flowers for algernon theme essay

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Flowers for Algernon | Summary, Analysis & Themes

Summary of flowers for algernon by daniel keyes.

Flowers for Algernon  is a poignant science fiction short story written by  Daniel Keyes . Originally published in 1959 as a short story, it later expanded into a full-length novel. The narrative is presented in the form of progress reports written by the protagonist, Charlie Gordon. It explores various themes such as the nature of intelligence, the ethics of scientific experimentation, and the human condition. It serves as a poignant reflection on the complexities of human emotions, relationships, and the potential consequences of tampering with intelligence. Daniel Keyes was an American author best known for his science fiction works.  ‘Flowers for Algernon ’ remains Keyes’ most well-known and celebrated work, winning the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960 and the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966. 

Flowers for Algernon | Summary  

He discusses his experiences with various tests. He struggles with the inkblot and Thematic Apperception tests but shows determination. Eventually, Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss decide to use Charlie for an experiment to triple his intelligence surgically. Charlie is excited and grateful for the opportunity and expresses his determination to become smart. He undergoes the surgery and after the operation, he experiences mixed emotions and discomfort. Charlie finds it challenging to keep up with Algernon, the laboratory mouse in the experiments and tests. He returns to work at the factory but keeps his surgery a secret. Charlie’s colleagues make jokes about him, not understanding his transformation. His dislike for Algernon persists but Dr. STrauss convinces him to keep coming in for the tests. He also gives him a television to enhance his learning. Charlie expresses doubts about his progress and struggles to sleep due to the device. He also missed Ms. Kinnian. Later he describes his experiences at an office party where everyone seems to be making fun of him while his naive self is clueless.

In a new diary entry, he expresses his joy at being able to beat Algernon in the race multiple times. However, later he starts feeling sorry for the mouse. Miss Kinnian visits him and encourages him, praising his efforts and progress. Miss Kinnian acknowledges his learning speed and tells him not to be disheartened if people aren’t as nice as he thinks. He describes the various things he has been learning recently. However, he experiences a sense of emptiness and discomfort after attending a party where he becomes the subject of ridicule and realizes that his friends enjoy making fun of him. 

He continues to make progress in his intelligence and learning feels better about his abilities and is reading and understanding more. He still struggles with feelings of anger and insecurity due to past ridicule. Charlie questions the concept of LO. (a measure of intelligence) and the Rorschach Test which the doctors plan on conducting on him. Charlie expresses a desire to learn more about psychology to gain a better understanding of these assessments.

Charlie Gordon faces rejection and isolation as his newfound intelligence sets him apart from those around him and he is fired from his job due to a petition signed by his coworkers. He also feels ashamed at not being able to write the progress reports for which the laboratory pays him. He reflects on his opinions of Dr Nemur and Dr Strauss.

Charlie observes changes in Algernon’s behavior and deterioration, leading him to believe that the same fate awaits him. He is asked to stop coming to the lab, but he continues his research independently in order to save himself. Charlie’s mental deterioration becomes evident as he experiences forgetfulness, emotional instability, and loss of coordination. Algernon soon dies. Charlie becomes increasingly isolated, irritable, and suicidal. He reflects on his troubled childhood and the absence of his parents. Charlie struggles with reading and writing, often forgetting words and their meanings. His television set is broken, and he experiences frequent headaches. Mrs. Flynn, his landlady, calls a doctor to examine him, but Charlie becomes angry when the doctor patronizes him. 

He realizes he needs to find work to pay his rent and decides to return to his old job. When he returns, he is initially met with suspicion but receives support and encouragement from some of his old colleagues, including Joe Carp and Frank Reilly. Charlie appreciates their friendship and assistance. Miss Kinnian tries to visit him, but he pushes her away, pretending not to like her anymore. However, deep down, he still loves her. 

