Flowers for Algernon

Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, tells the story of a mentally disabled man named Charlie Gordon, who undergoes an experimental procedure that increases his intelligence. Through Charlie’s story, we find that one theme involves whether man possesses the right to play God and change the natural state of things. Several characters in the book question whether scientists or doctors should change what God intends or try to correct the mistakes of nature. Along with this theme of man versus the natural state, Keyes uses another theme in the book related to the importance of friendship. Charlie values his friends more than anything in his life and these friendships influence many of the decisions he makes. The story unfolds through progress reports that Charlie writes, beginning at the time he learns he will undergo an experimental procedure that will increase his intelligence, and ending nine months after the procedure. Prior to Charlie, only a mouse named Algernon underwent t...