A very short retelling of the story "Flowers for Algernon"
The feeble-minded Charlie Gordon becomes the subject of an experiment by Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemours to improve human intelligence. Scientists have already conducted a successful experiment on the Algernon mouse.
Charlie undergoes surgery. Gradually, his reports show clear progress: errors disappear, punctuation marks appear, and style improves significantly.
As Charlie's intelligence increases, he remembers the evil with which he was treated by his mother and sister as a child; notices how others laugh at him.
Charlie becomes a real genius. However, something strange is happening to Algernon. The mouse becomes aggressive and refuses to eat or take tests. Charlie fears the same thing will happen to him. He escapes from the scientists, taking Algernon with him.
After living alone for some time, Charlie returns to the laboratory and begins working with Strauss and Nemours. Algernon dies soon after. Charlie finds a mistake in the experiment. He understands that regression awaits him too.
Charlie again breaks all ties with others and locks himself in the apartment. He is rapidly becoming stupid, which is noticeable from the reports. Having decided to go to a mental hospital, Charlie in the last report asks the scientists not to forget to bring flowers to Algernon's grave.
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
If you ever go to Athens Ohio State University, you will probably be taken to the small university garden and shown a sign screwed to an ancient oak tree that says “Algernon.” Moreover, you will be offered to place a bouquet of flowers under the tree. Don't think that there is a human corpse hidden under the tree. There's no one buried there at all. This slightly eccentric ritual of laying flowers under a small lacquered sign and the obligatory standing under a tree for half an hour is nothing more than a tribute and respect to the university professor of literature Daniel Keyes
and his famous book
Flowers for Algernon
.
Daniel Keyes is an American novelist and philologist who wrote the story “Flowers for Algernon” in 1959. A year later, Keyes received the Hugo Literary Award for it and in 1966 revised the story into a novel.
One should not think that Keyes simply added a few dialogues and arguments - the novel “Flowers for Algernon” is not a remake, but a full-fledged work, highly praised by critics (it immediately received a Nebula Award), filmed and translated into more than thirty languages .
This is the touching story of the weak-minded Charlie Gordon, whose intelligence, as a result of a scientific experiment, was brought to the level of genius, and then just as quickly fell to its previous level.
The plot, which seemed fantastic in the sixties, is now perceived as quite real, and moral and ethical issues, in view of the latest scientific discoveries in DNA and cloning, are becoming extremely relevant.
In a few months, a young man has to go through a path that an ordinary person has a whole life to cover.
The intellectual shell is to overcome professors and scientists and make a scientific discovery, the physical shell is to learn to distinguish between sex and love, the emotional shell is to raise from the depths of memory and subconscious your stupidly smiling and tear-filled childhood and forgive your loved ones who abandoned it.
But what awaits the hero at the end of the journey?
The question of whether man had the right to change the will of God, associations with the Biblical tree of knowledge and the sin of knowledge
can be seen throughout the book.
“...and she said maybe they didn’t have the right to make you smart because if God wanted me to be smart, he would have made it so that I was born smart. Why talk about Adam and Eve about sin with the tree of knowledge and about the apple and about their expulsion. And maybe Prof. Nemours and Doc Strauss are playing with things that are best left alone.”
Don't think that my word processor doesn't work on my computer, or that I suddenly contracted progressive grammatical sclerosis - the above quote is quoted verbatim from the book and is a magnificent example of the virtuosic expressiveness of Charlie Gordon's metamorphoses.
Written in the form of a diary, the book stylistically and grammatically reflects the changes occurring in the protagonist's intellect.
The initially written reports about what happened are filled with errors, but gradually Charlie’s speech becomes literate, his judgments become witty and brilliant, and his loneliness becomes unbearable.
If Charlie the feeble-minded was surrounded by friends (albeit imaginary ones), then the only close creature of Charlie the genius was the mouse Algernon, who underwent exactly the same operation and became a mouse genius.
It was Algernon who became the first victim of the unsuccessful experiment - the resulting aggression, progressive sclerosis and poor coordination of the mouse became the gloomy predictions of the “Delphic Oracle” regarding Charlie. After the death of his comrade, Gordon brings flowers to his grave every day - he did not allow Algernon’s frozen corpse to be cremated, but buried him himself in a small park.
Charlie carefully records his own regression in his diary, deciding, like Academician Pavlov, to serve science to the end.
On the pages of the diary of “prototype No. 2” we also find bitter thoughts about the attitude of others towards him.
