WHO IS CHARLIE GORDON?
Charlie Gordon, the protagonist of Flowers for Algernon is a “mentally-retarded” 37 year old adult who goes through a brief, but miraculous transformation from mentally disabled with an IQ of 68 to an intellectual genius. This moving character undergoes massive changes throughout the story, while transitioning from different levels of intellectual ability. These massive changes, intellectual and emotional, both take a large toll on Charlie’s individuality and his perspectives/views; making him a very evident dynamic character. The intellectual change, a result from an external force (the operation) resulted in a chain reaction of internal, characteristics based change in Charlie. Additionally, the experiences he goes through, such as finding out what it means to “pull a Charlie Gordon” also contribute to his internal change of character.
Through Charlie’s written progress reports, one is able to see his intellectual capacity increase significantly as the storyline progresses. His spelling, grammar, and vocabulary/word choice improves dramatically after the operation relative to his state prior the operation, proving his intellectual change (where he then suffers a deep decline during his mental deterioration). Take these two excepts as examples. The one before the operation, being “They said Miss Kinnian told that I was her bestist pupil in the adult nite school becaus I tryed the hardist and I reely wantid to lern. They said how come you went to the adult nite scool all by yourself Charlie.”, then one after, being “The surgical stimulus to which we were both subjected has resulted in an intensification and acceleration of all mental processes. The unforeseen development, which I have taken the liberty of calling the Algernon-Gordon Effect, is the logical extension of the entire intelligence speed-up.” The second phrase, an exceprt from Charlie’s experiment report is of flawless structure and includes vocabulary well beyond the first phrase. Furthermore, the tests that Charlie takes throughout the story also indicate to his intelligence change. For example, the Rorschach test, or the “inkblot” test, which Charlie failed miserably at the beginning of the story gave significantly different results when it was taken again after the operation. He was finally able to see the images that were supposedly hidden amongst the inkblots. Also, his races against Algernon indicated to his drastic improvement. At the beginning of the story, Charlie was unable to beat Algernon, a mouse who received the same “tripling intelligence” surgery. However, after Charlie received that same surgery, he was eventually able to beat Algernon, producing remarkably better results than Algernon. As his intelligence skyrocketed during his final weeks of being a “genius”, he even began to experience difficulty in communicating with others. His areas of academic study were so advanced that even Dr Strauss and Dr Nemur stayed away from him, fearful of embarrassing themselves with their limited spectrums of knowledge, began seeing Charlie as someone inferior to their reputation. Charlie was unable to hold a natural conversation with others like Miss Kinnian without leaving the other person in utter confusion as he tended to veer towards intellectual concepts that no one understood. He fell into isolation, with limited social interaction. This is suggestive of how extreme of a change Charlie went through. Originally, his social isolation was due to his “mental-retardness”, where no one wished to associate themselves with him due to the fact that his stupidity would seemingly render a negative impact on their reputation. They saw him as inferior. Now, fast forwards to after the operation, where he experiences this exact same thing, only this time, everyone sees him as inferior due to his supposed superior from his genius-like intelligence. Falling from one end of the spectrum to the other is quite suggestive, even along that Charlie is indeed a dynamic character. Here, one is not only seeing the mental changes that Charlie experiences intellectually, but also the social impacts of this mental change. These social impacts are ultimately, what result in his internal changes of his perspective.
