Flowers for Algernon
I recently read/re-read the book Flowers for Algernon. I remember reading a short story of it in school a long time ago. I liked it quite a bit then. However, the short story didn’t delve into quite the number of complexities as the book.
For those that haven’t read it… Flowers for Algernon is about Charlie. Charlie is a mentally handicapped individual who is given an experimental operation to enhance his intelligence. The experiment of course works.
The story is written by Charlie in a diary format. He describes the world around him in the language that he’s best capable of at any point in the book. This means that the beginning chapter are full of spelling and grammar mistakes while the later chapters are literary works. This format shines through as it lends more flavor to Charlie and allows the reader full immersion in his world.
One of the things that I liked most about the book was how well it displayed themes such as class, power, responsibility, happiness and friendship and how they relate to intelligence and, how intelligence itself, while a desirable trait, is not the soul measure of one’s worth.
This has been one of the best books I have read in a while.