Flowers for Algernon | Analysis

Tony Ullyatt  uses a  parabolic metaphor in order to describe Charlie’s ‘curative’ journey . This starts off in an unhealthy state, improves, but ultimately descends back into disease. The inverted U-curve is a good analogy for this. Charlie Gordon, the protagonist of the book, is the first person to undergo experimental surgery to treat his mental retardation by increasing his intelligence to at least a level approaching normality. Through a number of progress reports he produces, Charlie charts his journey through the experiment and its effects. While giving a description of what happens in Algernon’s situation, the reports’ wording exemplifies his development. Charlie experiences a substantial increase in his intelligence followed by an equally rapid decline. According to Ulyatt, ‘promise, threat and the trauma of failure’, characterized by the ‘ascent, apogee and descent’, define the structure of the story.

Brent Walter Cline   argues that the success of David Keye’s writing appears to be founded on a straightforward interpretation of the book in which people with mental disabilities are treated with good-natured kindness. However, a closer examination of Charlie Gordon’s portrayal is quite problematic. Readers are originally expected to feel sorry for the pre-operative Charlie. Later, Charlie’s mental impairment soon takes on the figurative terror of oblivion that no character is able to defeat. This return to his preoperative state turns the novel’s rhetoric into that of horror. 

Flowers for Algernon | Themes

The theme of  Charlie’s perception of Algernon  is a significant aspect. Initially, Charlie sees Algernon as a competition, someone he has to beat in tests and tasks. However soon he begins to develop empathy and a sense of connection with Algernon. He sees Algernon as a fellow being who has also experienced the effects of the experiment, and their shared journey visualizes the bond between them. Algernon serves as a mirror and foil to Charlie. As Algernon’s intelligence initially surpasses Charlie’s, Charlie observes Algernon’s behavior and performance in the maze, learning from him and striving to emulate his success. Algernon’s decline also foreshadows Charlie’s own regression. Algernon’s death deeply affects Charlie. It serves as a turning point in the narrative, leading Charlie to confront his own mortality and the inevitability of his regression. 

Flowers for Algernon | Title

Flowers for algernon | character sketch.

Charlie Gordon:  Charlie is a 32-year-old man with a low IQ. He is kind, gentle, and eager to please. He is also incredibly trusting and naive, which frequently results in him being taken advantage of. Charlie’s awareness of his surroundings and the people in it grows as his intelligence rises. He never compromises on his fundamental goodness and compassion, though.

Dr. Strauss:  Dr. Strauss is a psychiatrist who is involved in the experiment to increase intelligence. He is a good and compassionate man who is worried about the experiment’s moral ramifications. In the text, Dr. Strauss is a calming presence. He makes an effort to strike a balance between Professor Nemur’s ambition and his care for Charlie. He is the one who also assists Charlie in adjusting to the psychological and emotional impacts of the experiment.

Flowers for Algernon | Literary Devices

‘ …Burt, who is in charge of the experimental animals, tells me that Algernon is changing. He is less co-operative; he refuses to run the maze any more; general motivation has decreased. And he hasn’t been eating. Everyone is upset about what this may mean… ’

In addition, Keyes also uses  similes and metaphors  throughout the story to improve on visualization. 

‘ You’re like a giant sponge now, soaking things in. Facts, figures, general knowledge .’ ‘ There are many levels, Charlie, like steps on a giant ladder that take you up higher and higher to see more and more of the world around you. ’

‘ We went through the cards slowly. One of them looked like a pair of bats tugging at something. Another one looked like two men fencing with swords .’

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Disability Studies › Analysis of Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon

Analysis of Daniel Keyes’s Flowers for Algernon

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on May 24, 2021

“Flowers for Algernon,” first published in 1959, is considered a landmark work in both science fiction and disability literature. It was expanded into a novel of the same name, which was published in 1966. Both the short story and the novel consist of a series of progress reports that track Charlie Gordon, a 37-year-old man suffering from mental retardation, through an experimental procedure designed to triple his I.Q. Charlie is the first human to receive the operation, though it has been successfully completed on a laboratory mouse, Algernon. Charlie’s early reports are riddled with spelling and grammatical errors; a month after the operation, the reports are grammatically correct. Within two months Charlie complains that the doctors in charge of the experiment cannot read Hindustani and Chinese. This rapid growth in intelligence from an I.Q. of 68 to triple that figure is accompanied by a crippling isolation from other people. A decline in his intelligence is first predicted by Algernon’s rapid regression, and Charlie soon conducts experiments into his own condition. He finds that his regression will be as rapid as his ascent to genius. The last progress reports are similar in style to those at the beginning, and Charlie closes the story by telling the doctors that he will be leaving New York, presumably to enter a state-operated home.

