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Flowers for Algernon

by Daniel Keyes — 16 Aug 2024

A diary of an intellectually challenged young man detailing his experience being part of an experimental procedure to increase his intelligence

Charlie Gordon was born with an unusually low IQ. Disowned by his family, he supports himself by working menial jobs at a bakery. Motivated to improve himself, he is selected as the perfect test candidate for a new experimental procedure to increase his intelligence… a procedure that has already been successfully tested on a mouse called Algernon.

As they start the procedure, the doctor encourages Charlie to maintain a diary detailing his thoughts, events, ideas, anything that would help them gauge his intellectual capacity. The book is presented as the collective writings from Charlie’s diary.

As the treatment takes effect, Charlie’s intelligence expands until it surpasses that of the doctors who engineered his metamorphosis. The experiment is hailed as a huge success, and as a major scientific breakthrough.

The reader also sees the change in the improvement of Charlie’s writing; grammar and spelling gradually improve, better sentence construction and larger and complicated words, and most importantly, abstract thought rather than a plain retelling of events.

But intelligence comes with a price. Charlie learns that the people he’s known for years are not what he’d always thought. Where he once associated laughter with friendship, he soon learns that it is mockery. It has been said that intelligence is mostly about having a good memory - and Charlie Gordon finds that out the hard way. Memories that had been forgotten come flooding back, bringing pain with them.

Meanwhile, the mouse Algernon suddenly starts deteriorating. What will this mean for Charlie?

An incredibly poignant and touching story of a simple man who was given a glimpse of paradise, just a brief glimpse. It’s a classic for a reason. Read it. You won’t be able to put it down.