Flowers for Algernon :: essays research papers

Medical operations are carried out everyday, but for some, an operation can change a person's life. One experiment was done on a mentally retarded person to try to raise his intelligence. The experiment worked, but after months, the patient regressed dramatically. In the book, Flowers for Algernon,this intelligence operation was preformed, and the patient was Charlie Gordon. After the operation, Charlie was very bright, but experienced psychological traumas, loneliness, disillusionment, and social inadequacies. After his operation, he remembered every aspect of his childhood, whether it was good or bad. Charlie had dreams of how his mother was ashamed of him. Charlie's sister also ignored him. To her, Charlie was dumb and could not do anything. Charlie had dreams of his sister yelling at him and making fun of him. He also had memories of the night his parents took him to the Warren Home. He was terrified and his dad would never answer his questions. Charlie remembered his childhood and through his memories, he felt guilty for hurting his family. In the bakery he used to have friends. Friends that would talk to him and care about him. Charlie then realized that he had no friends but merely knew people that made fun of him. The bakery employees just liked him because they could blame their mistakes on Charlie. Then, they could not do this after the operation, so they all turned against Charlie. Charlie felt like an lab specimen. Charlie had lost his friends and knew now he was just a like a lab rat. veryday Charlie lost a piece of himself. He would become mad at people very quickly and then yell at them. People stayed away from him because he was becoming unpredictable. Charlie lost his job because he was to smart to work in a bakery. He could not interact with people he worked with and the people he met. The "Charlie" inside of himself emerged and started to regain control of his mind. All in all, Charlie suffered from the pain of not knowing how to d eal with his peers and decisions.