Charlie Gordon, 32 years old, IQ 68, is the star of Daniel Keyes’ legendary science fiction novel. Flowers for Algernon.
Charlie is unusually intelligent for an adult. He cannot correctly interpret social cues, cannot understand or control some bodily functions, and has trouble reading and writing. He works as a cleaner at Mr. Donner’s bakery, who hired Charlie 17 years ago as a favor for his close friend, Charlie’s uncle. Although Mr. Donner is kind to him and pays him fairly, he is often the butt of jokes from other coworkers, interpreting their laughter and taunts as offers of friendship. Charlie has long been estranged from his family and has been taken in by scientists who want to make him “smart.” He enjoys playing the guinea pig as long as he can be like “other people” so that he “will have lots of friends who like me.”
The doctors have encouraged him to keep a “progress report” to record his journey, his feelings and his possible intellectual development. Charlie’s reports, while riddled with spelling and grammatical errors and lacking punctuation, offer a delightful glimpse into an atypical brain. Keyes forces the reader to read more slowly and one is forced to think about the Regulate of language. Charlie spells words as he hears them – the phonetic logic is hard to refute. What he writes is easy to understand. Naturally, one wonders if language also plays a role in excluding Charlie and others like him who do not understand its rules and conditions.
Becoming human
Charlie is not alone in this experiment. Algernon, a white mouse, is his companion. He is rewarded for his intelligence with cheese, while Charlie becomes more “human.” The irony is not lost on him – before he only existed, but the success of the operation has made him human. In addition to learning to read and write, he is applauded for developing emotions such as anger and suspicion, the “first reaction” to the world around him. He remembers the names of his parents – Rose and Matt – and recalls his childhood memories in a vivid third-person voice.
While Matt was more benevolent toward him, Rose had little patience for his “slowness.” He writes that even in his “slowness,” he knew he was “inferior.” The mother’s cruelty is evident in her whipping, shaming, and threatening of the child. Her belief that the child is “normal” is not born of optimism, but of the deep despair she feels at the looks and rebukes of those around her. Young Charlie’s discontent is compounded when his sister (with normal brain function) arrives, who also punishes him by refusing to play with him or recognize him as her older brother. The family is torn apart by Charlie’s disability. Keyes’ observation seems to be consistent with general attitudes toward the disabled in the 1950s, the decade in which the book was written. Quality care was unaffordable for most middle-class families, and the inability to afford it was often perceived as a personal failure.
Within a few weeks, Charlie’s intelligence increases rapidly and he accumulates knowledge that would take a human being a lifetime to acquire. He devours books on a wide variety of subjects, developing a scientific understanding of the most complex issues – which leads to an inflated ego and contempt for those who are not as intelligent as he is. His former “friends” are confused – they don’t understand what has changed. But the brain alone does not make us human, our heart does. “I have to love someone,” Charlie writes in his progress report to become a fully human being.
His encounters with women are awkward, almost childish. He has difficulty looking them in the eye or touching them. He is very ashamed of his sexuality as a child and finds it difficult to start over in his new life. He believes himself to be in love, but sex and its various maneuvers remain annoyingly incomprehensible. Young Charlie seems to watch him as he tries to become intimate with women. The novel does not gloss over children’s sexuality and conveys the importance of treating it with dignity and care if we are to help children grow into adults who can have healthy relationships with themselves and others. Keyes’ progressive views on children’s sexuality may also be influenced by his profession as a high school teacher, where he taught mentally disabled students and closely observed adolescent children.
Becoming human
All the book knowledge in the world proves useless when he finds he can no longer make friends and doesn’t know how to reconcile with those he has hurt because of his selfish nature. Doctors had warned him of a possible return to his original state, and when Algernon’s behavior becomes erratic, Charlie accepts that this will be his fate too. Nothing good lasts forever.
The story of the transformation of a “retard” into a man with super-artificial intelligence touches on the main concern of modern man: can intelligence be a substitute for emotions? Almost every sentient being is capable of kindness, curiosity and love, but humans feel them most intensely, and even the dumbest among them possess the ability to intellectualize their feelings. At a time when artificial intelligence threatens to take over jobs and replace real human relationships, we must ask ourselves whether such “intelligence” is worth risking our human selves for.
A deeply felt story that can move even the most unsentimental among us to tears. Flowers for Algernon reminds us of the eternal values of hope, compassion and empathy rather than the appreciation of progress that measures human life in arbitrary scales and numbers.
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes, W&N Modern Classics.