Experimentation is the predominant theme in “Flowers for Algernon.” At the height of his intelligence, Charlie complains that Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur, the doctors conducting the experiment, are not the mental giants he once perceived them to be. Some of his complaining can be accurately perceived as hubris—his aforementioned complaint about the professors’ knowledge of foreign languages is certainly unreasonable, considering their wide reading knowledge in Western languages. Much of Charlie’s observations about the doctors, though, can be interpreted as a nuanced critique on the medical establishment. The doctors argue at several points in the story, and the arguments reveal that they are often more interested in self-advancement than in Charlie’s development. Dr. Nemur is especially held to ridicule because he is primarily driven by his wife’s prodding. If the doctors are in a certain sense using Charlie, then the parallelism between him and Algernon takes on more significance. In the short story, Charlie is implicitly similar to Algernon because the doctors use him for advancement of their careers. The novel makes this theme more explicit through confrontations between Charlie and Dr. Nemur about the latter’s attitude toward the former. Dr. Nemur states that Charlie is a new creation of sorts, that he has achieved personhood through the experiment.

Daniel Keyes/Los Angeles Times

Charlie’s status as experimental subject comes into focus at the end of “Flowers for Algernon,” when he researches the consequences of the experiment conducted that made him a genius. The turning point in both the short story and the novel happens in a diner: A retarded young man breaks a plate and the customers, including Charlie, laugh at him. The moment defines the rest of the story because Charlie realizes how deeply he has isolated himself from other people during his ascent to genius. Although he has gained many gifts, he has also lost his meaningful relationships; thus, the connection with the retarded young man motivates Charlie to pursue research for the betterment of all who suffer from retardation. His research is set in opposition to the research of Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur because it is conducted solely to improve the lives of other people. Moreover, Charlie readily accepts his discouraging conclusion— namely, that the experiment conducted on him has no practical value because of the swift regression into retardation—and asks that the results be published. Charlie’s research can be read, therefore, as a commentary on medical experimentation and a call to consider the subjects involved—particularly those with limited abilities—as individuals.

The emphasis on experimentation in “Flowers for Algernon” can largely be explained by its roots in science fiction. Critics have observed that the experiment conducted on Charlie and his subsequent regression into mental retardation indicate that “Flowers for Algernon” properly belongs in the science fiction genre. Moreover, the short story and the novel won the most prestigious awards in science fiction (respectively, the Hugo award and the Nebula award).

“Flowers for Algernon” can also be classified as disability literature because its explorations delve into fundamental questions about the place of disabled people in modern American society. Charlie’s descriptions of other retarded people are telling—he speaks of vacant smiles and empty eyes. This perception is remarkably similar to Dr. Nemur’s assertion in the novel that Charlie did not properly exist as a person before the experiment. Disability remains an important public policy issue, which contributes to the enduring popularity of “Flowers for Algernon.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY Biklen, Douglas. “Constructing Inclusion: Lessons from Critical, Disability Narratives.” International Journal of Inclusive Education 4 (2000): 337–353. Clareson, Thomas D. Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction: The Formative Period, 1926–1970. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990, 231–233. Keyes, Daniel. Algernon, Charlie, and I: A Writer’s Journey. New York: Harvest-Harcourt, 2004. Moser, Patrick. “An Overview of Flowers for Algernon.” In Exploring Novels. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale, 1998. Rabkin, Eric S. “The Medical Lessons of Science Fiction.” Literature and Medicine 20 (2001): 13–25. Scholes, Robert. Structural Fabulation: An Essay on Fiction of the Future. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1975. Small, Robert, Jr. “Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.” In Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints, edited by Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress, and John M. Kean, 249–255. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1993. Whittington-Walsh, Fiona. “From Freaks to Savants: Disability and Hegemony from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1933) to Sling Blade (1997).” Disability & Society 17 (2002): 695–707.