Personally, I think Charlie and his internal character traits don’t change a notable amount, in fact, I believe that the majority of Charlie’s personality stayed the same throughout this story. He stayed the same person, motivated, kind/friendly, and well-intentioned. He holds no negative or destructive grudges and all his intentions are good intentions, not meant to harm others. How much value Charlie holds in friendship can be seen evidently from beginning to end, regardless of his level of IQ. These are the true characteristics of Charlie, those that don’t change from the influence of external forces. However, what does change considerably is his perception of the world. The increase of intelligence opened something like a door, one that he knew was there before, but didn’t really know how to open. This door, once opened had heightened his social awareness and his understanding of those around him. This new sensory awareness, combined with Charlie’s genius and some rather large events led to a new understanding of humanity for Charlie, shifting the way he looked at the world. Take one of these “large events” where Charlie Gordon realizes what the world isn’t what he took it to be. When he learns what it means to “pull a Charlie Gordon”, he begins to first feel the shame of being “mentally-retarded”. He starts to understand why others treated him like the way they did, always making jokes out of him, deceiving him into thinking that he was laughing with them when they were actually laughing at him. He comes to the realization of how the world takes advantage of the mentally disabled, yet those who are being taken advantage of aren’t even aware of it. That the people he considered “friends”, those who made him “happy” were only taking him as a source of entertainment. Almost everyone around him was using him, whether it was his co-workers, or even his doctors (Dr Strauss and Dr Nemur used him as an experimental victim, a lab pet). Then, it’s during the “restaurant scene”, the final blow; when he finally sees what it all meant. After a young boy make a mistake at a restaurant where he usually dines, he realizes something fundamental to his existence. The new dishwasher, a boy of sixteen, accidently smashed some china dishes during his shift. Everyone, witnessing the incident turns the boy into a joke, laughing at him just like how Charlie’s co-workers laughed at Charlie. The boy, unaware of the joke, mirrors everyone’s laughter, only sending Charlie into a furious fit. Charlie was laughing along with everyone, but as he realizes that everyone was only mocking the mentally retarded boy, like how Charlie once was; he screams at everyone. He says, as quoted from his progress report “Only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Now I can see that unknowingly I joined with them in laughing at myself. That hurts most of all.” He then goes on to say “even feeble-minded men want to be like other men”. He finally sees, by himself through all of this how pathetic and hypocritical ones actions can become. He sees how he evolved to laugh at those exactly like how he was through just a matter of weeks. Charlie now understand why people used to laugh at him. He wanted to be like everyone else, through achieving the same level of “smarts” that everyone else had. He somehow knew of the gnawing hunger of fitting in, even through his naive mind. Yet, when he finally satisfied his hunger, he was utterly horrified with the taste. He was like the boy, exactly like him, yet he didn’t know. And even when he was gifted with intellectual awareness, he still never really knew. The feeling of shame and even the realization of how mentally-retarded he was wasn’t enough.Through this, he realizes how from the very beginning, his reason for wanting to become smart was fuelled by an unknown, internal desire to fit in. After the operation, he slowly came to understand what this desire was, while he came to see what the “others” he wanted to be like were. He struggles deeply from day one to understand the intentions of “others” and how social interactions work. He begins to understand the intricate social rules, those unspoken; but at the same time, he struggles to see the practicality and reasonability behind them. And unknowingly, he begins to follow those rules. It’s the hypocrisy behind this that induces his personal struggle. He doesn’t see why he follows these social rules, the same ones that justify the humiliation of those mentally “retarded” individuals like Charlie. It was originally a self v.s. societal struggle when Charlie needed to understand these how the intricate systems of social interaction worked, of why the world runs itself in the way that it does. Yet, in some ways, before the operation, this was a struggle even unknown to Charlie himself. In his naive regard, these complex systems never had their existence. So, when he came to realize that they existed, he came to realize this unseen self v.s. societal struggle. Having seen that this struggle existed at all resulted in a self v.s. self struggle where he questions his own ethics and moral, asking why he had even attempted to struggle against such a hypocritical society. Charlie says in this scene “I see that even in my dullness I knew that I was inferior, and that other people had something I lacked-something denied me…” He realizes that from the very beginning he knew that he was considered an outcast, yet he still struggled so hard to become an “insider”, someone who fit in. As Charlie puts it “A child may not know how to feed itself, or what to eat, yet it knows of hunger.” He was a child, emotionally and even intellectually prior to the operation. He was like this child, not knowing how to feed himself in such a cruel society, or what would be food; yet he knew of that gnawing hunger, that hunger to fit in, to be like everyone else. Then he goes onto to say “This then is what I was like, I never knew. Even with my gift of intellectual awareness, I never really knew.” Charlie has finally seen the entire picture. Even though it pains him, this allowed him to see beyond the restraints of his personal struggles. He decides to use his “gift of intellectual awareness to work in the field of increasing human intelligence levels”, which ultimately acts as the resolution to this complex conflict. This may not be a direct solution, one that rids of his pain, but he sees that his hunger was to achieve something of no value, so he may as well as use what drove his hunger forward to achieve something for the human race, or more specifically, those who are mentally handicapped like him and could benefit from increased intelligence. “Who is better for this work? Who else has lived in both worlds? These are my people… Let me use my gift to do something for them.” Charlie has found inner peace, taking his driving hunger and putting it to use elsewhere.
