How Did Charlie Gordon Become Smarter In Flowers For Algernon

Your Choice or Mine?

Mattie Speicher

8A

In “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel keyes, Charlie Gordon has a severe learning disability. Charlie goes to classes everyday to try and become even the littlest bit smarter. Charlie has always been made fun of, by people who he thought were his friends. Charlie is not able to comprehend things like other people in his age group also. Charlie works at a factory with his friends making bread. If Charlie could have any chance of becoming smarter he would take it in a heartbeat, and that’s exactly what he did. When Charlie begins to gain more intelligence, more than an average person, he learns that intelligence won’t solve everything. Charlie can’t choose if he is smart or not, it’s not his decision he finds out later in the book.

One day in Spring Charlie’s teacher decides to enter him into a research project with more people with disabilities similar to Charlie’s. Charlie goes to the testing facility and does some test to see if he is eligible, and if he is what they are looking for. Charlie hopes and prays to be chosen, he knew he could not give up, even if his first set of test did not go as well as he wished. His prayers are answered when his teacher tells him that he is going in for further testing to make

Through the following weeks after Charlie is bit, Algernon begins to ail some of his test and Charlie knows that means the operation did not last. Algernon dies a while later and Charlie is determined to research the cause of his death until he cannot anymore. During his research Charlie's intelligence once again starts deteriorating. Charlie begins to become more like he used to be, less intelligent. Charlie loses hope of becoming intelligent permanently and decides he cannot stay in this city, not with all of these doctors he was to embarrassed to even talk