Flowers For Algernon Essay, Research Paper

?The fruit of that tree was forbidden to man?it [isn?t] too late to get out?It was evil when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge. It was evil when they saw they [were] naked, and learned about lust and shame. And they [were] driven out of Paradise and the gates [were] closed to them. If not for that none of us would have to grow old and be sick and die?(75)

Medical Science has performed many magnificent operations humans and animals. However, the question that plagues some people?s minds is: Should there be a limit to what medical science can do for humans?

This point is often discussed through out the novel Flowers for Algernon. One of the main ideas that author tries to make the reader aware of the thoughts that goes through the mind of a human experiment.

In this novel, the protagonist, Charlie Gordon is 32-years old and mentally retarded. He receives an operation that gives him the ability to be intelligent. The book tells the story of his emotional and psychological struggle when he is segregated from the people he desires to be near.

A problem involving the segregation is that Charlie is hopelessly dependent on the people whom he thought were his friends. When he becomes brighter, he realizes his friends were not laughing with him, but laughing at him. When his friends discover that he is more intelligent than they are, they become enormously disgruntled and force him to leave the workplace he has been reliant on for most of his life.

People with Charlie?s disabilities make it very difficult for this operation to be successful. It is hard for someone who was oblivious to everything around him or her to realize that not everything is what it seemed. Charlie had lived 32 years of his life not realizing his surroundings and the sudden change from not being aware to having this awareness is unhealthy for the mind.

Charlie cared for Algernon because in a way, the mouse never had a negative opinion of him. The mouse did not ridicule or treat him like a lab experiment. The mouse was the only living being who understood his exertion to move forward.

Algernon was not treated as an intellectual and that upset Charlie because he knew what that felt like. He did not want Algernon to be kept in a cage or to die like the rest of the lab animals. He wanted Algernon be buried respectively with flowers.

Charlie is familiar with the extensive pain and frustration Algernon is going through. The operation caused them to feel pain that they could not handle.

Charlie?s operation was exceedingly erroneous to begin with. Charlie was made to be mentally challenged and science should not have tried to change that. It caused him a gargantuan amount of emotional conflicts and stress. It leads to pain that will eventually scar his mind, even after he loses his intelligence at the end.

Charlie?s mind often has trouble letting go of his past. His memories are very dire and mostly entail rejection. They slowly destroy him everyday. He feels chronic feelings of emptiness, disillusionment, and extreme despondency. He experiences, ??thoughts of suicide to stop it all while [he?s] still in control??

The main problem is that Charlie is still a child. His brain has not had the experiences that other people have had. You can have all the knowledge of the world, but if you have not experienced the simple things in life, the knowledge of the world is worth nothing.

Surgeries like that of Charlie?s should be illegal because of the psychological and emotional damage that can occur to the being. It is unethical to use humans and animals as if they were useless garbage.

We should let humans live the way they were born. Medical science cannot and should not change everyone?s life. People were made the way they were and that should not be tampered with because people cannot become accustomed to those dramatically new surroundings.

The human mind is a very valuable gift?it should be admired?not toyed with.