Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon Short Story Essay
Flowers for Algernon (1959) by Daniel Keyes uses different techniques including Changes in Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation and Algernon as a symbol to produce the themes of Mistreatment of the Mentally Disabled, The Tension between Intellect and Emotion, The Persistence of the Past in the Present and Algernon as the symbol. All these techniques are presented from Charlie’s first person narration in his progress reports.
Daniel Keyes signals Charlie’s changing mental state through the level of accuracy or inaccuracy of the grammar, spelling, and punctuation in Charlie’s progress reports. The first sentence of the story, typical of Charlie’s early reports, is full of errors: “Dr Strauss says I shoud rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on.” By Progress Report 9, we see Charlie’s immense progress in his composition of flawless sentences: “I had a nightmare last night, and this morning, after I woke up, I free-associated the way Dr. Strauss told me to do when I remember my dreams.” Similarly, Keyes initially conveys the loss of Charlie’s intelligence at the end with the erosion of his grammar, spelling, and punctuation. As Charlie grows more intelligent after his operation, effectively transforming from a mentally retarded man to a genius, he realizes that people have always based their attitudes toward him on feelings of superiority. “How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibilty, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes—how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence.” For the most part; other people have treated Charlie not only as an intellectual inferior but also as less of a human being than they are. While some, like his coworkers at the bakery, have treated him with outright cruelty, others have tried to be kind but ultimately have been condescending in their charity. “Now I know what it means when they say
Flowers for Algernon (1959) by Daniel Keyes uses different techniques including Changes in Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation and Algernon as a symbol to produce the themes of Mistreatment of the Mentally Disabled, The Tension between Intellect and Emotion, The Persistence of the Past in the Present and Algernon as the symbol. All these techniques are presented from Charlie’s first person narration in his progress reports.
Daniel Keyes signals Charlie’s changing mental state through the level of accuracy or inaccuracy of the grammar, spelling, and punctuation in Charlie’s progress reports. The first sentence of the story, typical of Charlie’s early reports, is full of errors: “Dr Strauss says I shoud rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on.” By Progress Report 9, we see Charlie’s immense progress in his composition of flawless sentences: “I had a nightmare last night, and this morning, after I woke up, I free-associated the way Dr. Strauss told me to do when I remember my dreams.” Similarly, Keyes initially conveys the loss of Charlie’s intelligence at the end with the erosion of his grammar, spelling, and punctuation. As Charlie grows more intelligent after his operation, effectively transforming from a mentally retarded man to a genius, he realizes that people have always based their attitudes toward him on feelings of superiority. “How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibilty, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes—how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence.” For the most part; other people have treated Charlie not only as an intellectual inferior but also as less of a human being than they are. While some, like his coworkers at the bakery, have treated him with outright cruelty, others have tried to be kind but ultimately have been condescending in their charity. “Now I know what it means when they say