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Flowers For Algernon

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• Flowers For Algernon: Summary: Progress Report 1
• Flowers For Algernon: Novel Summary: Progress Report 1
• Flowers For Algernon: Novel Summary: Progress Report 2
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• Flowers For Algernon: Character Profiles
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Flowers For Algernon: Theme Analysis

• Flowers For Algernon: Top Ten Quotes
• Flowers For Algernon: Biography: Daniel Keyes
• Flowers For Algernon: Essay Q&A

Man's Inhumanity to Man One of the primary themes in Flowers for Algernon centers on man's inhumanity to man. Though the novel doesn't involve the horrific crimes against humanity seen in war or unjust social policy, we do see humans mistreating each other throughout the novel. The novel suggests that even when we have the best of intentions, such as perfecting a means of enhancing the minds of mentally challenged individuals, humans frequently mistreat each other. The theme emerges early in the novel, at Donner's Bakery. Prior to his operation, Charlie is happy with the way his co-workers at the bakery treat him, believing that they are truly his friends. Yet we see that they not only mistreat him but they also take pleasure in it. Besting Charlie is a game, completely at Charlie's expense, of course. As Charlie's intellect increases, he recognizes that his co-workers workers aren't really his friends; they are simply using him to feel better about themselves. Following the operation, when Charlie returns to the bakery and uses his intellect to improve some of the baking equipment, not only do the other workers begin to resent him, they actually band together to get him fired. Unfortunately, even Charlie falls victim to this tendency. As his intelligence surpasses even that of Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, he develops a certain arrogance. His reaction to the pregnant woman who tries to pick him up in the park is one of disgust. He never deliberately mistreats others, but it is clear that his personality takes on a less humane tint as he becomes more intelligent. Thus, the novel seems to suggest that it is human nature to need to feel superior to others. We also see this theme in the experiment itself. Although the underlying goal of the operation is to improve the ability of mentally challenged people, the reality is that Nemur and Strauss are primarily using the experiment to build their careers or to satisfy their own egos. This becomes clear when Charlie and Algernon are the main attractions at the annual psychology conference; they are mere objects for display, instead of distinct living beings. We also learn that the experiment was performed on Charlie even though Strauss and Nemur suspected the effects might not be permanent. Charlie is, quite literally, their human guinea pig. We again see the theme in the Warren Home. The novel presents no direct evidence of physical abuse of the home's patients. However, the fact that they are broadly categorized into the "tidy" and "untidy"-as one might divide animals-and are more or less warehoused at the facility implies a certain amount of sanctioned neglect by society. Patients of the Warren Home are, in effect, swept under society's carpet. Finally, we see the theme in the way Charlie's family treats him. His mother initially denies the reality of his condition and then works to have him institutionalized. At best, his father adopts a policy of benign neglect. His sister resents the ridicule she must face as the result of having a mentally challenged sibling and lies to her parents about Charlie's behavior. The Illusion of Progress Another theme in the novel surrounds the notion of progress. We generally think of science as the prime mover of progress. Many people believe that through scientific method we are able to identify, scrutinize, and eventually correct all of the world's flaws. The novel, however, suggests that this notion may be nothing more than an illusion. It's interesting that the entire novel is composed of a series of progress reports written by Charlie. As we move through his journal, we fall into the trap of believing that Charlie is making progress. And by most scientific measures he is making progress: his IQ increases, the physical boundaries of his world enlarge, his interaction with other people becomes more sophisticated, and his imagination flourishes. At the same time, however, Charlie's life becomes more difficult and more painful. His enhanced personal relationships eventually erode, as he cuts off ties with Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, lapses into an estranged relationship with Alice Kinnian, and has a rather meaningless affair with Fay Lillman. In addition, his enhanced memories of his family result in difficult reunions with his parents and sister. It is true that Charlie's intellect expands tremendously as a result of the operation, so much so that he is eventually able to deduce the experiment's main flaw. Yet this knowledge isn't sufficient to allow him to reverse-or even to keep in check-his mental regression. Of course, Charlie's eventual decline calls into question whether or not any real progress has been made. Charlie states that he is glad he had the opportunity to experience the world fully, if only for a short time, yet we can't help but wonder if the brief benefit was worth the cost. We tend to view progress as a linear process, but it appears that the experiment has moved Charlie in a circle: he ends up at nearly the same point where he started. Is this progress?

