From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

Flowers for Algernon

Daniel Keyes

Start date: October 1, 2012

Finish date: October 31, 2012

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Why we're reading this: Group Short story discussion for October 2012
Nebula Award Winner 1966 (tie)
#38 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F nove…more
[close] Group Short story discussion for October 2012
Nebula Award Winner 1966 (tie)
#38 on NPR's Top 100 SF/F novels of all time (2011 poll) http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/1390858...
#50 on Locus Magazines Best SciFi novels of the 20th century http://www.locusmag.com/2012/AllCentu...

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Oct 26, 2013 Yennifer rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

It occurred to me, while thinking of Charlie Gordon, that we all live like him to a certain extent. I can remember that when I was young, I would be so frustrated with myself. I desperately wanted to understand these mature concepts like politics, and yet the babble of adults was beyond me. Now that I, too, am an adult, I can understand them. The things I was missing to reach a full comprehension seem so simple to me, so basic, that I pity my former, child-like self. Algernon seemed to feel the It occurred to me, while thinking of Charlie Gordon, that we all live like him to a certain extent. I can remember that when I was young, I would be so frustrated with myself. I desperately wanted to understand these mature concepts like politics, and yet the babble of adults was beyond me. Now that I, too, am an adult, I can understand them. The things I was missing to reach a full comprehension seem so simple to me, so basic, that I pity my former, child-like self. Algernon seemed to feel the same way. Don't we all go through this process? And the eventual regression; is it not a metaphor for aging? Our mentalities will fail us, as will our bodies, and we won't be able to think as clearly or as quickly as we did in our "prime".

I was very excited when John Milton's text was mentioned in Flowers for Algernon. From that point on, I began drawing Biblical and Miltonic allusions from the text. “I remembered how great I thought John Milton was, but when I picked up Paradise Lost I couldn't understand it at all [...] I've got to try to hold on to some of it. Some of the things I've learned. Oh, God, please don't take it all away” (Keyes, 366). This passage reminded me strikingly of Satan's lamentations to God when he reflects on the Fall. He says: “O had his powerful Destiny ordaind / Me some inferiour Angel, I had stood / Then happie; no unbounded hope had rais'd / Ambition” (Milton, 106). Both Charlie and Satan experience their ideal existence. For Charlie, it is being a highly intellectual person, and for Satan, it is living as an angel. Both are struck down from this height, for different reasons.

Furthermore, a direct reference is made by Fanny to the Bible. When speaking to Charlie, she says: “It was evil when Eve listened to the snake and ate from the tree of knowledge. It was evil when she saw that she was naked. If not for that none of us would ever have to grow old and sick, and die” (Keyes, 362). This draws on the themes of rationality versus emotions which are present in the story. Charlie went from being rather ignorant, to having a wealth of knowledge and the potential to understand it at his disposal. Fanny, however, seems to think it is evil to draw from this wealth of knowledge, just as it was evil to eat from the tree. Though Charlie may have similarities to Milton's Satan, it is clear that he is also compared to Eve from the Garden of Eden.

A theme I enjoyed in Flowers for Algernon was how over-intellectualizing makes you lose those emotional intelligence. Though Charlie admits to the readers that he is in love with Miss Kinnian earlier on in the text, his ability to express those feelings becomes increasingly diminished. This is made evident when he writes: “I guess I got angry, but I suspect I'm approaching her on the wrong level. No matter what I try to discuss with her, I am unable to communicate [...] I am alone in my apartment at Mrs. Flynn's boardinghouse most of the time and seldom speak to anyone” (Keyes, 363). Not only do all mentions of love disappear from his progress reports, but he is aware of his inability to communicate efficiently, and thus isolates himself. It seems that the author is making a commentary on the conflict between geniuses and their ability to lead a successful social life. This is, indeed, a very real issue in the community of people with genius-level IQ's. In Daniel Goleman's book Emotional Intelligence, the author gives the example of a woman working in the medical field who, while very good at her job, found an excessive amount of failure in her personal and social life. It wasn't until she began to work seriously with expressing her inner experiences did her life improve. ...more

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