So, ultimately, not only did Charlie Gordon change intellectually and emotionally, but his perceptions changed as well. The combination of all these different types of changes made Charlie not only an incredibly movng and meaningful character, but also a significant dynamic character.
Through Charlie’s written progress reports, one is able to see his intellectual capacity increase significantly as the storyline progresses. His spelling, grammar, and vocabulary/word choice improves dramatically after the operation relative to his state prior the operation, proving his intellectual change (where he then suffers a deep decline during his mental deterioration). Take these two excepts as examples. The one before the operation, being “They said Miss Kinnian told that I was her bestist pupil in the adult nite school becaus I tryed the hardist and I reely wantid to lern. They said how come you went to the adult nite scool all by yourself Charlie.”, then one after, being “The surgical stimulus to which we were both subjected has resulted in an intensification and acceleration of all mental processes. The unforeseen development, which I have taken the liberty of calling the Algernon-Gordon Effect, is the logical extension of the entire intelligence speed-up.” The second phrase, an exceprt from Charlie’s experiment report is of flawless structure and includes vocabulary well beyond the first phrase. Furthermore, the tests that Charlie takes throughout the story also indicate to his intelligence change. For example, the Rorschach test, or the “inkblot” test, which Charlie failed miserably at the beginning of the story gave significantly different results when it was taken again after the operation. He was finally able to see the images that were supposedly hidden amongst the inkblots. Also, his races against Algernon indicated to his drastic improvement. At the beginning of the story, Charlie was unable to beat Algernon, a mouse who received the same “tripling intelligence” surgery. However, after Charlie received that same surgery, he was eventually able to beat Algernon, producing remarkably better results than Algernon. As his intelligence skyrocketed during his final weeks of being a “genius”, he even began to experience difficulty in communicating with others. His areas of academic study were so advanced that even Dr Strauss and Dr Nemur stayed away from him, fearful of embarrassing themselves with their limited spectrums of knowledge, began seeing Charlie as someone inferior to their reputation. Charlie was unable to hold a natural conversation with others like Miss Kinnian without leaving the other person in utter confusion as he tended to veer towards intellectual concepts that no one understood. He fell into isolation, with limited social interaction. This is suggestive of how extreme of a change Charlie went through. Originally, his social isolation was due to his “mental-retardness”, where no one wished to associate themselves with him due to the fact that his stupidity would seemingly render a negative impact on their reputation. They saw him as inferior. Now, fast forwards to after the operation, where he experiences this exact same thing, only this time, everyone sees him as inferior due to his supposed superior from his genius-like intelligence. Falling from one end of the spectrum to the other is quite suggestive, even along that Charlie is indeed a dynamic character. Here, one is not only seeing the mental changes that Charlie experiences intellectually, but also the social impacts of this mental change. These social impacts are ultimately, what result in his internal changes of his perspective.
Personally, I think Charlie and his internal character traits don’t change a notable amount, in fact, I believe that the majority of Charlie’s personality stayed the same throughout this story. He stayed the same person, motivated, kind/friendly, and well-intentioned. He holds no negative or destructive grudges and all his intentions are good intentions, not meant to harm others. How much value Charlie holds in friendship can be seen evidently from beginning to end, regardless of his level of IQ. These are the true characteristics of Charlie, those that don’t change from the influence of external forces. However, what does change considerably is his perception of the world. The increase of intelligence opened something like a door, one that he knew was there before, but didn’t really know how to open. This door, once opened had heightened his social awareness and his understanding of those around him. This new sensory awareness, combined with Charlie’s genius and some rather large events led to a new understanding of humanity for Charlie, shifting the way he looked at the world. Take one of these “large events” where Charlie Gordon realizes what the world isn’t what he took it to be. When he learns what it means to “pull a Charlie Gordon”, he begins to first feel the shame of being “mentally-retarded”. He starts to understand why others treated him like the way they did, always making jokes out of him, deceiving him into thinking that he was laughing with them when they were actually laughing at him. He comes to the realization of how the world takes advantage of the mentally disabled, yet those who are being taken advantage of aren’t even aware of it. That the people he considered “friends”, those who made him “happy” were only taking him