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Why Is Charlie Important In Flowers For Algernon

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If scientist were ever to raise a person’s IQ there may be risks like death. In the story Flowers for Algernon there is a guy named Charlie. He really enjoys learning, but he has an IQ of 68. When Dr. Strauss and Nemur look for someone who wants to have their intelligence increased. Charlie’s teacher, Miss Kinnian, suggests Charlie to the doctors. Charlie also agrees to have the surgery and is excited, but the increased artificial intelligence has many risks. The doctors made a terrible choice in choosing Charlie Gordon for the increased intelligence surgery, in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. After a couple weeks of him being smart Charlie loses all the knowledge he has gained during that time, this is why Charlie shouldn’t have …show more content…

On page (Keyes 205) Charlie says, “ I lie in bed for days and I don’t know who or where I am …. Fugues of Amnesia.” After being smart he now has periods of memory loss and doesn’t know even himself! Another quote is “Dr. Strauss comes around almost every day, but I told him I wouldn’t see or speak to anybody” (Keyes 207). Throughout the time of his memory loss his doctors try to show compassion, but Charlie does not accept it or he doesn’t trust them. Charlie already knew about the risks and didn’t care. However throughout the story Charlie has never mentioned about the doctors telling him about the risks of the surgery. Also in the Ethics of Fieldwork it states that if one has mental disability, the doctor must do special care in explaining the risks. In the Ethics of Fieldwork or Belmont Report it states special care must be taken with people who are unable to understand or who are particularly susceptible to coercion (PG 34).
This reason is probably the most important, reason 1 and 2 support that Charlie will die later. Charlie states, “Deterioration progressing. I have become absent-minded. Algernon died two days ago” (Keyes 205). The surgery that Charlie has gone through has also happened on Algernon. Their growth and IQ has deteriorated at the same

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