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Flowers for Algernon

By daniel keyes.

• Flowers for Algernon Summary

Starting on March 3, a mentally disabled man named Charlie Gordon starts coming into a lab as a test subject for a possible experiment. He is 32 years old, and works as a floor sweeper and performs other lowly tasks at a bakery. He found this job at the bakery through his Uncle Herman , who was best friends with Mr. Donner , the owner. Charlie does poorly on the tests that the lab shows him, such as the Rorschach, Thematic Apperception, and maze races against a white lab mouse named Algernon . Still, his teacher at the school for mentally disabled adults has set Charlie up as a candidate for this experiment because of his extreme motivation. Charlie shows the most enthusiasm for learning and desire to be smarter out of all the candidates, even those smarter than him. Psychology Professor Nemur and neurosurgeon Dr. Strauss select Charlie. The operation will artificially enhance a man’s IQ to a superhuman level. Charlie undergoes the operation and slowly increases in intelligence levels. Nemur and Strauss give Charlie a machine which teaches him while he sleeps, while also helping bring to the surface his repressed memories. Eventually Charlie’s learning skyrockets, and his writing, reading, and thinking all improve. He is promoted at work, and his coworkers begin to resent him. He remembers things from his childhood, such as the relationships in his family. His mother desperately wanted him to be normal, and would beat him as punishment. His father sided with him but often gave up on him. He also has a sister named Norma, who was quite mean and condescending to him when they were children. Charlie develops feelings for Alice Kinnian , his teacher from the school for mentally disabled adults and also his tutor while he is learning at the lab. Charlie begins to realize that Nemur and Strauss are also only normal human beings who hope that the experiment goes well. Charlie takes Miss Kinnian out on a couple of dates, and while she clearly reciprocates his feelings on the second one, they are unable to move forward because Charlie hallucinates his teenager self watching them every time he tries to kiss her. Charlie’s intelligence continues to rise and rise. His coworkers at the bakery petition for him to be fired, and Mr. Donner sadly lets him go. Charlie’s intelligence surpasses that of Alice’s, and makes her feel inferior; he also realizes that he no longer loves her because of his intelligence, and only feels gratitude towards her. Nemur, Strauss, and the graduate student on the team Burt Selden take Charlie with them to present at the International Psychological Convention in Chicago. There, Charlie is infuriated by the way Nemur treats him as merely a lab specimen, and how he did not really even consider Charlie a human being before the procedure. Charlie also realizes at this presentation that his enhanced intelligence is only temporary, and that he has limited time before he slides back into mental impairment. Charlie lets Algernon out of his cage, wreaking havoc at the conference, and then takes the mouse with him and flies back to New York. He begins living on his own in New York, continuing his studies and research. He befriends the artist Fay Lillman living across the apartment hall, and strikes up a purely sexual relationship with her. Charlie realizes that whatever he does with his time left must be meaningful for other people. He contacts the research sponsoring foundation directly, and is given permission to conduct independent studies on the experiment at hand. Alice visits Charlie and he realizes that he does still love her; she learns that he is still alive. When Algernon shows increasing erratic and injurious behavior, Charlie contacts the original lab team, and goes back there to finish his research on why the enhanced intelligence will not last. Charlie realizes that intelligence that is not tempered with human affection means nothing. He expresses this angrily at a cocktail party with Nemur and Strauss, and finally confronts Nemur about his treatment of the mentally disabled. Charlie also prepares for his impending regression, and feels as though he has only borrowed the life of the former Charlie, who is still waiting to get it back. Charlie visits the Warren State Home and Training Center, an institution for the mentally disabled, where he plans to go after he has regressed. Charlie finishes his research and titles it the Algernon-Gordon Effect, and explains that the mental deterioration holds a direct relationship with the artificial increase in intelligence. He has hopes that his research will help many people in the future. Charlie visits his mother and sister and somewhat resolves things with them. He realizes that his mother has developed dementia. Charlie is finally able to consummate his love to Alice, after solving repressed sexual issues with his mother and sister. Algernon dies, after showing grave signs of deterioration first in motivation for activity, and then general motivation to live. Charlie buries him in the backyard of the lab. Charlie’s own deterioration follows, and while Alice lives with him for a short while, he soon asks her to leave. As he regresses back into his former state, Charlie even reclaims his old job at the bakery for a short while, and once accidentally attends one of his old classes that Alice teaches, causing her to cry and flee the classroom. He decides to institutionalize himself on November 21, and his last wish is for someone to remember to put flowers on Algernon’s grave in the backyard.

