âFlowers for Algernonâ - a novel by Daniel Keyes, written by him in 1966 based on the eponymous story. The book leaves no one indifferent, and confirmation of this is the prize in the field of literature for the best novel of the 66th year. The work belongs to the genre of science fiction. However, when reading its sci-fi component you do not notice. It imperceptibly erases, fades and goes by the wayside. Captures the inner world of the main characters. They say that a person uses the potential of his brain by 5-10%. What is hidden behind the remaining 90-95%? Unknown But there is hope that science will sooner or later come to an answer. But what about the soul? This is still a big mystery, with no prospect of finding its solution ...
Book "Flowers for Algernon"
First page, second, third ... "Sloppy" text with many grammatical errors. No dots or commas. A meager language, more reminiscent of a slurred inconsistent story of a five-year-old child who is trying to tell us something important, but he does not succeed. Perplexity and questions, after all, Charlie Gordon, the protagonist of the novel, on whose behalf the narrative is being conducted, is already 32 years old. But we soon realize that Charlie has been sick since birth. He has phenylketonuria, in which mental retardation is almost inevitable.
The protagonist of the novel Flowers for Algernon works as a janitor in a bakery. He has a simple life with his joys and sorrows. Although he writes little about his sorrows. But not because there are many or few of them, but because he simply does not notice them. For him, they simply do not exist: âI told me all the same if people will be the smiyets over me. A lot of people are swept over me, but they are my friends and we have fun. â He talks about his âfriendsâ at work, about his little sister Nora and his parents, whom he had not seen for a long time, about Uncle German, about a friend Mr. Donner, who was filled with compassion for him and hired him at the bakery, and about Miss Kinnian, a good teacher in the evening school for the demented. This is his world. Although small and not always friendly, he doesnât care. He sees and observes a lot, but does not give an assessment of what is happening. People in his world without virtues and weaknesses. They are not bad and not good. They are his friends. And Charlie's only dream is to become smart, read a lot and learn to write well, to please his mother and father, to understand what his comrades are talking about, and to live up to the expectations of Miss Kinnian, who helps him so much.
His tremendous motivation to study does not go unnoticed. Scientists at a research institute offer him a unique brain operation that will help him become smart. He readily agrees to this dangerous experiment. After all, a mouse named Algernon, which went through the same operation, has become very smart. She easily goes through the maze. Charlie can't do it.
The operation is successful, but it does not bring instant âhealingâ. And sometimes it seems that this will never happen, and most likely the guy was again deceived and laughed at him. But no. We see how dots and commas appear in his daily âcountsâ. Fewer errors. More and more complex sentences. He is no longer limited to a description of his daily duties. Gray days are filled with deeper feelings, more complex experiences. Increasingly, he recalls the past. The fog gradually dissipates, he recalls the faces of his father and mother, hears the voice of Noraâs little sister, he smells the home. There is a feeling as if someone took a brush, bright colors, and decided to colorize the pictures of past years with white and black contours. Others also begin to notice these amazing changes ....
Charlie takes up her studies. What yesterday seemed incomprehensible and confusing, today is as simple as that. The speed of training a cleaner in a bakery is tens or even hundreds of times faster than ordinary people. After a couple of weeks, he is fluent in several languages ââand reads scientific literature. His dream came true - he is smart. But did it please his friends? Did he become truly happy?
At work, he independently learned to bake bread and rolls, made his suggestions, which could increase the income of the enterprise ... But most importantly, he noticed that those whom he had loved and respected only yesterday could deceive and betray. A clash occurred, and the "friends" signed a letter of resignation. They are not ready to talk with the new Charlie. On the one hand, mysterious changes have occurred. And that which is incomprehensible and somewhere even unnatural is frightening and alarming. On the other hand, it is impossible to communicate on an equal footing and accept into your ranks someone who was several steps lower yesterday. However, Charlie now can no longer and does not want to be with those whom he had immeasurably loved and respected yesterday. He learned to read and write, but at the same time he learned to condemn and be offended.
