I finshed a book called Flowers for Algernon. It's really sad. It's about a mentally retarded man named Charlie Gordon who works in a bakery. Everyone makes fun of him behind his back, but he still thinks that they're his friends. He takes classes at a college for retarded adults. One day, scientists come to the college and ask Charlie to let them do some tests on him. They say that the might be able to make Charlie smart. The story is told through progress reports that the scientists ask Charlie to write.
In all the tests, you can see Charlie telling the scientists about his version of the world. When the scientist leave, he's really scared that he didn't pass the tests and won't be able to become smart. You really feel sorry for Charlie, because all he wants is to be accepted and be able to relate to his "friends". Throughout the story, Charlie also tells you in flashbacks about his past, where his father loved him and tried to help him, his sister didn't understand him and was accidentally mean to him a lot, and where his mother just couldn't understand why he wasn't as smart as other children. His mother repeatedly abused him and shouted at him, making him feel worthless, because he couldn't learn to read, write, and become potty-trained when other children were. After the operation succeeds, Charlie is suddenly much smarter than the average person, with an I.Q. of 180. He begins learning so rapidly that the scientists who performed the operation are surprised and alarmed. Charlie's lab partner is Algernon, a rat who got the same operation as Charlie. They do mazes together. In the beginning, Algernon beats Charlie every time, but Charlie slowly starts to beat Algernon more and more until he beats the mouse every time. The scientists are delighted with Charlie's progress and take him to a scientific presentation along with Algernon. Charlie Gordon can now understand the fancy lab reports, and he realizes that the scientists don't care about him. They don't think of him as a person. Instead, they're only interested in the smart part of him. Charlie releases Algernon from his cage and runs away with him. Away from the scientists, Charlie meets a woman named Fay and visits his family. His sister has become kind and nice and accepts him now, while his mother is still the angry, ungrateful woman she always was. Charlie builds new mazes for Algernon, and sees something is happening to him: he's losing the will to live and is becoming worse and worse at the mazes and life in general. Algernon soon dies, and Charlie is devastated because he had grown to like the mouse. He writes a letter to the scientists about his new discovery: that the operation causes a burst in brainpower and then causes the brain to slowly deteriorate. Soon, he returns to his home in the bakery as the same thing happens to him.
~~~You can start reading again~~~ (if you're planning to read the book)
This book is sad, but thoughtful. It shows how Charlie's emotional growth can't keep up with his mental growth and that leaves him feeling awkward and out of place. Charlie's spelling, grammar, and punctuation is full of mistakes in the beginning, slowly improves to perfection in the middle, and then deteriorates again.
The book seems to show that it's not a good idea to meddle with nature and if it doesn't ruin the person, they will be no better of than before. You can see the differences between Charlie's two romances: one with a woman who knew him before the operation, and one he only met after he ran away. The woman who knew him before accepts him. He feels more comfortable with her, and they understand each other better. When an event in the book happens, the author structured it so you can see exactly why the author had it happen and where the book is going to go next. This is an amazing book with lessons about humans and how tampering with a human's brain may have some good consequences, but many bad ones.
~~~Spoiler Alert~~~ (stop reading here if you're planning to read the book)
In all the tests, you can see Charlie telling the scientists about his version of the world. When the scientist leave, he's really scared that he didn't pass the tests and won't be able to become smart. You really feel sorry for Charlie, because all he wants is to be accepted and be able to relate to his "friends". Throughout the story, Charlie also tells you in flashbacks about his past, where his father loved him and tried to help him, his sister didn't understand him and was accidentally mean to him a lot, and where his mother just couldn't understand why he wasn't as smart as other children. His mother repeatedly abused him and shouted at him, making him feel worthless, because he couldn't learn to read, write, and become potty-trained when other children were. After the operation succeeds, Charlie is suddenly much smarter than the average person, with an I.Q. of 180. He begins learning so rapidly that the scientists who performed the operation are surprised and alarmed. Charlie's lab partner is Algernon, a rat who got the same operation as Charlie. They do mazes together. In the beginning, Algernon beats Charlie every time, but Charlie slowly starts to beat Algernon more and more until he beats the mouse every time. The scientists are delighted with Charlie's progress and take him to a scientific presentation along with Algernon. Charlie Gordon can now understand the fancy lab reports, and he realizes that the scientists don't care about him. They don't think of him as a person. Instead, they're only interested in the smart part of him. Charlie releases Algernon from his cage and runs away with him. Away from the scientists, Charlie meets a woman named Fay and visits his family. His sister has become kind and nice and accepts him now, while his mother is still the angry, ungrateful woman she always was. Charlie builds new mazes for Algernon, and sees something is happening to him: he's losing the will to live and is becoming worse and worse at the mazes and life in general. Algernon soon dies, and Charlie is devastated because he had grown to like the mouse. He writes a letter to the scientists about his new discovery: that the operation causes a burst in brainpower and then causes the brain to slowly deteriorate. Soon, he returns to his home in the bakery as the same thing happens to him.
~~~You can start reading again~~~ (if you're planning to read the book)
This book is sad, but thoughtful. It shows how Charlie's emotional growth can't keep up with his mental growth and that leaves him feeling awkward and out of place. Charlie's spelling, grammar, and punctuation is full of mistakes in the beginning, slowly improves to perfection in the middle, and then deteriorates again.
The book seems to show that it's not a good idea to meddle with nature and if it doesn't ruin the person, they will be no better of than before. You can see the differences between Charlie's two romances: one with a woman who knew him before the operation, and one he only met after he ran away. The woman who knew him before accepts him. He feels more comfortable with her, and they understand each other better. When an event in the book happens, the author structured it so you can see exactly why the author had it happen and where the book is going to go next. This is an amazing book with lessons about humans and how tampering with a human's brain may have some good consequences, but many bad ones.
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