Flowers for Algernon

The novel Flowers for Algernon, written by Daniel Keyes, is a well-written story depicting a retarded adult's struggle to be accepted by society. The story is written in progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, our main character. Charlie is a mentally-retarded adult that is chosen to take part in an experiment never done before on a human. The experiment is a brain operation that will make Charlie smarter. In preparation for the operation, Charlie is tested with a mouse that has been operated on, Algernon. Charlie works at Donner's Bakery, where he is a janitor. The workers taunt him and gibe him, but he is unable to comprehend the jokes and thinks they are his friends.

The operation on Charlie is successful. He comes out alive and well, and though his results are not instantaneous, his knowledge in grammar and spelling improve with help from his teacher Miss Kinnian. Charlie begins to read and eventually begins to get very intelligent in a short amount of time. Professor Nemur and Doctor Strauss take Charlie