Analysis of Charlie Gordon in Flowers For Algernon Essay Example

Many internal and external factors influence the well-being, decisions, and character of individuals. According to human nature, environment has an enormous impact on who people become and how they develop over time. In “Flowers for Algernon”, Daniel Keyes, demonstrates the relationship between self-value and the opinions of others through Charlie Gordon’s experience in a medical setting.

All humans desire recognition as someone with depth and emotion, rather than being objectified as something less than what they see themself as. In the lab, Charlie is oftentimes objectified as an “experiment” rather than a human being. As his IQ increases following the surgery, he becomes more aware of how he is categorized in this institution, and his negative feelings towards the lab and the scientists grow. As a result, Charlie becomes a more resentful person due to his environment. His adjustment to this feeling of being seen as less than others in this environment becomes a part of him, and he carries this burden and resentment outside of the laboratory. Moreover, his ego is impacted by this overly critical setting, as he becomes very sensitive to how others saw him, and this influences his own self-image. While he was a carefree and generally happy individual at the beginning of the novel, his time in the lab, disregarding the effects of the surgery, causes him to change into an entirely new person. He becomes someone who is stern and unforgiving of others due to his fragile ego. Furthermore, the critical surroundings that characterize the lab causes him to become a more critical person, identifying faults in others and negatively affecting his relationships. Overhearing the psychologists simplify his entire being as an experiment takes an enormous toll on his mental health, as questioning one’s own importance in the world and to others can have a detrimental psychological effect.

It can be incredibly difficult to manage one’s health, mentally and physically, upon negatively perceived evaluation by others. This may be hard to handle in everyday life, but even more so in a medical setting where there is thorough analysis and possible expectation. Charlie experiences this to a great extent, as his participation in the research study requires him to go to the laboratory and he becomes very conscious of how the scientists are viewing him. He experiences fits of anger and extreme emotions when he fails, or during tests like the Rorschach test. At certain points, his emotions cause him to have outbursts, like when he knocks the inkblots out of the psychologist’s hand, or when he releases Algernon, the test mouse, into the wild right before his anticipated introduction to the public. Therefore, his exposure to the laboratory over an extended period leads him to become irrational and affects his mental health, altering his psychological state. He even experiences extreme depression as he isolates himself from everything and everyone, neglecting his health and avoiding the lab. His experience with his surroundings in the lab causes him to dread his time there, and eventually leads to a state of fear where he avoids the lab altogether and ignores his responsibilities. His time in the lab surrounded by psychologists and medical experts has an impact on his mental health, illustrating the importance of addressing mental health and making it a bigger concern.

Throughout “Flowers for Algernon”, Charlie Gordon’s self-value deteriorates as the world sees him as an experiment, and he begins to understand that people previously had only seen him as something to laugh at before the surgery. The introduction of the laboratory, and the people that came with it, into his life shapes his character and leads to his downfall as his entire worldview is altered significantly. This story accentuates the delicate balance between how one sees oneself when subjected to others’ thoughts and opinions through Charlie’s introduction to an entirely new environment. He is first introduced to the lab, but that fatal interaction introduces him to an entirely new person: himself.