Flowers For Algernon

1. Quotation Analysis Flowers For Algernon

2. Mixed Emotions • “I don’t know what’s worse: to not know who you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.” The whole time when Charlie still had mental disabilities he was so happy no matter what. People would always laugh at him and he didn’t really know why and he was still happy no matter what. Everyone really liked Charlie because he was so nice and happy all the time. But once he got his operation things started to change slowly. He was finally getting smart and that’s what he always wanted. But he started to become to smart for people and people became jealous and didn’t like him. You can see this when he goes back to the bakery and no one liked him because he was better than them at their job. He also started to become cocky and people didn’t really like him anymore and he didn’t have many friends. Then Charlie ran away with Algernon and he one friend named Fay that lived in the apartment across from his. Charlie and emotions were going crazy and he was realizing he didn’t want to be like this anymore.

3. One Fear • “I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.” Before Charlie had his operation he wasn’t really much of a man. He didn’t play a big role in society or anything he was just Charlie Gordon. Then once he became smart he realized he didn’t want his life to be nothing and he wanted to be a human being. What he was saying in this quote was that he isn't afraid of anything really, he was only afraid that he was going to die as if he had never lived not even leaving the smallest impact on this world. Obviously this upset Charlie and when they were reversing what they did to him he started to get worried and didn’t want to be a nobody. The picture shows that you should not waste your life and be like garbage, meaningless.

4. Wanting to fit in • “Even a feeble-minded man wants to be like other men.” Charlie is something of a feeble-minded man and he never really fits in. in the book you can clearly see it sticks out to people when he is trying to do work at the bakery but he is not able. Even Charlie being the way he is he tries his best to fit in but he has a hard time. You can also see this society when people try and fit in just by wearing clothes that are in style. Not many people want to go out of their way to be different. Of course people want to fit in because if you are different you don’t know what people will think. You can see this after Charlie gets his operation he finally really see that he is different then everybody else. Also in this picture, that goldfish might not have purposely made itself green but all the all the other fish obviously don’t like him even though its not even the green goldfishes fault.

5. Falling apart • “Just leave me alone. I’m not myself. I’m falling apart, and I don't want you here.” This is when Charlie is very smart and his thoughts and emotions are going crazy and its making him go crazy. Everyone is really noticing his differences and starting to not like him, and now he can realise it too and he doesn’t like that. The operation and his amount of intelligence was increasing way too fast and his mind couldn’t handle it. I can relate to this when sometimes I get frustrated and mad and I just want to be alone and not let anyone bother me. In this picture it looks like this guy was working very hard on his intelligence just like you need to work hard on a puzzle. But when his emotions and thoughts start to get crazy everything just started falling apart just like that happened to Charlie.

6. Life through a window • “Why am I always looking at life through a window?” Before Charlie ever had his operation he looked at life through a window. What this means is that he was always looking at what people did and what they did in everyday life but he couldn’t get on the other side of the window and be like other people because of his retardation. Things such as having a family or just driving a car were things that he probably wanted to be able to do but couldn’t. everyone I the world has probably had this feeling when they have seen someone do something but no matter how hard they just cant do it. Charlie would have had this feeling a lot before his operation and after the operation he realised his life was kind of meaningless and no matter what he is always going to be looking at life through a window.

7. Selfish • “I can’t afford to spend my time with anyone- there’s only enough left for myself.” When Charlie starts to get really smart he is constantly studying and doing things to have more knowledge. This started to get in the way of his social life because he was always too busy to go to the lab or to go and visit Alice. People really started to not like this because they barely ever got to see him and he was becoming extremely smart very fast and people were getting jealous. I don’t this was a good thing because nobody likes a person that only thinks of themselves and ignores all other people. You can see that in the picture selfishness is not a good thing.

8. Light and darkness • “who’s to say that my light is better than your darkness? Who’s to say death is better then your darkness? Who am I to say?” What Charlie is saying is that who knows that the good things in his life are better then other peoples bad things, and who's to say that just being dead is better then living a bad life. But what the main point of this whole thing is that everyone has their own opinion and people can think what they want. This is an important quote because it also makes you think a lot about life and death and good and bad things in life. Charlie is realising what life is really all about, he had never known before the operation so it is making him really think about it. Also in the picture it can show that even in the darkest and the baddest parts of life there can always be good things.

9. Realisation • “only a short time ago, I learned that people laughed at me. Now I can see that unknowingly I joined in laughing at myself. That hurts the most.” When Charlie was retarded people would always laugh and kind of make fun him but he never really knew why and he would just join in on them and laugh. But once he becomes smarter he realises why they were laughing at him and it hurts to see that people would always make fun of him. It was the same exact thing as when people get bullied and get made fun of and they feel terrible. This happens when Charlie would get laughed at when he was working at the bakery and tried doing something new but he could not do it and everyone in the bakery started laughing and he didn’t really know why and just joined In with them. But the worst part of it all is when Charlie realised how dumb he really was when he just joined in laughing and that is what hurt Charlie the most .