What is the book flowers for algernon about?

It's a soft sci-fi/drama about a mentally retarded man that agrees to allow scientists to give him an "operashun" to make him "triple my inteligense". The book it written like a journal, based on Charlie's (the main character's) fears about the operation. Along the way, we notice how his spelling gets better and Charlie's intelligent goes to genius levels. Charlie becomes a scientist and hypothesizes his own downfall. Eventually he goes back to the way he was before the operation, without any memory of his accomplishments.





The book, to me, follows the saying "Ignorance is bliss" because it seemed Charlie was better off and happier when he was "dumb" as he calls it. (However, Charlie was often taken advantage of by coworkers because of his disability).





The title refers to Charlie's last words in the novel, "and please remember to put flowrs on algernons grave for me" or something similar. During the book, he had befriended a lab rat that died towards the middle-end, and this is what he is referring to.





To me, the saddest part of the book was when Charlie describes how he felt when as he began to forget things one by one as he went back to his earlier IQ.

What is the book flowers for algernon about?
Flowers for Algernon is about a severly mentally retarded man named Charlie and a mouse named Algernon. Algernon was used in testing ways to conquer mental handicaps, and it works, he becomes really smart. So they decide to use Charlie in the actual surgery. It works, he becomes extraordinarily smart, but isn't happy about it at all. Soon, Algernon starts going back down to his regular level at a very fast rate, and Charlie realizes that soon the same will happen to him. Algernon eventually dies because of the surgery, and Charlie sends him flowers (hence the title).


Charlie eventually does go through the dumbing down that happened with Algernon, but goes to an even lower IQ level (something like 70) and has to be sent to the institution he was avoiding before this all began, but he remembered all the emotions he felt when he was smart.





The whole book basically argues for 'Ignorance is Bliss'


It's an amazing book, read it.
Reply:The book is about a mentally handicapped man who through new scientific research is able to become highly intelligent and uncovers memories of abuse throughout his life. Algernon is a mouse who had the same experiment done. Its like reading the main character's (I think his name is charlie, I read it a while back) diary he kept for a psychologist to read while he undergoes the experiment. Its a good book, if your have time you should read it.
Reply:Flowers for Algernon is a story about a mentally disabled man, named Charlie. Throughout his life people around him have always made fun of him and convinced him to do stuff just so they could get a laugh. His night school teacher recommends him to have this brain surgery for an experiment. At first he can not tell that it is working, but soon he becomes a genius. The experiment has also been performed on this mouse, named Algernon. Algernon has to find his way through these mazes and pass these tests to get food. After awhile, Algernon stops being able to find his way through the mazes, and soon he dies from not eating. Meanwhile, Charlie gets fired from his job because his co-workers now fear him because he is so smart. Also, he falls in love with his teacher. As Algernon starts to die, the experiment on Charlie begins to fail, and he slowly declines in his IQ. Before this happens however, he realizes that what happened to Algernon is going to happen to him, so he helps in studying why it happened. He figures it out and tells his Doctors. Soon, his life goes back to the way it was before he had the surgery.








Hope that was helpful!
Reply:omg, so sad. ok, so this guy, he's really not smart...like i think he has a mental disorder or something. he does this surgery for this scientific experiment where they work on his brain and he becomes REALLY SMART. but then his brain detoriates at the same rate and he gets really dumb again. it's really sad. read it.
Reply:Flowers for Algernon is about a mentally retarded man who gets an operation to make him smart. At first, he's happy, but then, he realizes he was happier stupid. It debates just how much science should do and how beneficial experiments like that are.
Reply:I haven't read it, but I believe it's about a disabled boy and a mouse named Algernon...it was a while ago that I read about it, though, so I could be wrong.
Reply:A retarded guy named Charlie undergoes some miracle surgory %26amp; becomes a genius. The story is told through his journal entries as he gets progressively smarter %26amp; has to adjust to his new life.
Reply:well if i read it like 6 yrs ago but i its about a mentally handicapped man and a mouse thats all i can remember sry