Flower for Algernon - Appearance Vs Reality

Things Aren't Always As They Seem

In this society, it’s easy to mistake the appearance of something or someone for the reality. Many children are told to believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. These symbols are used to represent realities, when in actuality, they’re misrepresentations of the truth. These misrepresentations are found in everyday lives and when interacting with people. Daniel Keyes’s Flowers For Algernon is a novel about a thirty-two year old man with an IQ of sixty-eight who undergoes an operation that makes him very intelligent. In this novel, before Charlie Gordon’s operation, he does not understand his reality, however, following his procedure he realizes his reality was not what it appeared to be. The difference between Charlie’s appearance and his reality are shown through his understanding of friendship; realizing who is real friends are, family; finding out who is family is and the effect they had on his childhood and finally, love; it was in front of him the whole time yet it was unnoticed. In Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, the operation which makes Charlie Gordon intelligent has a negative effect on him because the reality of his life is revealed.

Charlie Gordon mistakes the relationship he has with the men in the bakery for true friendship. In one of his progress reports, Charlie writes about his day at work and the mean things the men at the bakery would do and say to him without realizing that they are being mean to him, “She says Im a fine person and I'll show them all. I asked her why. She said never mind but I shouldnt feel bad if I find out that everybody isnt nice like I think. She said for a person who God gave so little to you did more than a lot of people with brains they never even used. I said that all my friends are smart people and their good. They like me and they never did anything that wasnt nice.” (Gordon 37) Before the operation, the men at the bakery appear to be Charlie’s friends, however, after the operation, Charlie has a better understanding of what friends are, “I never knew before that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around just to make fun of me. Now I know what they mean when they say ‘to pull a Charlie Gordon.’ I'm ashamed.”(Gordon 42) He now understands that these men were not his friends and used him as a form of entertainment. They deceived Charlie into thinking they could be trusted and pretended to be his friend, “What makes it difficult to spot fake people is that they could be people who are close to us, whom we trust a lot and they could even have that lovely smile and even show they care for us. But, they secretly envy us and are only pretending to be someone, which they are not.” (Kaushal, Ignited Quotes) Charlie not only saw these men as his peers but as his true friend friends, however they were in genuine and only intended to hurt him. To Charlie these men appeared to be his friends, when in reality they used him for their own amusement.

Prior to the operation, Charlie Gordon is unable to recall neither his family or childhood. After undergoing the operation, flashbacks of his childhood reveal the reality of his harsh childhood and family. Before the memories of his childhood came flowing back, Charlie didn't know who his family was “I never knew about these things before. It's like if I get intelligent enough I'll understand all the words in my mind, and I'll know about those boys standing in the hallway, and about my Uncle Herman and my parents. But what he means is then I'm going to feel bad about it all and I might get sick in my mind.” (Gordon 47) For the majority of his life, Charlie was alienated from his family and oblivious of the way they treated him. After undergoing the operation, Charlie regains memories of his childhood and begins to understand and process past events, “Then she startid screaming. Dont you ever touch her again. Youll hurt her. She's a baby. You got no business touching her. I dint know it then but I guess I know it now that she thought I was going to hurt the baby because I was too dumb to know what I was doing. Now that makes me feel bad because I would never of hurt the baby.” (Gordon 38) As a child, Charlie didn't understand why his mother would yell at him and hurt him. Reflecting upon his memory, Charlie realizes that his mother was afraid of him. Before the operation, the one thing that Charlie had remembered from his past was how his mother always wanted him to be smart, “her constant criticism and putting me down made me feel terrible about myself, and it made me double my efforts to please her. More than anything, I wanted my mother to be happy with me.” (Streep, Psychology Today) One of the main reasons Charlie wanted to have this operation, was because he was pressured to learn and be smart throughout his entire childhood. As a child, Charlie couldn't understand the reason behind some