I'm genius? Not sure. At least for now. I am, as Barthes would say, an exception. A completely democratic term that allows you to avoid those damned labels like “gifted” and “incapable” (which really means “brilliant” and “imbecile”)... “Exception” can be applied to both ends of the mental spectrum, so I have been an “exception” all my life "
Why does everyone keep telling me. That I'm becoming a man? I have always been human, even before the surgeon’s knife touched me.
I am human. I must love.
The book is also filled with “Freudian” passages - childhood memories, the mother’s influence on relationships with women, split personality reveal the psychological portrait of Charlie Gordon’s personality. It is immediately clear that Daniel Keyes was not given a bachelor's degree in psychology by chance. In this context, the book is of undoubted interest for people interested in psychology.
Using Doc Strauss’s favorite method of “free association” when reading, you can easily navigate to some feature films: “Forrest Gump,” “The Green Mile,” “Phenomenon.”
Their heroes would probably enjoy having a beer with good guy Charlie Gordon.
However, so do I.
Anna Andersen
List and brief description of the characters in the story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes
- Charlie Gordon is a weak-minded guy who, as a result of an experiment, becomes a genius. Due to a mistake made by scientists, high intelligence does not last long. As a result of the inevitable regression, Charlie becomes mentally retarded again.
- Algernon is a laboratory mouse on whom a successful experiment is being conducted for the first time.
- Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemours are scientists working with Charlie and Algernon. They do not see any difference between a person and a mouse, considering them just experimental animals.
- Alice Kinnian is a teacher at a school for the feeble-minded. The girl loves Charlie and tries to help him in every possible way.
- Fay Lilman is an artist, Charlie's neighbor, who gets him into drinking and nightlife.
Summary of “Flowers for Algernon” in detail by chapter
1 report March 3
Mentally retarded Charlie Gordon writes reports on his condition. He is 32 years old. Charlie works in a bakery.
2nd report March 4
Charlie undergoes various tests.
3rd report March 5
Charlie is under the supervision of Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemours. They are the ones who ask you to write his “reports”. They are going to conduct some kind of experiment on a weak-minded person.
report 4
Charlie is brought into the laboratory and shown a mouse named Algernon. She successfully finds her way through a specially made labyrinth. Charlie can't do this.
report 5. March 6
Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemours are going to perform surgery on Charlie to improve his intelligence.
report 6. March 8
Charlie is delighted that he will probably become much smarter and will be no different from other people.
report 7. March 11
Charlie undergoes surgery. He is asked not to stop writing reports and to pay more attention to his sensations, feelings, and memories of the past.
March 12
Charlie is looked after by his sister Hilda. She often talks to him and claims that the operation performed is a person’s challenge to God.
March 13
Hilda was replaced with Sister Lucille. She convinces Charlie that becoming smart is not so easy. In addition to the operation, he will have to work very hard himself.
report 8
March 15th
Charlie is released from the hospital. He continues to take various tests and compete with Algernon to find a way out of the maze.
March 16
Charlie dreams of becoming as smart as college students. So far he can't even understand what they are talking about.
March 17
Charlie gradually becomes disillusioned with the experiment. He was tired of endless tests. He constantly has a severe headache.
20th of March
Charlie returns to the bakery. However, every day after work he must come to the laboratory and undergo tests.
21 March
At the bakery, Charlie asks the owner if he could ever become a baker's apprentice. This is undoubtedly the first sign of growing intelligence.
March 24
Charlie misses his first visit to the lab. He explains to the scientists that he is tired of tests. They bring Charlie some kind of device that resembles a TV. You need to turn it on when you go to bed. The brain itself will perceive information. The device does not allow Charlie to fall asleep.
26 March
Charlie begins to gradually remember his past, which has never happened before.
March 27
Charlie begins going to therapy sessions, where Dr. Strauss forces him to talk about himself.
March 28
Charlie continues to have headaches. He sees very vivid, frightening dreams.
March 29
Charlie finally defeats Algernon by being the first to find his way out of the maze. He remembers a lot from his past.
30th of March
Charlie starts reading Robinson Crusoe. His thinking is clearly evolving.
March 31
Charlie learns to write without mistakes. Miss Kinnian helps him with this.
report No. 9
April 1
The bakery wants to play a prank on Charlie and asks him to work on the mixer. He does this job successfully. The owner promotes Charlie to assistant baker and increases his salary.
April 3
Charlie finishes reading Robinson Crusoe.
April, 4
Charlie gradually begins to realize that the people around him are not at all as good as he always imagined.
April 6
Charlie learns what a comma is.
April 7
In Charlie's reports, errors practically disappear and punctuation marks appear.
