Daniel Keyes is an American author who made history in 1959 when he wrote his famous book, “Flowers For Algernon.” The book exploded in popularity over the years, selling over 5 million copies. Unfortunately, Keyes passed away in 2014 in Boca Raton, Florida, but his legacy still stands strong.
“Flowers For Algernon” is a book about a man named Charlie Gordon who has an intellectual disability called Phenylketonuria, which causes him to have a very low IQ of 68. Two scientists working hand in hand–Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss–decided to perform a surgery on Charlie’s brain in hopes to increase his IQ by almost triple.
After the procedure, Charlie was taught by a man named Burt who also worked with Strauss and Nemur. Over time, his intelligence increased and in nine short months, his IQ became 185–a medical miracle.
Throughout Charlie’s journey, he befriended a small white mouse named Algernon–a mouse that went through the same procedure.
As Charlie continued to build intelligence, he realized how unethical the entire procedure was. He also had a second realization–that being intelligent wasn’t as good as it was made out to be. When he had a lower IQ, he desired to be smart. When he became smart, he started to see the world in a different way. All the people in his life were a fallacy. Being intelligent brought him profound loneliness.
After a short period of time, the scientists realized that Algernon had lost his intelligence. The mouse went right back to his original IQ. The same thing happened to Charlie.
His intelligence never stayed, but maybe it was for the best.
Flowers for Algernon is a fictional book made to explore the fundamentals of tragedy and what true intelligence means. It was written from Charlie’s perspective in the form of diary entries. Keyes wrote it to mirror some of his personal problems as in being pushed to study pre-med as a career. He disobeyed his parents and went on to teach adults with low intelligence.
If you haven’t already read Flowers For Algernon, I suggest that you give it a go.
