Mena+L.+-+Flowers+for+Algernon

= Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keys=

=== **Daniel Keyes** was born on August 9, 1927 in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of 17, Keyes joined the U.S. Maritime Service. He got his===

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===Master's Degree in English and American Literature and taught at public schools during the day. In the 1950's, Keyes was the editor of //Marvel Science Fiction// for Martin Goodman. After the passing of Goodman, Keyes became associate editor of Atlas Comics, under Stan Lee. Keyes wrote two stories with Basil Wolverton, and he also wrote the EC comics. One of Keyes more famous published stories, //Flowers for Algernon//, is about a mentally ill man named Charlie, who goes through surgery and becomes intelligent for a short while, until the effects soon wear off. The story was first published in 1959 in the issue of //The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction//, and in 1966 the story was expanded into a novel. The story was also turned into a film in 1968, which was renamed to //Charly//. Keyes continued to teach creative writing at Wayne State University. He then became an English Professor in 1966 at Ohio University, and he was honored as a professor emeritus in 2000. Keyes other novels also include //The Touch, The Minds of Billy Milligan, Fifth Sally,// and many others.===

= Main Characters =

=== __Charlie Gordon__ - The main character of the novel. Charlie is a 32 year old mentally ill man who lives in New York City. Charlie is a delivery boy and janitor. Charlie is enrolled in a literacy class for retarded adults. He is most hard working and is kind and friendly. Soon after, Charlie is subject to an experiment which puts him through surgery, which makes his intelligence go up way higher, but later on in the story, his intelligence slowly goes b===

__Alice Kinnian__ - Alice is Charlie's teacher at the literacy class for mentally retarded adults. Alice is the primary person wh
===o informed the surgery to Charlie, due to her belief that Charlie was the most hard working and best for the surgery in her entire class. Alice is very interested in the surgery, not because of scientific research, but simply due to the fact that she cares about Charlie. Alice Kinnian is the only person who Charlie can come to in the story to find comfort.=== === __Professor Harold Nemur__ - Nemur is the main scientist in charge of the surgery for Charlie. He is focused on his career only, and has no respect for human life. Nemur is driven by his career, and not viewing Charlie as an actual human, but only seeing him as nothing but a lab subject. However, Nemur's wife===

is even worse that Professor Nemur himself, and she seems to be more driven than her husband.
=== __Dr. Strauss__ - Dr. Strauss is Professor Harold Nemur's partner with the experiment on Charlie. He conducts therapy sessions with Charlie. However, unlike Nemur, Strauss actually cares for his patient, and has strong concerns for his patient, Charlie and his mental health.===

__Algernon__ - Algernon is a mouse who was the first to undergo the surgery. With the surgery, Algern
===on becomes much smarter that a mouse, and is able to solve puzzles. Charlie later grows very close to Algernon, making them great friends. Algernon later dies because of the surgery, and Charlie leaves flowers at his grave, thus having the title named //Flowers for Algernon.//===

= Flowers for Algernon = ===The story Flowers for Algernon takes place in New York City where Charlie Gordon, a 32 year old mentally disabled man lives, works, and attends the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults. At school, his teacher Alice Kinnian chooses Charlie for a test surgery to improve one's intelligence because of his motivation to learn. The surgery was led under by two scientists, Dr. Strauss and Professor Harold Nemur. After the surgery, Charlie was asked to keep a diary of events in his life and to keep the two scientists updated on how he was feeling and what was going on through his mind. The recorded diary also updated the scientists if Charlie's intelligence improved or if he showed no change towards the surgery. Before and after the surgery, Charlie was asked to run through some intellige-===

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===nce tests, mazes, and looking at pictures. During the maze tests, he was compared to a mouse, Algernon, that the same surgery was performed onto it also. Over time, Charlie's and Algernon's intelligence improves more and more, the author shows this transformation by the way Charlie wrote in the beginning of his journals and how he suddenly had better grammar and a bigger vocabulary. As time also continues in the story, Charlie finds himself to grow attracted to his teacher, Alice. She refuses to see him in this way because she doesn't want to ruin her reputation as his former teacher nor does she see Charlie in this sort of way. Every time Charlie feels an emotional attraction towards a woman, he would have flashbacks about his childhood life of his mother, Rose Gordon, abusing and neglecting him because he was mentally retarded and how she didn't see him as 'normal' compared to the other kids. While Charlie's intelligence has been improving drastically Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur decide to have Charlie and Algernon attend a scientific convention in Chicago to explain to the people and the world how their surgery worked. Charlie realized that he was being treated unlike a normal human being, but a lap animal, so during their stay in Chicago, he decides to let loose Algernon and fly back to New York where he escaped the scientists and their tests. Charlie studied Algernon for a while, and soon realized that Algernon's health was getting bad and his intelligence was decreasing increasingly. This was an eye opener for Charlie because he knew that the same thing would happen to him again, he called his theory "The Algernon-Gordon Effect". Suddenly one day, Algernon died. Charlie buried him in his backyard and each day he would put a new set of fresh flowers on his grave. He finds himself in and out of love between each partner Fay and Alice during this hard time and he also begins to reconcile with his family that abandoned him. As Charlie begins to loose his intelligence, he begins to work at the bakery again and be more accepted for who he once was. It is as if he lost all of his memories of when he was smart and started fresh and new with his life again at being mentally retarded again. In the end of Charlie's journal entry he asks that if anyone cared, that they should put flowers for Algernon's grave for him.===

= Would I recommend this book? = ===Reading this book, I have personally learned a lot about respecting others for who they are and to not put someone down because of their intelligence scale, because in reality we're all the same somehow. I would recommend this book to any age of students because they can learn about respecting others and this book had a pretty decent storyline to show that moral. Flowers for Algernon can help an individual not be afraid to step up in a society or help them better fit in a group. Although Charlie Gordon was slower or not as intelligent as the other workers at the bakery, he was gladly accepted and everyone enjoyed his company. I think this book also shows you that you can't always get everything you want in life. For example, Charlie wanted to be smarter that's why he went with the plan to get surgery done to him to become smarter. But like what his nurse said to him, "You may be defying God's will by trying to gain intelligence unnaturally". I liked reading this book, and I'm sure someone would enjoy reading this novel too.=== Flowers for Algernon - youtube video ===This link leads you to a preview of a clip of the movie relating to the book Flowers for Algernon. It shows how over time how much Charlie has learned from his experience and how much he's still accepted even though he knows that he will loose all of his memory in the near future. It still brings determination to him because he knows that there are some things in life that you just can't have, and what Charlie was just missing was his intelligence.===

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