April 8
Progress in Charlie's development is obvious. He rereads his previous reports and is amazed at the incredible number of errors.
April 10th
“Friends” invite Charlie to a “party.” This time he realizes that they are only taking him with them to laugh.
April 13
Charlie stops going to work. He already clearly understands that he was constantly made to look like a fool. Charlie's great mental anguish comes from memories of extremely humiliating situations in which he found himself in the past.
14th of April
Dr. Strauss calms Charlie down. He constantly conducts therapy sessions with him.
April 15
Charlie reads a lot. He will soon be starting a college course.
April 16
Charlie's IQ is steadily improving.
April 17
Charlie has a nightmare. Afterwards, he recalls one very unpleasant incident from his childhood.
April 18th
While taking another test, Charlie begins to think that the doctors also want to laugh at him.
report No. 10
April 21
Charlie figures out how to improve the dough mixer. For this, the owner gives him a bonus.
April 22
Charlie's co-workers at the bakery begin to treat Charlie with open hostility.
April 24
Charlie accidentally overhears a conversation between Strauss and Nemours. They fear that his intellect will regress.
26 April
Charlie is jealous of the students and dreams of becoming their friend.
April 27
Charlie meets several students and eagerly listens to their intellectual debates.
April 28
Charlie remembers how, as a child, he was often subjected to undeserved punishment from his mother.
report No. 11
1st of May
Charlie invites Alice Kinnian to the cinema and to dinner. He loves her, but still cannot understand his feelings. Alice gently pushes away his advances. This makes Charlie feel underdeveloped again.
May 3
Charlie is having nightmares about his childhood again.
May 8
Charlie begins to notice that one of the workers, Gimpy, is secretly robbing the owner of the bakery.
9th May
Charlie is tormented by the question: should he tell the owner about the theft?
May 10
Alice advises Charlie to “trust himself.” Charlie is amazed by this thought. He immediately confesses his love to the girl and gets her to agree to another date.
May 11
Charlie hints to Gimpy that he knows everything and demands that he stop stealing.
May 15
Charlie demonstrates extraordinary academic success. Even professors find it difficult to have a conversation with him on scientific topics.
May 17
On a date with Alice, Charlie experiences a strange phenomenon. When he tried to hug the girl, he suddenly saw her and himself from the outside, through the eyes of a peeping man. When they break up, Charlie becomes ill again.
May 20
The bakery workers are trying to get the owner to fire Charlie.
May 25
Charlie suffers from loneliness. In anguish, he comes to Alice and stays with her.
report No. 12
June 5
Charlie remembers how his sister hated him as a child.
June 6
Charlie's first quarrel with Alice occurs. The girl admits that she begins to feel stupid next to him. She demands to stop meeting for a while.
June 8
One evening, Charlie meets a woman in the park. He invites her to his place, but suddenly sees that the woman is pregnant. This disgusts Charlie.
report No. 13
June 10th
Charlie, along with Strauss and Nemours, flies to Chicago for a scientific conference.
June 11
In Chicago, Charlie suddenly learns that both Strauss and Nemours know much less than he does. And among other scientists, Charlie stands out for his genius.
June 13
The conference is disappointing for Charlie. He understands that he is considered a laboratory animal. Right in the hall, Charlie releases Algernon from the cage, then secretly catches him and flies away from Chicago unnoticed.
report No. 14
June 15
The newspapers write about Charlie's escape. From them he learns that his parents and sister are alive and want to see him.
June 16
Charlie rents an apartment. Algernon lives with him.
June 19
Charlie meets an eccentric neighbor, artist Faye Lilman.
June 20
Charlie finds his father, who is still working as a barber. He cuts and shaves his own son, but never recognizes him. Charlie still does not dare to admit to his father who he is.
21st of June
Charlie continues to study with Algernon. The mouse becomes even smarter, but sometimes falls into rage or apathy.
5.30
Fay brings Algernon a friend - a white mouse.
June 23
Charlie gets drunk with Fay and she stays over at his place.
June 24
Charlie realizes that he is living his life aimlessly. He decides to use his knowledge to help millions of mentally ill people.
June 25
Charlie meets with Alice, confusingly explains to her that he is trying to understand himself. Then he gets drunk again and goes to spend the night with Fay.
June 29
Charlie begins to implement his own scientific projects.
30 June
Faye and Charlie spend all their time together.
5'th of July
Charlie dedicates his First Piano Concerto to Fay.
July 8
Charlie and Fay drink heavily every night and dance late into the night in clubs.
