...Daniel Keyes's science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” is about a boy named charlie gordon who was chosen to be involved in an experimental surgery that was said to triple his intelligence. the reason that he was selected for this is because he has an extremely low IQ level. although he faces many hardships throughout the story, he is determined to succeed. That is why I think that the theme of the story is that if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything. First, at the beginning of the story, charlie is just an average person with an immense desire to become smart. He was going to school after work every night and his teacher, Mrs. Kinnian said that he is one of the most hard working students in her class. In the story when charlie first takes the Rorschach test, the tester asks...
Words: 709 - Pages: 3
...‘Flowers for Algernon” Persuasive Essay 1 out of 5 American adults have an I.Q. of 70 or lower, what if we told you there was a surgery to fix it. In the science fiction story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is 37 years old, and has an I.Q. of 68. Then Charlie was offered to have a surgery to have his I.Q. tripled (204). Charlie Gordon was right to have the A.I. surgery because he contributed to science, raised his I.Q. , and got to be normal. Charlie Gordon wanted to be normal after a lifetime of being different. Charlie was different from everyone else from the beginning. Charlie states “I want to be smart like other people” (Keyes 225). This is Charlie before the surgery, he wanted to be normal more than anything....
Words: 457 - Pages: 2
...Charlie Gordon is the protagonist in the short story “Flowers of Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes. He is a 37 year old with a mental disability and an IQ of 68. Charlie works as a janitor and although he has quite a low IQ, he has a good attitude about changing his life, and to do whatever it takes for him to get smarter. Charlie goes to Miss Kinnian’s class for slow adults to get better at spelling and writing and potentially get smarter. Miss Kinnian teaches literacy skills to mentally retarded adults because she believes that being mentally disabled doesn’t make you less of a Human. Charlie and Miss Kinnian start out the story with a teacher-student relationship, but soon, it becomes a little more than back, but as the story reaches it’s...
Words: 1094 - Pages: 5
...Charlie Gordon is the protagonist of “Flowers for Algernon”, which is written by Daniel Keyes. He is a mentally retarded man who volunteers to go through a experimental brain operation. It was supposedly going to make him a genius. Charlie is determined to become an astute man, but lots of obstacles get in his way. Charlie is a static character since his spelling, low intelligence level, and his belief in superstitions has stayed the same all through the story. His spelling in the beginning of the story is comparable to his spelling in the end. It is seen through his progress reports. His spelling was terrible at the beginning of the story since he has an IQ, an intelligence quotient, of sixty eight. This number is lower than the IQ of an average person, so a bunch of things in his daily life are affected, such as his ability to learn, and remember things. Having a hard time to learn means that Charlie could not remember how to spell. The quote, “I think I faled it”, is a segment from the beginning of the story, proving his spelling skills are not too strong. His not too strong spelling skills still move on towards the end of the story....
Words: 693 - Pages: 3
...Keyes’s Experiment: Ignorance to Intellect, and Back Again What would happen if scientists found a way to exponentially increase human intelligence through a simple medical procedure? In his most famous novel, Flowers for Algernon, American author Daniel Keyes not only poses this provoking question, but shares his own answer through the story of Charlie Gordon, a mentally disadvantaged man whose IQ skyrockets within a matter of months after an experimental operation. Through Charlie’s eyes, readers are able to experience the ascent from mental incapability to profound intelligence, as well as the range of emotions that accompany it. However, Keyes was a far cry from mentally incompetent, and although he could not relate to Charlie’s IQ of...
Words: 1887 - Pages: 8
...“Charlie Gordon “wants to be smart.” His is a passion which leads to risk greatly and achieve greatly--at great cost.” (“CAN HUMAN INTELLIGENCE BE INCREASED?”). Charlie Gordon from the story Flowers for Algernon had a lifelong goal to be smart, so he decides to take part in an intelligence-altering surgery. Due to the operation, his IQ increases to 208, but this comes with side effects and death. In the story he competes with a mouse named Algernon, later they become friends. The doctors in the story were Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur, and the lab worker's name was Burt. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, doctors Strauss and Nemur made the wrong choice by selecting innocent Charlie Gordon for the intelligence-altering surgery. Dr. Strauss...