Alice Kinnian, one of the brightest female images of the novel Flowers for Algernon, sincerely enjoys his success. They are getting closer. Friendship grows into mutual sympathy, and then into love ... But every day the level of his intellect is growing. Sometimes Charlie's former teacher and mentor lacks the knowledge and ability to understand him. Increasingly, she is silent, blaming herself for her insolvency and inferiority. Charlie is silent too. He is annoyed by her stupid questions and misunderstanding of the âelementaryâ. A small crack appears between them, a fault that increases in parallel with the growth of its IQ. In addition, another problem arises: as soon as he wants to kiss her, hug her and approach her like a man, he is gripped by an incomprehensible numbness, fear, inexplicable panic, and he falls into the darkness where he hears the voice of that moron Charlie. What is this - he does not understand and does not want to understand. That Charlie no longer exists, or maybe he never was. The circle narrows. The world laughed at him when he was moronic. The circumstances have changed, he himself has changed, but the world continues to reject him. Instead of cynicism, fun and mockery came fear and alienation. A blue stamp with the words ânot like everyone elseâ used to make others want to exalt themselves and fill their gaps with it. Subsequent events did not erase the image of the social outcast assigned to him; they only painted him in different colors. New Charlie is not a man, but a "laboratory animal." No one knows how he will behave tomorrow, what to expect from him and how it will all end.
Bad news comes from the research institute - the strange behavior of a laboratory mouse. Algernon is witnessing a rapid decline in intelligence. The apparent initial success of the experiment ends in failure. What to do? Charlie Gordon takes Algernon, and then with him runs away from troubled scientists and psychologists, from Alice and from himself. He hides in a rented apartment and decides to figure out the reasons for the imminent collapse on his own. Algernon soon dies. At autopsy, it can be seen that his brain has significantly decreased, and the convolutions are smoothed out. There is very little time left ...
Why is life given to us? A difficult question ... From birth, we learn the world around us and ourselves in this infinity. What role does the soul play in this? What place is given to the mind? Why do some have a wide soul, but a âmeager" mind? For others - vice versa? Man has always sought to uncover âthis mysteryâ, to know what is hidden there, beyond the limits of âour understandingâ, and each time, getting close to the solution, he finds himself at its source. This is not surprising - we are not creators, we are not creators of all things. Scientific progress has allowed us to climb to the nth floor of a skyscraper, and we look at the world from the next window, naively believing that now the whole world is spread out before us, but forgetting that there is still an unattainable âroofâ in the house. Symbolic in this sense is the phrase of a nurse at the very beginning of the novel âFlowers for Algernonâ: â... she said maybe they didnât have the right to make you smart because if God wanted me to be smart he would make me happy smart ... And maybe Prof. Nemur and Doc Strauss play with things thatâre better to put on the pack. â
Work to complete the experiment was in full swing. Charlie was in a hurry because it was important for him to find mistakes and help future generations, and most importantly, to prove that the life of him and Algernon was not just a failed experiment, but the first step towards achieving the main goal - real help to people born with such a disease. He found a mistake, and in his scientific article left parting words - in the near future not to put such experiments on people. But the search for a scientific justification for what happened made him ask other questions: "So what is the mind really?" He came to the conclusion that the pure mind, which worships humanity so much and for the sake of which it rejects all those who do not possess it, is nothing. We bet everything for the sake of illusion and emptiness. A highly intelligent person without the ability to love, with a "underdeveloped" soul, is doomed to degradation. Moreover, the "brain for itself" is not able to bring any benefit and progress to humanity. And vice versa, a person with a âdevelopedâ soul and without reason is a âconcentrationâ of love, the possibilities of which are endless, which brings true âprogressâ to the human race - the development of the spirit. And before helping people with intellectual disabilities to cope with their problem, you need to deal with your own. And then, probably, the very concept of âthe problem of mental retardationâ will lose its relevance ...
Charlie did not let Algernon's body be burned. He buried him behind the house, and he left the city and settled in a hospital for demented people. The book âFlowers for Algernonâ ends with a remarkable phrase - he asks if possible to visit Algernonâs grave in the backyard and bring him flowers ...