What Flowers for Algernon Can Teach Us (spoilers)

        Flowers for Algernon is a short story that was adapted into a novel by Daniel Keyes. I remember reading the short story in elementary school and it resonated with me ever since. I just finished the novel and I cried. Flowers for Algernon is about a man named Charlie Gordon who has a very low IQ and is mentally disabled. He attends classes for mentally disabled adults with his teacher, Miss Kinnian. Charlie is the most determined to learn as much as he can. This is why Charlie is selected to undergo an operation that was only done on a mouse named Algernon, which increases his IQ until he becomes a genius and a great problem solver. However, genius does not teach him emotional stability, and Charlie struggles to connect with others as his intelligence surpasses those around him. Soon, Algernon shows signs of decline, and shortly after, Charlie begins to decline and reverts back to his low IQ self. He forgets about the interactions with others and he forgets that he romantically loved Miss Kinnian when he was intelligent. The story is like a Greek tragedy where you know how bad it will turn out for everyone.

        I'm finding myself thinking and asking some questions about Charlie's actions towards the end of the story. It is evident that he was aware of his deterioration way up to the end even when he couldn't spell or understand words correctly anymore. Charlie was still aware that he was intelligent and his co-workers used to laugh at him not because they liked him as a person. When Charlie went back to work at the bakery, Mr. Donner was happy he was back. Mr. Donner was the father figure in Charlie's life, having kept him working there according to Charlie's Uncle Herman's wish. Charlie's co-workers had a newfound respect for him and were willing to defend him with violence when the new worker, Klaus, harassed him. Joe Carp, Frank, and Gimpy didn’t laugh at him anymore (what happened to Fanny?). Charlie's old co-workers, much like himself, finally went through emotional change and they can now see their appreciation for Charlie as a human, I like to think because he pointed out their flaws when he became intelligent, not so much just because he became intelligent. So, why did Charlie leave them to go to Warren State Home for the mentally insane? Charlie began to identify more with the people like his kind at Warren, and it seems he didn't want to serve as a reminder to his co-workers and Miss Kinnian about his character arc. This is what I want to discuss. Why does he need to be ashamed of his arc?

Every Marine Is Your Brother

        Joe, Frank, and Gimpy had gone through emotional change, much like Charlie himself, who struggled to figure out his emotional side as he became rapidly intelligent. Perhaps this is great enough of a change to respect their newfound appreciation for Charlie during his downfall. Intelligent Charlie still said they were his friends when he looked back before his operation, even though they teased him and laughed at him, because that was what he believed. They are still his friends. I don't think they respect him now just because of his intelligence after the operation. They had wives and kids to support, I like to believe that Charlie figuring out their issues and making changes around the bakery got ingrained in their minds and changed them. Joe, Frank, and Gimpy do not separate the intelligent Charlie from the mentally ill Charlie like everyone else does. Charlie is one man and his co-workers now understand to support him, like fellow soldiers surviving together in the army. Mr. Donner comes in like a father figure, and he tells you, son, I love you, I've seen you become intelligent and I recognized this and I let you go because you were worth more than us, and now whatever you say about the operation, I don't care. I'm glad you're back, you went through a lot, you are still my son, and you were very brave to come back to me because you were aware of what was happening to you. The best thing a man can hear is like the Admiral saying to Maverick in Top Gun: Maverick: "You're where you belong." That friendship is what Charlie ever wanted his whole life, even as his old self when he believed his bakery friends were actually his friends. Now, his fellows actually got his back like how every Marine is your brother. Your brothers will grow and mature with you. A man can die happy when he's got his brothers covering his back... brothers that he fought with and hated each other many times, such is life, but they got their time together in common and their shared goal of upholding the bakery. Charlie's fear of people feeling bad for his downfall doesn't make a lot of sense, as any respectable person would likely salute him for his successes and his journey through failure. It wouldn't matter if one had a choice or not, as long as they became aware of their dire situation and made peace with it, and like one of my favorite quotes from Halo: Let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark... and did not return. They ennobled all of us, and they should not be forgotten. This is not pity, this is the highest honor a man can receive.

When It's Love

        Towards the end of the novel, Charlie was still aware of his appreciation for Miss Kinnian... Alice Kinnian, as he called her when he was intelligent... but it is unclear if he was aware that he loved her when he was intelligent and that she had confessed her love for him when it was too late. All he retained was that Miss Kinnian supported his operation and he did not want her to feel bad about his deterioration. It seems weird that Charlie is aware of his character arc after the operation and meeting his family after all these years when he was still intelligent, but his other memories are left unclear if he remembered them or not. How could he remember meeting his family if he could not remember his love for Miss Kinnian or his neighbor Fay? If he remembered his love, and he was appreciative of it, could he not have controlled himself before during all the times he struck back at Miss Kinnian in his apartment and told her to leave, showing his unappreciation for her? Sure, he's an emotional human, but Charlie should have come to terms that he would deteriorate without a choice, much like he had to come to terms with his mother's abuse before he could gain the courage to meet her again, and not take his anger out on Miss Kinnian. Perhaps his deterioration could not allow him to understand fully the consequences of his actions. Miss Kinnian was the one for Charlie. She complimented him very well and she supported him in all stages of life. Miss Kinnian was a real hero. You don't need to be an adult or a mentally stable person to understand when someone appreciates you, you just need an open mind and to make peace. Charlie always said he wanted to learn, yet he couldn’t absorb his experiences to learn from them as he deteriorated.