Words: 753 - Pages: 4
...“Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart. I want to be smart.” (Keyes, 53) Is what Charlie Gordon tells the readers as he is writing in his progress report. In the story “Flowers For Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon has an IQ of 68. He doesn’t spell very well and really tries as hard as he can to fix that. There is an operation that helps him and triples his IQ, but there are many side effects. He will eventually die of brain deterioration which ultimately makes him end up moving away so that his teacher, Miss Kinnian, and the doctors don’t feel sad. I really do not think Charlie should have gotten the operation. First and foremost, he will eventually die of brain deterioration. After Charlie triples his IQ, he starts some more research about his operation and the mouse they did it on first, Algernon. After a while, Algernon dies. Charlie gets a little suspicious and does an autopsy. He finds out that he died because of the operation and he lost a lot of brain mass. “Dissection shows that my predictions were right. His brain had decreased in weight and there was a general smoothing out of cerebral convolutions as well as deepening and broadening or brain fissures. I guess the same thing is or will soon be happening to me.” (Keyes, 80) He is realizing that his brain is doing the same thing....
Words: 538 - Pages: 3
...Flowers for Algernon Is knowledge the key to happiness? Does the fact that you know almost everything, complete your life? Or does it make you distant to your friends and family? These are some of the main questions Daniel Keys raise in his prizewinning fictional novel “Flowers for Algernon” from 1966. The Novel is about the mentally challenged Charlie Gordon, who will do anything to learn, and become ‘a smart person’. Charlie accepts the terms of an experiment, which will triple his IQ, even though he is not told of the consequences of the experiment. The novel “Flowers for Algernon” is written in the diary form, and the story features a first person narrator called Charlie Gordon. The novel is combined of several progress reports that show the current intelligence of Charlie. As we follow his everyday life, we get detailed information about his increase in artificial intelligence. Throughout the story the reader almost gets a feeling that there are multiple narrators telling the story. Nevertheless the sudden huge growth in grammatical skills is not simply because of another narrator expressing the story, it it’s merely due to the fact that the experiment triples Charlie’s IQ. This experiment takes Charlie’s writing skills to a point, where it’s almost flawless. Having this in mind, the story in a way switches narrator three times. The story starts of with Charlie before his operation, where he’s not exactly mentally gifted. Actually he would be referred to as a mentally...
Words: 1101 - Pages: 5
...While Daniel Keyes in “Flowers for Algernon,” portrayed hope for a mentally impaired man, Charlie Gordon, the operation was unsuccessful with devastating consequences. Therefore, Charlie should not have had the surgery; nevertheless, Charlie did not regret the surgery. After the operation, the conflicts between societies developed into something existent for Charlie that he had never experienced before. Charlie was thrilled with the research in effort to make him an ordinary human. What Charlie could not apprehend is that he was merely used as a human experiment to modify other mentally impaired individuals. The failure of the operation permitted Charlie, as a genius, to recognize every individual problem. Following the surgery, impediments...
Words: 777 - Pages: 4
...William Rumelhart Mrs. Veitch Period:2 Date:2/15/18 The Flower Wilted, but Left Behind its Seeds Imagine a bowl of candy for a hungry stomach, with the sweet juices of the candy oozing in every bite. Charlie Gordon’s surgery is like a dive into a bowl of candy, where every sweet pop is a new friend, another reassurance of “fitting in.”The science fiction short story “Flowers for Algernon,” written by Daniel Keyes, follows the life of a developmentally disabled adult, Charlie Gordon and his experience after receiving an experimental, intelligence enhancing surgery. Unfortunately, Charlie’s intellect crashed as quickly as it rose; in a couple months. Many might...