Flowers for Algernon Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Flowers for Algernon is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

after hearing the story of charlie's last night at home, what is ironic about the shave he receives at the barbers shop?

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A movie theater is offering a special summer pass. Passholders pay $8 per movie for the first 5 movies and watch additional movies for free, up to a maximum of 15 movies. The function C gives the total cost, in dollars, for a passholder to watch N movies

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Flowers for algernon

Charlie dislikes being pitied. He was once "smart" and now he is no longer. He does not want to be around people's condescending judgments of him any longer. Sad and disillusioned, Charlie feels that he needs normal, familiar surroundings, so he...

Study Guide for Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon study guide contains a biography of Daniel Keyes, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

• Language, Shame, and Charlie Gordon
• Freedom of Choice in Human Engineering: Charlie's Lack of Autonomy in 'Flowers for Algernon'
• The Use of Point of View to Promote Estrangement in “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang and “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes

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Flowers for Algernon

Daniel keyes.

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The novel is made up of a series of progress reports written by a man named Charlie Gordon . As the novel begins, Charlie Gordon is mentally disabled, with an IQ of 68. He works at a bakery and attends classes at night to learn how to read and write. Because of Charlie’s motivation, his teacher, Alice Kinnian , recommends him for a cutting-edge experimental surgery designed by Professor Harold Nemur and Doctor Strauss . Strauss and Nemur believe that they can greatly increase intelligence through this operation. They’ve already performed their surgery on a mouse named Algernon , who has become super-intelligent. Charlie competes with Algernon in mazes and other intelligence tests, and loses every time.

Charlie undergoes the surgery, and is told that soon he’ll have an IQ of 185. At first, Charlie doesn’t feel intelligent at all. He continues working at the bakery, where his coworkers tease him and bully him for his clumsiness. In the evenings, Charlie continues meeting with Alice, who tells him to remain patient. Charlie begins to have vague flashbacks to his childhood—a period of time that he barely remembers.

At work, Charlie slowly shows signs of increased intelligence. He becomes adept at mixing dough, and gets a raise for his efforts. He has wet dreams, which Dr. Strauss—who acts as his therapist—explains to him. Charlie also beats Algernon in intelligence tests. At the same time, he begins to have more frequent flashbacks: he remembers that his mother, Rose Gordon , would spank him for being bad, and that she vehemently denied that he was mentally challenged. He also had a sister named Norma Gordon , who hated Charlie for getting too much attention from their parents.

Alice teaches Charlie grammar and encourages him to read, and Charlie quickly becomes more and more intelligent. He begins to alienate his coworkers, who resent him for being smarter than they are. Charlie also notices that Alice is very pretty, and he tries to pluck up the courage to ask her out.

Charlie confronts an ethical dilemma when he discovers that his coworker Gimpy , who’s always been gruff but kind to him, is stealing from the bakery. Charlie asks Professor Nemur for advice, but Nemur says that it’s an unimportant issue. Alice urges Charlie to resolve the dilemma by exploring his own values and beliefs, and Charlie is able to convince Gimpy to stop stealing anymore.

Encouraged by his discussions with Alice, Charlie asks Alice on a date. The date goes well, and Charlie decides that he’s in love. Alice tells Charlie that he’s being too hasty, however: although he’s very intelligent now, he still has the emotional intelligence of a child. Alice and Charlie go on other dates, and Charlie slowly realizes that he’s vastly more intelligent than Alice.

Charlie is fired from his job at the bakery—his coworkers, furious with his new intelligence, sign a petition asking for his immediate dismissal. Charlie is hurt. The only coworker who doesn’t sign the petition, Fanny Birden , says goodbye to Charlie, and warns him that it was a sin for Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. Angry and upset, Charlie goes to Alice’s apartment, where he tries and fails to be physically intimate with her.

