Flowers for Algernon

"If your smart you can have lots of frends to talk to and you never get lonely by yourself all the time" - Charlie

This quote is from Daniel Keyes novel, Flowers for Algernon. I chose this quote, because I really think it show how cruel some people can be and shows how some people think that if they "fix" themselves, it will make everything better. What most can't see is that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

The novel takes place mostly in New York City. Most of the novel is composed of the "progris riports," or progress reports that Charlie writes. Charlie is a mentally retarded thirty-two-year-old man, who was chosen by a team of scientists to do an experimental surgery to make him smarter. Alice Kinnian, Charlie's teacher at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults, recommended Charlie for the experiment, because he was very eager to learn. The scientists, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, asked Charlie to keep a journal of his experiences.

Charlie worked at Donner's Bakery as a janitor and delivery boy. The other employees picked on him, but Charlie was unable to understand. After lots of tests, including maze competitions with a mouse named Algernon, who the experiment was already performed on, Charlie finally undergoes the operation. He gradually improves his spelling and grammar with the help of his teacher Alice. Charlie began to read adult books, satisfying his desire to learn. Charlie began to recover lost memories of his childhood, mostly of his mother Rose who punished him for not being like other children.

As Charlie became more intelligent, he realized that he was attracted to Alice. Charlie is fired form the bakery, because the other workers are bothered by the sudden change in him. Charlie grows closer to Alice, though whenever the mood becomes too sexual, he becomes very nauseous and hallucinates. Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur took Charlie and Algernon to a scientific convention, where they were the main attraction. Charlie became upset by the fact that Nemur could not see Charlie as a human being, but only as something he created. While on stage Charlie freed Algernon from his cage and they fled back to New York where they got their own apartment. Eventually, through many experiments, Charlie realizes that Nemur's