Flowers for Algernon Short Story Essay Example

Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded man, is chosen by a team of scientists to undergo an experimental surgery designed to boost his intelligence. Alice Kinnian, Charlie’s teacher at the College for Retarded Adults, has recommended Charlie for the experiment because of his exceptional eagerness to learn. The directors of the experiment, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, ask Charlie to keep a journal. The entire narrative of Flowers for Algernon is composed of the “progress reports” that Charlie writes. This story made me think greatly about how technology has become a huge part of society, the constant want that humans have to become more and more superior and the further growing un acceptance of the, ‘different’ people in society. There is huge conflict between Charlie’s struggling intellect and his emotions through the discrimination he faces; many themes in this book also illustrate how events in the past can affect a person later in their life. The way in which the author has written this piece of writing is truly unique, creating a better image of Charlie as a person. He portrays emotion and depth through the way Charlie is writing; using incorrect spelling, grammar and punctuation to show the character of the person. The author has used a first person perspective to add more personal depth to Charlie’s character as we can determine Charlie’s thoughts and reactions, through the emotions he expresses in his progress reports. As Charlie progresses through his operation recovery, we can see how Charlie’s intellectual abilities are improving by the standard of his writing and complexity of the sentences Charlie writes.

A main theme through the story is about the Mistreatment of the Mentally Disabled in society. The fictional idea of artificially augmenting or diminishing intelligence enables the Author to offer a telling portrayal of society’s mistreatment of the mentally disabled and others alike. "People think it's funny when a dumb person can't