Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes Charlie Gordon is a retarded man who wants to be smart. So when his teacher tells him that there are some doctors who might be able to make him smart, he jumps at the opportunity. The doctors succeed in making Charlie smart, but the results are not what Charlie had hoped for. Instead of making him popular, his new intelligence has alienated him from everyone. He finds that the world he knew was only a slew of misconceptions. And when he finally reaches the point where he can cope with his new self, he finds that his new self isn't permanent. Algernon, by the way, is the mouse on whom Charlie's experiment was first performed.
This book is very emotional. However, the plot seems more designed to make the reader think than it is to make the reader feel.
Flowers for Algernon asks a lot of very deep questions. Who are we? How much does our intelligence matter?
Happy and thoughtful reading.
