Flowers for Algernon

I recently finished reading Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes, a classic novel about a mentally retarded man, Charlie Gordon, who undergoes a experimental surgery to increase his intelligence. The surgery has already been tested and was highly successful on a lab mouse, Algernon.

He has the surgery, and Charlie's intelligence grows, not sky-rockets extremely quickly, but slowly grows. It appears to be scientific breakthrough, until Algernon starts to deteriorate. So naturally, they wonder if the same thing will happen to Charlie. It eventually does.

I don't know why, but ever since I started to read the book, I took kind of a personal stand point from it. I could relate to the trials Charlie Gordon was facing as he gained and lost his intelligence. I could almost feel his frustration as his intelligence started to deteriorate.

But I think that if I was in that situation, and had the choice to undergo the surgery or not, I would go ahead and do it. Just to have the chance at it. Even if I knew it wouldn't be permanent, I would still go ahead and take the risk and go ahead, you only live once, why not live it to the fullest?

One part that sticks out in my mind is when one of his nurses tells Charlie that he was very brave man to let the scientists do things to him. And that maybe thay have no right to make him smart because if God wanted him to be smart, God would have made him that way.Now, if God didn't want scientist to do things like that, He would not have given us the ability to do so.

But that's a completely different subject for a completely different time.

The doctors also constantly referred to him as a lab experiment and not as human being. Perhaps this was part of Charlie's frustration.When I started reading, Charlie was always a human being to me, not a retarded man who had an experiment performed on him like a lab mouse. A human being with feelings and emotions, just like anyone else.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a good read. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you will definately think.

Good call John.