reason she could not come clean earlier is because she hated him for dying and leaving her. His love for her beyond the grave follows her through ghosts which helps her to understand her feelings towards him. Furthermore, Charlie’s ghosts bring her to find the letters he left for her before he died, which makes her understand his actions leading up to his death. His letters detail the abuse he faced from his ex-girlfriend Jenny, who had been blackmailing him and threatening his life: “SHE SAID SHE’D GET CORSO TO KILL ME. THEN SHE SAID SHE WAS GOING TO BURN DOWN THE STORE BECAUSE SHE HATES HER STEPDAD FOR MAKING HER WORK THERE.
Charlie was lied to about how society would benefit from the surgery; the truth though, was that society would not know the achievements that Charlie Gordon created. Charlie may have become a human sacrifice as a result of the surgery; he would die as alone as when he was retarded. Charlie was too advanced for the geniuses around him, forcing him to become an even greater outcast than before the surgery. Charlie was able to see the failure of the experiment as a result of being an
Should Charlie Have Had the Operation “ I want to be smart and I’ll try real hard”. This is Charlie Grodman he is the main character I will be talking about today. He is from the book “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. I will tell you why he should of had the operation. I think that it was substantial for him to get a taste of being normal.
I think that Charlie should have the surgery because of these 3 reasons, he is super smart, he realizes a lot more things in life , and that he can power through depression. The first reason that Charlie should have the surgery is that he is
The choice of using Charlie Gordon in Daniel Keyes’ book, Flowers for Algernon, for an intelligence altering surgery was unethical and biased. The first reason that Charlie should not have been chosen for the surgery is that it left him and his life in worse condition than when before the surgery. “ I dont want Miss Kinnian to feel sorry for me. Evry body feels sorry at the factery and I dont want that eather
He experiences, psychotic behavior, convulsions, paranoia, and more, Leonard eventually goes back to the catatonic state he was in towards the beginning of the film and eventually passes away. As Well as in Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon after the surgery Charlie was using big words and, his IQ was very high, but he started to rapidly decline towards the end of the story and eventually says he is "going away" which can be inferred as the after life and/or death. It can be understood that although the results of both treatments were good at first, the long term effects were not well known and neither of characters had good long term outcomes. A third connection between Algernon's Flowers and the film's awakening is the similarity of medical ethics issues. On page 270 of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Doctors Nemur and Strauss fail to tell Charlie what the operation is, nor does Charlie have any sort of ability to understand what is happening to him.
His findings also make him feel happy which is great to come from a discovery which he made after the surgery. In Charlie’s last progress report when he is saying personal goodbyes to everyone who helped him on the journey to becoming smart, he mentions, “Evry body feels sorry... I dont want that... Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed a book or rite good [sic],” (Keyes 27). Charlie is moving out of New York because he does not want people to feel sorry for him anymore.
One reason that Charlie was better off before the surgery was because he had the motivation to learn. on page 268, Charlie Gordon says, “Mrs. Kinnian told that I was her bestest pupil in the adult nite scool becaus I tryed the hardest and reely wanted to lern.” This means that Charlie had the motivation to learn to be smart and he tried harder than anyone, so that was why she
I dont care if it herts.” He clearly does not fully grasp the implications of the surgery. Charlie only understands the operation may hurt, missing other risks like surgical complications. Failing to understand what the surgery will do to his brain, he only knows it will make him “smart”. He cannot comprehend what smart means, only wishing to be the same as others.
The setting of “Flowers for Algernon” takes place in New York during the 1960s where people with mental disabilities were treated unfairly. Even though Charlie and Max persevered through similar situations, Charlie had a different personality. Unlike Max, Charlie was innocent, extroverted, and naive. We know this because Keyes presented in the book, “Everybody laffed and we had a good time and they gave me lots of drinks and Joe said Charlie is a card when he is potted”(Keyes 40). With Charlie being outspoken, he was able express in a positive manner what he was feeling and believed.
However, after the surgery, Charlie finds intelligence was a nice treat but was far from an importance in life and only took him away from what truly mattered. One could believe Charlie was wrong to undergo the surgery because of the side effects that came with the surgery such as physical and emotional instability, and amnesia, the depresion it came with, and how he lost all of his friends and loved ones with his extreme intelligence. First off, one reason Charlie should not have gotten the surgery is the depression and suicidal thoughts it came with for
2. Charlie is an unpopular and introverted teen who 's going through a new phase in life – High school. Everything is new to him, which makes him even more lost and confused. It all starts when Charlie 's only friend from middle school committed suicide; since then Charlie 's been lonely and poignant. Additionally, his 'favorite person in the world ' Aunt Helen died in a car crash prior to the story.
Death, which is present as a plot, theme and symbol. It is the most one of the defining elements written in the modern literatures. Death, Sorrow and Isolation are just part of our lives, even though it is the miserable thing that people go through. In the poem “A Dead Rose,” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the short story “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner there are many similarities and differences. The main similarity that both author’s has developed in their poem or story is the way how characters share the same atmosphere, symbolism of sadness, and isolation.