This is a quick book summary and analysis of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
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This is a story about a mentally handicapped man named Charlie who works as a custodian at a bakery. He attends a school for mentally handicapped people and because of his kind personality, he is picked to undergo an experimental surgery that will make him intelligent.
At first, Charlie is no smarter than he used to be, as he continues to lose maze races to a mouse named Algernon who also underwent the surgery. However, over time, Charlie's intelligence improves.
As Charlie nears super-genius level intelligence, he develops romantic feelings for his teacher, Alice, but cannot express how he feels.
The researchers then discover that Algernon is losing his intelligence and acts out violently. Charlie realizes that his intelligence is only temporary and that he, too, will experience violent outbursts.
As Charlie loses his intelligence, he decides to visit his mother and sister to better understand his childhood. He discovers that his mother is losing her mind to Alzheimer's disease.
In the end, Charlie reverts back to his mental handicapped state and will live the rest of his life in an institution.
As always a lot can be said about this story, but what draws my interest and attention is the experience of being placed into the mind of someone who is mentally handicapped and then gets smarter over time. Since the story is written in first person through the journal of Charlie, it's like living his life in his shoes.
For many readers, this story is their first experience into the world of mentally handicapped individuals. And it's shocking. It's both blissful and patronizing.
From the misspellings in the beginning to the rise and fall of Charlie's control over language, readers experience what Charlie experiences - an overwhelming injection of intelligence without the maturity to understand its power.
It's Charlie's lack of maturity that creates this emotional connection that readers experience. In the beginning, when Charlie is mentally handicapped, his lack of maturity is acceptable because it's mixed with a child-like innocence.
However, when Charlie becomes smarter, that same lack of maturity exists, but the child-like innocence is eclipsed by his adult-driven ambitions.
This leads to a dilemma that readers should be aware is being presented to them. Is it better to be dumb, yet innocent, or extremely intelligent, yet lack morality?
After hearing my comparison, what item do you associate with this book? Let me know in the comments below.
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Through Minute Book Reports, hopefully you can get the plot and a few relevant discussion points in just a couple of minutes.
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