Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by zaiphon
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Back at it again reviewing another classic! I vaguely remember reading "Flowers for Algernon" in school and I could only recollect feeling touched and intrigued by the narrative. After this re-read, I came away with a lot more that my adult self has taken away. I feel it fits well with my perception of the novel.
As the story begins we are introduced to Charlie Gordon, who has a low IQ under 100. Through flashbacks of his memories, we come to understand most of his childhood had centered around that fact. His family has all but abandonded him, but thanks to his Uncle, he had secured Charlie employment and a place to live his days. All of this changes when he is offered the chance of a lifetime - to become "smart" as Charlie says, through an operation. An experiment. The novel takes us through Charlie's ever changing world after his operation, alongside revelations of both his past and the ever changing world around him.
At initial review, themes of artificial ingelligence and utilizing science to go against how "nature intended" are at the forefront of the story. It boldly presents itself as Charlie discovers his friends mock his intelligence, as he revisits flashbacks of traumatic moments in his past, and how his intelligent self shapes his family and friends in the present through those deplorable memories. However, I am more engrossed in discussing the emotional intelligence aspect of the story and the message it left behind. In my perspective, I felt this novel was a harrowing journey of peer acceptance, facing painful memories, and finding the joy in your surroundings no matter how small. Charlie was continously gaining all the intelligence of the world, but he desired internal peace, friendship, and the love of a mother. No amount of study, fluency in language, or intellectual conversations and reports could give a man that. Charlie's progress reports failed to capture and emphasize his personal struggles, and so he begins creating his own diary entries of sorts to reflect. The lack of accentuation on this topic speaks to how Nemur and all the others did not see the importance in studying human emotions more fully and that the idea of Charlie being a person happy and well lived prior to the experiment is comical and incomprehensible in their eyes.
Charlie is experiencing life in fast forward, explorations of love, women, isolation, and loneliness all in the span of several months. Does "old" Charlie's lack of focus on these experiences prove he was dumb and not getting satisfaction out of life in the way humanity thinks he should? No, I don't believe that is true. Why would "old" Charlie not question loneliness? Because for him, he had all the friends in the world. Why would he not question love? He felt he understood it in his own way. Why not confront his mother sooner? Because, he found his own ways to persevere and move forward in his life, even though he did inherently have some level of recogniton and emotional reaction to his past. It could be said that Charlie already had the tools he needed to life a happy life for himself. He did not feel thwarted by life's challenges enough to render him unhappy. Intelligence alone isn't the key to achiecing happiness. To him, he was happy, he just wanted to have his family feel proud. It was authentic emotional connection he craved to undersrand. Why would readers think otherwise? Maybe it could be said that because we have lived different lives and different experiences, that we all have differing expectations on how to go about solving our lives problems. We have higher expectations because we have further explored the consequences and emotional capacity we have to our past and present. I guess the question still remains - which way is right? Which person is smarter and has lived life truly? I don't think there is a black and white answer. If that were the case, then why did Charlie face difficult hurdles? His inability to not be able to fully grasp emotional intelligence led him further down a path of isolation. He couldn't learn this from a book or a class.
As I neared the novel's ending, I had begun to feel deeply for Charlie. I wanted to see him succeed. But once I finished, I didn't feel that Charlie would be lonely and alone forever. Just as he asked for Algernon, all anyone really wants is for someone to remember them as they are. Use the gift we have of thought to be empathetic to humans and see them for who they are and what they truly stand for. We are all humans. We are all somebody worthy in our own ways.
As the story begins we are introduced to Charlie Gordon, who has a low IQ under 100. Through flashbacks of his memories, we come to understand most of his childhood had centered around that fact. His family has all but abandonded him, but thanks to his Uncle, he had secured Charlie employment and a place to live his days. All of this changes when he is offered the chance of a lifetime - to become "smart" as Charlie says, through an operation. An experiment. The novel takes us through Charlie's ever changing world after his operation, alongside revelations of both his past and the ever changing world around him.
At initial review, themes of artificial ingelligence and utilizing science to go against how "nature intended" are at the forefront of the story. It boldly presents itself as Charlie discovers his friends mock his intelligence, as he revisits flashbacks of traumatic moments in his past, and how his intelligent self shapes his family and friends in the present through those deplorable memories. However, I am more engrossed in discussing the emotional intelligence aspect of the story and the message it left behind. In my perspective, I felt this novel was a harrowing journey of peer acceptance, facing painful memories, and finding the joy in your surroundings no matter how small. Charlie was continously gaining all the intelligence of the world, but he desired internal peace, friendship, and the love of a mother. No amount of study, fluency in language, or intellectual conversations and reports could give a man that. Charlie's progress reports failed to capture and emphasize his personal struggles, and so he begins creating his own diary entries of sorts to reflect. The lack of accentuation on this topic speaks to how Nemur and all the others did not see the importance in studying human emotions more fully and that the idea of Charlie being a person happy and well lived prior to the experiment is comical and incomprehensible in their eyes.
Charlie is experiencing life in fast forward, explorations of love, women, isolation, and loneliness all in the span of several months. Does "old" Charlie's lack of focus on these experiences prove he was dumb and not getting satisfaction out of life in the way humanity thinks he should? No, I don't believe that is true. Why would "old" Charlie not question loneliness? Because for him, he had all the friends in the world. Why would he not question love? He felt he understood it in his own way. Why not confront his mother sooner? Because, he found his own ways to persevere and move forward in his life, even though he did inherently have some level of recogniton and emotional reaction to his past. It could be said that Charlie already had the tools he needed to life a happy life for himself. He did not feel thwarted by life's challenges enough to render him unhappy. Intelligence alone isn't the key to achiecing happiness. To him, he was happy, he just wanted to have his family feel proud. It was authentic emotional connection he craved to undersrand. Why would readers think otherwise? Maybe it could be said that because we have lived different lives and different experiences, that we all have differing expectations on how to go about solving our lives problems. We have higher expectations because we have further explored the consequences and emotional capacity we have to our past and present. I guess the question still remains - which way is right? Which person is smarter and has lived life truly? I don't think there is a black and white answer. If that were the case, then why did Charlie face difficult hurdles? His inability to not be able to fully grasp emotional intelligence led him further down a path of isolation. He couldn't learn this from a book or a class.
As I neared the novel's ending, I had begun to feel deeply for Charlie. I wanted to see him succeed. But once I finished, I didn't feel that Charlie would be lonely and alone forever. Just as he asked for Algernon, all anyone really wants is for someone to remember them as they are. Use the gift we have of thought to be empathetic to humans and see them for who they are and what they truly stand for. We are all humans. We are all somebody worthy in our own ways.