Dhara Patel
Mrs. Huhn
Honors English II
8.27.14
Being artificially modified worth the risk? It is astonishing how quickly you can go from being dumb to intelligent. In Daniel Keyes's novel Flower for Algernon, Charlie Gordon has difficulty improving emotionally and intellectually as he progresses, struggles and perseveres throughout his life. Charlie has great interest in learning, and desperately wants to be intelligent. Charlie is a thirty-two year old retarded man who partakes in a surgery to boost his intelligence, which has only been tested on a rat named Algernon. After the operation, Charlie then learns that being intelligent isn't all that great because people wouldn't see the same person in him. Charlie had such a desire to learn and his only wish was to become intelligent. Charlie intellectually before the operation wasn't intelligent, but had a strong desire to be smart. All his life “"... [he] wantid to be smart and not dumb and [his] mom always told [him] to try and lern just like Miss Kinnian tells [him] but its very hard to be smart and even when [he] lern something in Miss Kinnians class at the school [he] ferget alot.". (7) Since he has a strong will to learn, he puts in a lot of effort to do so, even when it gets tough and he can't remember. Throughout his life, he always felt left out because he wasn't as smart as the other kids. He always had wished to be smart and intelligent. Charlie now has “friends” at the bakery which laugh at him because he is cognitively impaired, he wasn't sure why they laughed at him, but he just went along with it. Furthermore, Charlie is emotionally friendly, and also very happy. Charlie is very positive and he believes that he can become intelligent after the operation. He “ hopes they use [him for the operation] because Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make [him] smart. [He] wants to be smart”(1). He is happy and excited to learn and has hopes of becoming intelligent if he gets chosen for the operation. Having that operation to him means that he gets a second chance. Charlie is a great subject for the experiment due to his motivation and his eagerness to be smart. After the operation took place, he had gotten smarter and smarter everyday which eventually led to him being a genius. He also contemplates on the way people have treated him in the past. He feels ashamed and embarrassed for being so naive “ [He] never knew Joe and Frank and the others liked to have [him] around all the time to make fun of [him]. Now [he] know what it means when they say 'to pull a Charlie Gordon.' [He's] ashamed"(142). He didn't know that his 'friends' were actually making fun of him the whole time. Now, he understands they were never his friends. Charlie because the whole time, who he thought were his friends actually were making fun of him. Charlie has become so advanced intellectually that he is more intelligent than his doctors. He is also finding it difficult to communicate with other people now, since he has become a genius. He said “ I find that I don't communicate with people much any more”(187). Charlie feels he is too smart for everyone around him and thinks of less intelligent people around him such as doctors irritating, which is why he does not communicate with people as much. Charlie is so