July 9
Algernon is behaving increasingly strangely. He becomes very aggressive: he almost kills his “girlfriend”, and then bites Faye.
report No. 15
July, 12
Charlie returns to the laboratory as a colleague of Strauss and Nemours.
report No. 16
the 14 th of July
Charlie visits the Warren Asylum for the Mentally Retarded. If the experiment fails, he will have to spend the rest of his life here.
July 15
Algernon refuses to run through the maze and even stops eating. Charlie is very worried about this, thinking about himself.
July 16
Alice meets Fay.
July 27
Charlie moves to live in the laboratory, completely devoting himself to work.
July 28th
Charlie accidentally catches Faye with another man and finally moves out of the apartment.
July 31
Charlie feels that he has reached his maximum in intellectual development and performance.
11th August
Charlie increasingly thinks that the old weak-minded boy who wants to regain his body continues to live inside him.
4.30 am
Charlie suddenly realizes where the mistake was made in the experiment.
August, 26th
Charlie writes a letter to Nemours in which he convincingly proves what is wrong with the experiment. He already understands that regression will inevitably await him.
September 1
Charlie is expecting the first symptoms of regression any day now.
September 2
There are no changes yet.
September 15th
Nemours confirms Charlie's fears.
September 17
Algernon dies.
September 21
Charlie is going to meet his mother.
September 27
Charlie arrives at his parents' house. The mother had long since fallen into senile insanity. She recognizes her son and immediately forgets about it. But Charlie’s sister is very happy, she asks him for forgiveness for the past.
report No. 17
October 3
Charlie becomes very irritable and often gets angry.
The 4th of October
At the next therapeutic session, Charlie experiences some strange attack.
October 5
During tests, Charlie realizes that his intelligence is rapidly declining. He decides to leave the laboratory forever.
October 7th
Charlie begins to lose his memory.
October 10
In the evenings, Charlie wanders aimlessly through the streets. One day he forgets the way home.
October 11
Alice comes to Charlie. She wants to spend her last days with him before the inevitable loss of her intellect.
October 14
Alice lives with Charlie, which makes him very happy.
17 October
Charlie is steadily deteriorating.
October 18
Charlie gets easily irritated and unfairly offends Alice.
October 19
Charlie forgets more and more. He just watches TV all day.
October 21
Charlie kicks Alice out.
the 25th of October
Charlie tries to keep his wits about him by reading everything.
Nov. 1
Charlie misses punctuation marks in his reports. He no longer understands much of what he read.
November 2
Errors appear in reports.
5 Nov
Charlie is noticeably dumber. He continues to bring flowers to Algernon's grave.
9 Nov
Charlie has a bad headache. He practically doesn't remember anything anymore.
10 Nov
The neighbor calls the doctor for Charlie. The doctor simply sees a mentally retarded person in front of him.
11 Nov
Strauss and Alice come to Charlie, but he does not let them into the apartment.
15 Nov
Charlie can no longer read because he doesn't understand anything.
16 Nov
Alice comes again. Charlie sends her away.
18 Nov
Charlie returns to work at the bakery.
21 Nov
Charlie decides to go to a hospital in Warren. In the afterword, he asks Alice, Strauss and Nemours to place flowers on Algernon's grave.
What to read - Daniel Keyes "Flowers for Algernon"
Aloha! Today is Book Tuesday on Goha.Ru, which means it’s time for a new article. Not long ago, while unpacking a book parcel, I promised to review Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon. I decided not to put this matter off, I found my old notes, added fresh impressions and now I’m ready to tell you about this book..
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is required reading in American schools. This is the only science fiction story whose author has been awarded the Hugo Award twice, first for a short story and then for a novel with the same title, characters and plot.
Thirty-three-year-old Charlie Gordon is mentally retarded. At the same time, he has a job, friends and an irresistible desire to learn. He agrees to take part in a dangerous scientific experiment in the hope of fulfilling his old dream of becoming smart. This fantastic story has amazing psychological power and makes you think about universal questions of morality and ethics: do we have the right to experiment on each other and what results this can lead to. And most importantly, what price are we willing to pay to become the smartest? What about the lonely?
Flowers for Algernon
It’s impossible to talk about this book without spoilers at all. It touches on too fundamental topics and it’s impossible to talk about them without the context of the plot. Of course, I will try to tell everything without any serious spoilers. But, if you are hearing about this book for the first time and have no idea what it is about, then perhaps it is better for you to read the book first and then write your opinion here in the comments. It is generally accepted that Flowers for Algernon is a book about the responsibility of scientists for their experiments. Many publishers write about this in the annotations to the book, and critics also often mention this. I agree with them, but only partly; it seems to me that this topic is by no means the main one here.
