A Summary of Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

The book «Flowers for Algernon» by Daniel Keyes is about a 32 year old mentally challenged man named Charles Gordon who gets a special operation. This operation has never been done on another human being and therefore Charlie would be the first. This operation is said to be able to change a mentally challenged human into a regular person, even greater.

It all starts when Charlie is nominated to be a possible Candidate of this new operation. He is told to write many tests and look at many pictures to see if he is eligible to be chosen.

He finally gets chosen for the operation and is introduced to a mouse that has had the same operation. The mouse Algernon, and Charlie are given a maze and they see who gets to the finish first. Charlie tries many times but he cannot beat the mouse. Then the day comes for him to get the operation done, and after he gets it he is very disappointed because of the lack of results.

The doctors tell him that it takes time and that he has to work to be smart. Very slowly Charlie becomes smarter, and finally beats Algernon in the maze. He was very happy of hise new intelligence but he notices that the people who he thought were his friends are really just making fun of him. But that doesnt stop him from learning. He learned many new things, including other languages and such and he becomes a very smart man. Then one day Algernon escaped his cage but was soon found by Charlie.

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Charlie decides he keeps him and gets a place to live for the both of them. A little while after they get settled in their new home, Algernon starts to lose his intelligence and stops eating. Soon after that Algernon dies. Algernon was Charlie fs only friend that understood how he felt, it was quite hard on him. Charlie then decides to go see his mother, something he had been wanting to do for a long time. His mother is very surprised from his intelligence and she is extremely happy for him. But like Algernon, Charlie loses his intelligence and forgets a lot of the things he learned during the time he was smart. He forgot the other languages and how to read and write well. But one thing he didn ft forget was to leave some flowers for Algernon at his grave.

There are many characters in the story Flowers for Algernon h but the main characters are Charlie, Algernon, Professor Nemur and probably Miss Kinnian. Charlie is a 32 year old mentally challenged man. I would say he is the protagonist of this story as well as the narrator. The book evolves around him and what he feels (like a diary). Personality wise Charlie is an honest, caring, and devoted man. But he does ft understand that he does ft HAVE to be smart. Algernon is a scientifically enhanced mouse. He is Charlie fs competition as well as his pet, friend, and family. He means a lot to Charlie and is very close. Professor Nemur is the care taker of Charlie and takes many tests of Charlie. He runs the lab and the operation that is run on Charlie. Miss Kinnian is one of Charlie fs testers. She is known as Charlie fs main teacher as well as friend.

This book takes place in New York City. Most of the story takes place in a university that Charlie is tested and operated on. I would say that it is modern time because of the surgical advancement. And all the technology that is used in the labatory.

I would say that the theme of this story is to be happy with yourself, and find people that are happy with the way that you are. And don ft let some operation change who you are, because that fs not you. It also tells you to respect what god gives you and altering that may give lead to unhappiness.