as a source of entertainment. Almost everyone around him was using him, whether it was his co-workers, or even his doctors (Dr Strauss and Dr Nemur used him as an experimental victim, a lab pet). Then, it’s during the “restaurant scene”, the final blow; when he finally sees what it all meant. After a young boy make a mistake at a restaurant where he usually dines, he realizes something fundamental to his existence. The new dishwasher, a boy of sixteen, accidently smashed some china dishes during his shift. Everyone, witnessing the incident turns the boy into a joke, laughing at him just like how Charlie’s co-workers laughed at Charlie. The boy, unaware of the joke, mirrors everyone’s laughter, only sending Charlie into a furious fit. Charlie was laughing along with everyone, but as he realizes that everyone was only mocking the mentally retarded boy, like how Charlie once was; he screams at everyone. He says, as quoted from his progress report “Only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Now I can see that unknowingly I joined with them in laughing at myself. That hurts most of all.” He then goes on to say “even feeble-minded men want to be like other men”. He finally sees, by himself through all of this how pathetic and hypocritical ones actions can become. He sees how he evolved to laugh at those exactly like how he was through just a matter of weeks. Charlie now understand why people used to laugh at him. He wanted to be like everyone else, through achieving the same level of “smarts” that everyone else had. He somehow knew of the gnawing hunger of fitting in, even through his naive mind. Yet, when he finally satisfied his hunger, he was utterly horrified with the taste. He was like the boy, exactly like him, yet he didn’t know. And even when he was gifted with intellectual awareness, he still never really knew. The feeling of shame and even the realization of how mentally-retarded he was wasn’t enough.Through this, he realizes how from the very beginning, his reason for wanting to become smart was fuelled by an unknown, internal desire to fit in. After the operation, he slowly came to understand what this desire was, while he came to see what the “others” he wanted to be like were. He struggles deeply from day one to understand the intentions of “others” and how social interactions work. He begins to understand the intricate social rules, those unspoken; but at the same time, he struggles to see the practicality and reasonability behind them. And unknowingly, he begins to follow those rules. It’s the hypocrisy behind this that induces his personal struggle. He doesn’t see why he follows these social rules, the same ones that justify the humiliation of those mentally “retarded” individuals like Charlie. It was originally a self v.s. societal struggle when Charlie needed to understand these how the intricate systems of social interaction worked, of why the world runs itself in the way that it does. Yet, in some ways, before the operation, this was a struggle even unknown to Charlie himself. In his naive regard, these complex systems never had their existence. So, when he came to realize that they existed, he came to realize this unseen self v.s. societal struggle. Having seen that this struggle existed at all resulted in a self v.s. self struggle where he questions his own ethics and moral, asking why he had even attempted to struggle against such a hypocritical society. Charlie says in this scene “I see that even in my dullness I knew that I was inferior, and that other people had something I lacked-something denied me…” He realizes that from the very beginning he knew that he was considered an outcast, yet he still struggled so hard to become an “insider”, someone who fit in. As Charlie puts it “A child may not know how to feed itself, or what to eat, yet it knows of hunger.” He was a child, emotionally and even intellectually prior to the operation. He was like this child, not knowing how to feed himself in such a cruel society, or what would be food; yet he knew of that gnawing hunger, that hunger to fit in, to be like everyone else. Then he goes onto to say “This then is what I was like, I never knew. Even with my gift of intellectual awareness, I never really knew.” Charlie has finally seen the entire picture. Even though it pains him, this allowed him to see beyond the restraints of his personal struggles. He decides to use his “gift of intellectual awareness to work in the field of increasing human intelligence levels”, which ultimately acts as the resolution to this complex conflict. This may not be a direct solution, one that rids of his pain, but he sees that his hunger was to achieve something of no value, so he may as well as use what drove his hunger forward to achieve something for the human race, or more specifically, those who are mentally handicapped like him and could benefit from increased intelligence. “Who is better for this work? Who else has lived in both worlds? These are my people… Let me use my gift to do something for them.” Charlie has found inner peace, taking his driving hunger and putting it to use elsewhere.
So, ultimately, not only did Charlie Gordon change intellectually and emotionally, but his perceptions changed as well. The combination of all these different types of changes made Charlie not only an incredibly movng and meaningful character, but also a significant dynamic character.