Love Walks In

        For his entire journey through intelligence, Charlie struggled to understand love. He struggled to be comfortable pursuing Miss Kinnian or Fay and understanding how people felt. Charlie had a rough childhood and an abusive mother. His mother wanted him sent away so Charlie's younger sister, Norma, could have a Norma-l life and not be associated with him. The arguments between his mother and father traumatized him and he admitted during his intelligence that he was afraid of women directly because of how his mother treated him. He was afraid of his mother and resented her. Because of this, Charlie struggled to understand emotions and how other people felt despite his increased intelligence. Charlie struggled with love when he so desperately wanted it and he failed to find a balance in his life, and this was fueled further as his science peers referred to him as their test subject, barely a human before the operation was done.

The moral of Flowers for Algernon is that intelligence doesn't solve the human problems with loss, love, and happiness, and that intelligence is no indication of how you deserve to treat people.

 The Most Important Lesson

        I think Flowers for Algernon tells us something else very powerful about humanity. The novel tells us how important it is to have loving parents, but in this case, a motherly figure, in a child's life. Charlie's relationship with his father is very straightforward because his father supported him but his mother didn't. So, Charlie's relationship with his mother needed closure as he worked to make peace with her and gain the courage to find her. As mentioned before, the entire story he struggled with love and his emotional side because he feared his mother from her physical and mental abuse. Without his mother, his family fell apart, and he realized in his intelligence, that he walked a lonely road on the boulevard of broken dreams. All Charlie needed was a loving mother, who supported and accepted him until he felt loved and who supported her husband's want to open a barbershop without trying to waste money on some magical ways for Charlie to be "normal." Charlie would have been more understanding in his intelligence and more satisfied with his experiences. It is ironic that Charlie says the man who they paid some scam operation for was the friendliest to him because he always treated Charlie nicely.

        The absence of a loving and accepting mother is what almost all villains have in common, which distances them from society because no one was there to show them what love and trust are to form meaningful human connections.

        Villains in stories are twisted, sociopathic, psychopathic, you name it, because they did not have a mother that loved them. Charlie's mother chose civil war. A boy needs his mother. He cannot just be left with an Internet connection to find everything out on his own. Without motherly love, the child will never understand their emotional side because it was never present to begin with, so humanity resents them for not connecting with them. Being a good mother is the key to support lives suffering from mental health, which uplifts humanity. The role of a woman is the most important thing to humanity, and it would be foolish for someone to think otherwise. You can live without much intelligence but you will die without emotional connection. A respected man can die happy knowing that his mother loved him and he had at least one person who could tell them that they got his back, no matter the cost. I hope this novel moves you as much as is moved me, and please, don’t forget to leave flowers by Algernon’s grave.

P.S.

        I found it strange that Charlie was reading Don Quixote because I was just reading that too before Flowers for Algernon. What a coincidence. I also feared I was pulling Charlie Gordons occasionally, like misspelling his name as Charley a few times.

        At the beginning of Charlie’s intelligence, he realized Gimpy was pocketing some money for himself on some sales and he used Charlie’s old self to deliver bakery goods to support his operation. Charlie asked Professor Nemur and Doctor Strauss about what he should do and they provided their own opinions. When Charlie asked Miss Kinnian, her answer was so simple and obvious, which I did not even think of, that it made me cry. She said:

“Charlie, you amaze me. In some ways you’re so advanced, and yet when it comes to making a decision, you’re still a child. I can’t decide for you, Charlie. The answer can’t be found in books—or be solved by bringing it to other people. Not unless you want to remain a child all your life. You’ve got to find the answer inside you—feel the right thing to do. Charlie, you’ve got to learn to trust yourself” (page 91).

        While the experts in science use logic to form their opinion, Miss Kinnian’s advice is more significant because it can be applied to other situations in life and it came directly from her heart. This is why she is a hero.

        I also cried so hard when Charlie stopped using apostrophes all the way to the end when he couldn’t spell right anymore. It surprised me when he even said he felt bad for Klaus getting fired for teasing him because Klaus insisted he was just playing around and he was sorry. Charlie said he felt bad because Klaus had a wife and kid to support and it just broke my heart that Charlie was a really good man and his co-workers seemed to learn that when he became intelligent enough to point out their flaws.

Flowers for Algernon, First Harvest edition 2004, Harcourt Inc.