I believe that, first of all, this is a book about society’s responsibility to people who, for one reason or another, do not fit into the standards of this very society. In fact, this is a book about “white crows”. Charlie Gordon is a typical village idiot, his world is very simple and unpretentious, he has his own hobbies, friends and a good job. The author very accurately managed to convey the view of a mentally retarded person, who is completely harmless to society, on the world around him. And this is where the real drama lies. Charlie Gordon is confident that he has friends to play with, a responsible job, that he is loved and even appreciated. But in reality, his friends' games are Charlie Gordon's bullying and bullying, he just doesn't have the IQ to understand it. He was given the job out of pity, the simplest one. He is shunned and bypassed. And those who do not bypass do not miss the opportunity to mock him. He is out of society, he is very lonely and he doesn’t even understand it.
Personally, I understand perfectly well what is going on. In my youth, we also had such a “village fool.” And I remember how he was bullied by everyone and everything, from his peers to his teachers and the lowest drunk. They threw firecrackers in his pants, doused him with slop, forced him to undress and walk around naked and laughed, and he laughed along with everyone, thinking that this was a good game. His story ended sadly, he died from beatings, two were imprisoned for manslaughter and quickly released on parole, a couple more got off with parole. Well, you can’t ruin people’s lives because of some fool, right?
Fate, or rather the author, gave Charlie Gordon a second chance. A doctor, or rather a scientist, came to him and said that he could make him smart. And now his dream seems to be starting to come true, and he, overjoyed, runs to his friends only to realize that they don’t need him, now wiser. Charlie Gordon was needed only as a “fool” in order to demonstrate his superiority through him. And gradually he begins to understand that games with friends were not games at all, that work was not work. His simple and unpretentious magical world collapsed overnight, opening the doors to harsh reality. And so, Charlie becomes smarter, and then even smarter, and then his IQ grows, and what happens in the end? Loneliness. Having become smarter than others, he did not stop being a black sheep. Only if earlier they despised him, mocked him and treated him condescendingly, saying that what to take from a “fool”, now they envy him, hate him and fear him.
In this way, the author conveys to the reader that our society is a mold cast in cast iron, and if you don’t fit into this mold, then you are outside of society, you are an outcast. And if at the beginning of the book Daniel Keyes shows us the world through the eyes of a village fool, then then he shows us the world through the eyes of a very smart person. And these are two different worlds, two different understandings of the same thing. And there is only one person. A very lonely man.
Another important question that can often be read between the lines is what is intelligence? Is it possible to put an equal sign between intellect and reason, or are these separate parts of human consciousness? And most importantly, how does the constantly growing IQ change the person himself and are there any limits to the growth of intelligence at all, is there a ceiling above which there is nothing? In addition, in the book the author shows his vision of how intelligence affects feelings, emotions, concepts of good and evil, and even morality.
The characters are written simply superbly, and the author relied on the emotional component. There are few descriptions of clothing or facial features, but there are many sincere emotions and sensations. Thanks to this, the reader empathizes with each character, and Charlie Gordon is generally impossible to forget.
The plot is well written, there are few sidelines, everything is centered around the main character and his changing view of the world. Somewhere in the middle of the book, I already understood how everything was going to end, I guessed it from the behavior of a white mouse named Algernon, and I really wanted it to end differently. I just wanted to say: “author, don’t do this, I beg you, finish the book differently.” But, unfortunately, this was impossible, and, most importantly, such an ending is quite logical.
And also, as for the characters in the book, sometimes I’m not even sure who exactly is the main character of this work, the man Charlie Gordon or the white mouse Algernon. Although, between the lines, I read that Charlie Gordon is no different from the white mouse Algernon. What do you think?
The book is sad, sad and very touching. It penetrates into the very soul, touching strings that we have long forgotten. For me, the saddest thing is that the book was written more than 40 years ago, is included in the compulsory school curriculum in many countries... and during this time absolutely nothing has changed. Village fools are still mocked and bullied, and very smart people are envied, also subjected to bullying, persecution and categorically do not accept their innovative ideas, ridiculing them in every possible way.
And that's what I thought. Maybe the problem is not in the book, not in education, but in ourselves?
Don't be so quick to push people away
I recommend reading the book “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes. This is one of the most poignant, touching and sad stories I have ever read. This book will not leave anyone indifferent, and it may well force some readers to change their views on life.
And finally, I want to give one simple and maybe even banal advice - do not rush to push away people who are not like you.
Bonus
A short video of unpacking a book parcel. All books from the video will definitely be on our reviews list.