Words: 809 - Pages: 4
...Chipola College Coping with a Mental Illness. Haden Searcy BSC 2086 001-151 Mrs. Terolyn Lay 03/18/2015 Mental illnesses can intensely impact the life of the affected as well as everyone around them. People that have a mental disorder can have a tough time with something as simple as tying their shoe, cooking their own breakfast, or even just paying attention. There are services and treatment that can help someone with a mental disorder. Psychosocial treatments may be helpful to someone with a mental disorder by providing help and support so that someone will understand how they are feeling. Psychosocial treatment also gives education as well as guidance to people that have a mental disorder. Some psychosocial therapies are self-help and support groups, interpersonal therapy, and many more. These give guidance to someone suffering with a mental disorder as well as peace of mind in knowing they can talk to someone and get advice and help through their day to day struggles. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can also help someone overcome a mental illness. Electroconvulsive therapy is when a doctor sends electric currents to the brain to try and trigger a brief seizure. The seizure can cause changes to the brain chemistry and change someone’s mental illness for the better. When other treatments do not work, they may turn to electroconvulsive therapy. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is also something that may reverse mental illness. Transcranial magnetic stimulation...
Words: 1569 - Pages: 7
...professor and one of his successful students. Throughout the book, Morrie encourages us all to strengthen our relationships with each other and fully experience life as it happens. His words are extremely meaningful, because he sets out to share the truths of death, as he loses all function of his body. This book moved me to express, to live, and to just be. I’m extremely analytical about various aspects of my life, and this book truly taught me to simply let it go and live for the sake of living. Out of my Mind by Sharon Draper also influenced me in a similar way. In this novel she describes the life of a physically, but not mentally, disabled girl and the challenges she faced daily. This book immediately reminded me of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, like Charlie Gordon, the young girl begins to comprehend the cruelty of her classmates and the constant embarrassment of her dysfunctional body. The entire ordeal was absolutely heartbreaking, because she simply could not express how she was feeling. It made me view life as an experience not to be taken granted for. Everyone’s “norm” is different, and we should all aspire to accept and understand that more clearly instead of wasting time on materialistic and aesthetic...
Words: 839 - Pages: 4
...Unit 1 Title: Flowers for Algernon Suggested Time: 5-7 days (45 minutes per day) Common Core ELA Standards: RL.8.1, RL.8.2, RL.8.3; W8.1, W8.4, W8.9; SL8.1; L.8.1, L.8.2 [Additional Tasks: RI8.8, RI8.9] Teacher Instructions Preparing for Teaching 1. Read the Big Ideas and Key Understandings and the Synopsis. Please do not read this to the students. This is a description for teachers about the big ideas and key understanding that students should take away after completing this task. Big Ideas and Key Understandings: * Students should work through the idea that different levels of intelligence, emotional and intellectual, lead to different types of interactions with people and society. * Students should evaluate moral/ethical decisions of characters. Synopsis A mentally challenged man is presented with an opportunity to have an operation that will triple his intelligence. The story chronicles the journey that he takes as his intelligence progresses and regresses. 2. Read the entire selection, keeping in mind the Big Ideas and Key Understandings. 3. Re-read the text while noting the stopping points for the Text Dependent Questions and teaching Tier II/academic vocabulary. During Teaching 1. Anticipatory Set: Discuss the following questions with students to guide deeper understanding of the main themes of the story: What is intelligence? Can a person ever be too smart? What is meant by the saying “ignorance is bliss”? 2. Students read the...
Words: 6322 - Pages: 26
...| | CCRS | CONTENT STANDARDS | EVIDENCE OF STUDENT ATTAINMENT | RESOURCES | 91929384130 | EIGHTH GRADE: TO BE COMPLETED THROUGHOUT THE COURSEREADING LITERATURE: RANGE OF READING AND LEVEL OF TEXT COMPLEXITY By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of Grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. [RL.8.10]READING STANDARDS FOR INFORMATIONAL TEXT: RANGE OF READING AND LEVEL OF TEXT COMPLEXITY By the end of the year, read and comprehend literary nonfiction at the high end of the Grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. [RI.8.10]WRITING STANDARDS: RANGE OF WRITING Write routinely over extended time frames, including time for research, reflection, and revision, and shorter time frames such as a single sitting or a day or two for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. [W.8.10]KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGE Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening. [L.8.3]VOCABULARY ACQUISTION AND USE Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. [L.8.6]SPEAKING AND LISTENING STANDARDS Engage effectively in a range of...
Words: 8518 - Pages: 35
