Plot Synopsis
Flowers for Algernon is written as a series of progress reports by a mentally challenged man by the name of Charlie Gordon. He gets the opportunity to undergo a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities. He documents everything that happens to him during his journey of becoming a genius. The increase in Charlie's intelligence isn’t necessarily a good thing because he realizes that the world isn’t the way he thought it was. He started to see the bad in people and not just the good. After becoming so smart he soon figures out a “fatal flaw” in the operation. His intelligence slowly decreased until he finally passed away.
Character Analysis In Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon is a hero in the sense that he shows that people shouldn’t take things for granted as he is a mentally handicapped and all he wants in life is to be a genius so that people will like him. Throughout the book Charlie changes as he goes from being an innocent, happy, mentally handicapped man who sees only the good in others, to a genius who has an increased ability to see beyond superficial and into the true motivations of others. He soon realizes that he has been an object of ridicule at the hands of his fellow workers, which causes him to feel lost.
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He only sees the good in people, and is oblivious to the world around him. He works at bakery with people who he believes are his friends, but really all they do is laugh and make fun of him. At one point in the story, his so called “friends” get him drunk, embarrass him in front of a crowd, beat him up, then leave him wondering the streets. Poor Charlie doesn’t even know what is going on so he thinks it is all a