Random thoughts about Flowers for Algernon (the short story)

 

Random thoughts about Flowers for Algernon (the short story)

 

Warning: This article contains spoilers. Proceed with care.

 

Flowers for Algernon follows Charlie Gordon through a psychological experiment. He keeps progress reports, so that the scientists studying him, and others reading the reports later, can understand the exact mental changes he experiences. The story is constructed from Charlie’s reports. Charlie begins his course with the significantly below average IQ of 68, and he can barely comprehend conversations happening around him. But Charlie then receives the experimental operation, and his mental capacity soars. The fog clears, and the reader can observe Charlie’s rapidly evolving perception of the world. But all is not well. Just as Charlie hits his stride, so to speak, Algernon, a mouse who received the same surgery as Charlie, begins to regress. He becomes short-tempered and stubborn. When Algernon finally passes away, Charlie is certain that his fate will not be much different. When he notices his mind failing, Charlie runs away from New York to live out his days where no one will remember who he was or what he accomplished.

 

 

Random Thought 1: Even though Charlie himself will not know it, he has helped a lot of people on their quest of life.

 

Although Charlie’s research is briefly mentioned in the text, and he alludes to ideas he developed in a letter to one of the scientists working on him, the reader doesn’t really know what exactly Charlie has discovered. By the end of the story, Charlie himself no longer understands or remembers the advancements he has helped to make. But he was working to perhaps help people born with disabilities like his own. I am fairly sure that Charlie’s work will, in the future, let people become smart.

 

I also think that Charlie changed some minds at the factory he was working at before the experiment. At first, they were cruel to Charlie, mocking him for his ignorance and then forcing him out once he started learning. I think they were scared of him, because they were terrified that he’d realize how they’d mocked him and set out to seek revenge. They were also probably resentful after Charlie rearranged the machines for the manager at the factory, saving him thousands of dollars a year in labor. That would have lost some jobs. But then Charlie had to return to work there as his mind failed, and there was nowhere else for him to go. And the workers gladly welcomed Charlie back. His old secret tormentors even stepped up to defend Charlie when a newer employee poked fun at him for his mental decline. I’m not sure what the change is in these men, but their attitudes towards Charlie certainly have changed. Perhaps they have more respect for him due to his accomplishments. Perhaps they’re anxious to make amends to avoid facing his wrath. Or maybe they’ve learned to just inherently treat people with respect, if only because they may become super intelligent and powerful someday and threaten your livelihood.

 

Random Thought 2: Is intelligence as awesome as humans say?

 

Well, it must be great, because humans tend to strive for it. We want to be smart and understand the world around us. And the thought of losing that ability—to age, to illness, to injury, is very daunting. Awareness is a consuming reality, and humans, who have it, swear they are much better off in knowing than not, while other species, with a lower degree of awareness, will never recognize the difference, and get along just fine. On the other hand, perhaps we humans are on to something. We are a very successful species, after all. But our population isn’t close to that of, say,

 

However, it cannot be ignored that being acutely aware of one’s surroundings and interactions can lead to more hardship than complete ignorance. I suppose that’s why early childhood is always associated with bubbling energy: the child does not understand large problems, and so they can’t worry about them. The extent of their world is their backyard.

 

Charlie doesn’t recognize the cruelty of his friends until his brain is modified, and then he feels shame for himself. Shame for not recognize he was going along with being the butt of every joke. And then, he was terrified when his brain began to decline. Though the knowledge had brought him pain, the idea of losing it frightened him even more.

 

So, I suppose it’s something that humans are wired to pursue. We want to be smart, and we like to know things. On top of that, knowing things bolsters our credit with other humans, which is great because don’t most humans just want to be respected?

 

Random Thought 3: Flowers for Algernon serves as a parallel to aging.

 

One of the first connections I made when reading this story was to the very basic human experience of growing old. Charlie begins with a very limited understanding of the world. He trusts what people tell him, and he believes that no one intends him harm. Therefore, I immediately assumed him to be a young child. In fact, if Keyes hadn’t stated in Charlie’s first progress report that Charlie is 37, I would have assumed he was eight or so. Charlie’s perception of the world has a rosy glow to it: everything is simple. For example, he desperately wishes to be smart and believes that the experiment can make him that way. He sees his coworkers as friends, even as they parade him around for entertainment. He watches his night school teacher, Miss Kinnian, with respect and adoration for her endless genius.

 

After the operation, Charlie begins to age. He enters his “teenage” years quickly, becoming doubtful of the processes that the scientists are asking him to complete: Rorschach tests (those ink blot things where you describe images the ink looks like) and progress reports. He becomes more aware of the ideas of deception and mockery and realizes the world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. For example, when he is asked (for the second time) to do a Rorschach test, Charlie is confused because he recognizes he is supposed to interpret the ink as an image, and not to find actual images hidden in the ink. He wonders if maybe the test proctor intentionally misled him. Further, Charlie realizes that his “friends” at the factory were never really being friendly with him. They just paraded him around for laughs. As is necessary to growing up, Charlie recognizes unpleasantries within the world and grows bitter at them, and towards himself for not seeing them sooner.

 

Charlie’s adulthood is demonstrated when he develops a very specific plan of how he will contribute to the world. After he notices a dishwasher at a restaurant being ridiculed for his lack of understanding, Charlie abruptly remembers his own past ignorance and his past self, which he has tried to this point to place outside of his mind. He leaps to the boy’s defense, and then he scolds himself for laughing, and for almost forgetting where he had started. He vows to add whatever he can to the research done on him, to maybe help others like him attain knowledge.

 

And then, Charlie is struck abruptly with “old age.” His mind deteriorates as he struggles to maintain all the knowledge he has built up over the course of the experiment, and to maintain his progress in the world. Of course, he cannot maintain his memories and the new skills he has learned. All he can do is sit back and witness his fall. Finally, Charlie must accept that his new life will not stick, and that his “improved” self will be gone. He explains in his progress report that he will leave New York, leave everyone he knows, so that he will not end up being ridiculed for all that he has lost.

 

I’d recommend you read the story. I liked it, and found it provoked a handful of random thoughts. In my opinion, random thoughts are good, especially when I can connect them to other things. So yeah, read the book.

 

-Fallon M