Charlie continues to work closely with Professor Nemur. He flies out to Chicago for a medical conference, where Nemur’s discovery is supposed to be one of the highlights. At the conference, Charlie begins to resent Nemur’s condescending attitude—although Charlie is now far more intelligent than Nemur, Nemur continues to regard him as a “guinea pig.” Charlie embarrasses Nemur in front of his colleagues, and frees Algernon from his cage. Together, Charlie and Algernon leave Chicago, with Charlie resolving to live life on his own terms from now on.

Back in New York, Charlie finds an apartment for himself. He meets women late at night and attempts to have sex with them, but he frightens them away. His fortunes improve after he meets his apartment neighbor, a strong, energetic woman named Fay Lillman . Fay is uninhibited, and tells Charlie that she’d like to have sex with him. Meanwhile, Charlie remembers an episode from his childhood in which his sister Norma became furious with him. Norma wanted to have a dog, but their father, Matt Gordon , refused to give her one unless she let Charlie play with it. Charlie has another vivid flashback of his mother spanking him after he accidentally embarrassed a girl at his school. Charlie visits his father, who now works in a barbershop in the Bronx. Matt doesn’t recognize Charlie, and Charlie is unable to force himself to reveal his identity.

Charlie decides to devote himself to studying neuroscience—in this way, he believes, he can help other mentally disabled people. At the same time, he launches a turbulent relationship with Fay. At first, Charlie can’t have sex with Fay without experiencing traumatizing hallucinations in which he sees a younger version of himself—the “ old Charlie .” Over time, however, Charlie learns to be confortable around Fay.

Charlie is then horrified to discover that Algernon’s intelligence is vanishing—suggesting that the same might happen to him soon. Charlie reunites with Professor Nemur and begs for funding to research the issue. Nemur arranges for Charlie to pursue this research. In the meantime, Charlie visits the Warren State Home for the mentally ill—the home where Charlie might have to live if his hypothesis is proven correct and he loses his intelligence. Warren State is surprisingly pleasant, although Charlie is still terrified at returning to a state of mental disability.

Charlie gets drunk and confronts Nemur and Strauss. Charlie tells them they’re condescending and conceited, but comes to realize that he’s become just as bad. Shortly after this confrontation, Charlie makes a breakthrough in his research: he concludes that Nemur’s brain surgery will always be impermanent. In the long run, Charlie’s own intelligence will disappear, and he’ll become mentally disabled again. Algernon dies and Charlie buries his body and decorates the grave with flowers.

Charlie tries to tie up loose ends before he loses his intelligence. He goes to visit his sister Norma, who still cares for their mother. Charlie’s mother now suffers from dementia—while she recognizes Charlie, she seems to forget who he is from time to time. Norma, on the other hand, is a kind, bright woman, who’s happy to reunite with Charlie. She tells Charlie that she’s hated herself for years because of the way she treated him. Charlie is so moved by his conversation with Norma that he has to leave. He decides to forgive his mother for her cruelty—there’s simply no point in hating her.

Charlie’s intelligence fades quickly. He becomes irritable, and Fay breaks off all ties with him. Alice continues to visit Charlie, although she’s upset by his moodiness. One night, Charlie and Alice have sex, and Charlie feels that he’s experiencing “something different”—a love few people find in a whole lifetime.

Charlie loses all his intelligence and enters a state of mental disability once again. He returns to the bakery, and succeeds in getting his old job back. His coworkers, who formerly bullied him, now treat him with more respect. Nevertheless, Charlie decides that he can no longer be around his coworkers or Alice—he can’t stand to talk to people who remember a time when he was a genius. He decides to go to the Warren State Home. In his final progress report, Charlie says goodbye to Alice, Professor Nemur, Doctor Strauss, and everyone else he’s met since the experiment. In a postscript, he asks “someone” to put more flowers on Algernon’s grave.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Flowers For Algernon — The Power of Intelligence in “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes

The Power of Intelligence in "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

• Categories: Flowers For Algernon

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Published: Mar 6, 2024

Words: 597 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

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The desire for intelligence, the transformation of charlie gordon, the ethical dilemma, the role of intelligence in society.

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