‘Flowers For Algernon’ is a science fiction book written by Daniel Keyes in 1959. The book is a character study of one man, Charlie Gordon. Charlie is a developmentally disabled man who has the opportunity to undergo a surgical procedure that will dramatically increase his mental capabilities. This procedure had already been performed on a laboratory mouse, Algernon, with remarkable results. Charlie will be the first human subject.
The entire history is narrated by Charlie, in a series of progress reports, where the main character documents everything that happens to him. As Charlie’s intelligence increases to a genius level, the reader not only reads about the changes from Charlie’s viewpoint, but also sees the change evidenced in Charlie’s writing ability. This jump in intelligence is not necessarily a good thing, however. Charlie is now able to recall past events that shaped his life and analyze past friendships for what they were, or weren’t. And, finally, because of his increased intelligence, Charlie is able to discover the experiment’s “fatal flaw” and is reduced to watching the end for both Algernon and himself, hoping to salvage something for the future from his brief bout with genius. But beyond that, Charlie reflects about how society treats people with mental disabilities. In a cruel and direct way, Daniel Keyes shows how painful it can be being a developmentally disabled person in a world that wasn’t made to understand them. So here are 4 reasons why you should read this beautiful book!
1. Charlie Gordon
One of the most emblematic and deepest characters ever written in literature, the reading is worth just to get to know more about who Charlie is and what he has to say. Gordon is a 32 year old developmentally disabled man, who works in a bakery and is surrounded by ‘friends’, and he goes to a school for mentally disabled people. What he desires the most in life is to become ‘intelligent’. After the experiment that is the ‘big plot’ of the book, Charlie is even more intelligent than he thought he would be, and that makes him question everything. Just because the person he was before used to think differently than the rest, then he was thinking it wrong? The disable Charlie was a person, right? So, why didn’t people treat him as such?
With flashbacks from his childhood and with an amazing character development, Daniel Keyes creates a deep and reliable character that makes the reader get so attached to him, that by the end of the book the feeling is that Charlie is an old friend.
2. The narrative
“Why am I always looking at life through a window?”
Flowers For Algernon
‘Flowers For Algernon’ is an explosive romance book. By reading the entire story through Charlie’s progress reports, it is like the reader has direct access to a very intimed daily diary, about the main character’s feelings, thoughts and ideias, which makes us feel so much more close to Charlie during the almost 300 pages of the book.
Daniel Keyes is a genius in show through the writing of Charlie’s evolution after the surgical procedure. The most interesting part is how it is introduced to the reader: Charlie has his limitations, so in the beginning the text has many mistakes of punctuation and spelling, but during the reading you are the one to keep up with Charlie’s evolution.
3. An emotion book
“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone”.
Flowers For Algernon
If you are one of the people who likes books that make you feel something, this one’s for you! Get your tissues ready because this is gonna make you cry a little bit. I give you a heads up that by the end your heart is gonna be broken. But beyond a sad book, Flowers for Algernon is a beautiful sci-fi book that highlights many important discussions and reflections that need to be said.
4.Reflections
“How strange it is people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes – how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence”.
Flowers For Algernon
Since the first page, ‘Flowers for Algernon’, highlights many reflections. Charlie is a man, with not an average sight of the world, with naive and innocent thoughts, and that brings shock, because his feelings about people around him are not reciprocal, but inside his own head, there is no need for that.
He finds joy in life the way things are. However, the reader is constantly hit by the cruelty that affects Charlie, and this is just the beginning of the questionings and reflections in the story.