Flowers For Algernon: Charlie's Psychological Traumas
...but for some, an operation can
change a person's life. One experiment was done on a mentally retarded person
to try to raise his intelligence. The experiment worked, but after months, the
patient regressed dramatically. In the book, Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel
Keyes, this intelligence operation was preformed, and the patient was Charlie
Gordon. After the operation, Charlie was very bright, but experienced
psychological traumas, loneliness, disillusionment, and social inadequacies.
Charlie's psychological traumas or emotional upset was caused by his memory
recalls. After his operation, he remembered every aspect of his childhood,
whether it was good or bad. "...He's normal! He's normal! He'll grow up like
other people. Better than others..." Charlie had dreams of how his mother was
ashamed of him. His mother always thought her son was normal and would grow up
and be somebody. "...He's like a baby. He can't play Monopoly or checkers or
anything. I won't play with him anymore..." Charlie's sister also ignored him.
To her, Charlie was dumb and could not do anything. Charlie had dreams of his
sister yelling at him and making fun of him. He also had memories of the night
his parents took him to the Warren Home. He was terrified and his dad would
never answer his questions. Charlie remembered his childhood and through his
memories, he felt guilty for hurting his family.
After the operation, Charlie also suffered from disillusionment. In the
bakery he used to have friends. Friends that would talk to him and care about
him. "...Why? Because all of the sudden your a bigshot. You think you are
better than the rest of us..." Charlie then realized that he had no friends but
merely knew people that made fun of him. The bakery employees just liked him
because they could blame their mistakes on Charlie. Then, they could not do
this after the...
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