It's been a while since the last post... Today I am going to introduce 'Flowers for Algernon' by Daniel Keyes (1966).
Synopsis:
This novel adopts a form of a diary written by Charlie, the protagonist of this novel, in the first person. He is a thirty-two-year-old mentally retatded man who works at a bakery and takes a literacy class for disabled adults. He is very friendly and always likes pleasing other people by playing the clown although he is not aware that his behaviour is actually made fun of by them. He wants to get smart because he thinks that if he does, everyone will like him. One day, he is introduced to Professor Nemur, a scientist who is eager to achieve a successful career, and he decides to have an operation in order to increase his intelligence. Then he is told to write down everything he remembers or experiences on a note called 'progress report'. When he competes with a mouse called Algernon, which also has the same operation to get smart, in a maze for the first time, he loses. As time goes by, he does get smart and eventually beats Algernon. He finds it very interesting to study and know new things from books. However, at the same time, he realisses that people around him have been mocking him as a moron. In addition, he gradually remembers his experiences in his childhood, how cruelly treated he was by his family. What is worse, he gets too smart to maintain relationships with his friends as his attitude toward them is so patronasing that they eventually decide to fire Charlie. So, ironically, although his intelligence skyrockets, he finds it even more difficult to make friends than before the operation. Also, since Charlie is the first human who has had this operation, no one cannot predict the consequence of this operation. At the end, it turns out that his intelligence deteriorates in the same way as Algernon's. As such, this, in short, is a story of his struggle to balance his intelligence and his emotional activities. Therefore, the title of this novel becomes profound at the ending.
I was reading a book called 'How to write a term paper and a degree thesis of British and American novels', in which several English novels were introduced to the reader, and 'Flowers for Algernon' was onw of them. When I initially saw the title of this novel, I had no idea what this novel was, but when I read the synopsis, espacially the scene in which Charlie competes with Algernon, it suddenly popped up in my head that I had not read it but 'watched' it. This novel was made into a TV drama years ago, probably whan I was still a primary school student. I only remember the scene in which the protagonist plays a maze with a mouse. It was somehow very memorable to me... and I think I merely was glad when he beat Algernon. Then I happened to find it at the book store in my university a few days ago. 'Isn't it some kind of destiny?', I thought to myself, but it wasn't. The novel was remade into a TV drama staring different actors this year. So it was just timely to find the English-version novel at the bookstore. Anyways, although the TV version is impressive, it would be much better to 'read' it, if possible in English, as the reader can actually see how Charlie's intelligence goes up from his spelling, punctuation and register. The book version convays much more lifelike reality to us.
There are a number of thems in this novel, such as the mistreatment of the mentally disabled, the tension between intellect and emotion and the persistence of the past and the present, according to 'Spark Notes', an introdactory website on English literature. What I am interested in is the fear of forgetting one's experience. It might be off the point to put myself in Charlie's shoes in this way because his level of forgetting is different from mine, but I am often afraid of forgetting what I experienced and what I learned, let alone he. At the end of the story, he says something like 'Dont let me forget how to reed and rite', which shows that he already started forgetting it. That is why it is important to record one's memories in any forms such as writing them, and that is the very thing which I am doing now so as not to forget what I read (and how to write in English).
Also the significance of Algernon as a motif in this novel is obvious. It seems he is depicted in this story as an embodiment of Chrlie's emotional state. Moreover, it is the existence of Algernon that makes Charlie realise that he used to be considered not as a human being but as an animal when he was a moron. The novel does not end with the death of Charlie, but technically, the title 'Flowers for Algernon' meas the death of Charlie as a genius because his intelligence goes back to the originak level at the end. However it should be noted that he forgets not everything. He learns to forgive,and he now knows that intelligence means not evrything. At least he is not the exact same person as the old Charlie.
I somehow loved the emptiness in my mind when I finished reading this novel. It really is worth a read. Thank you for reading this blog. (and sorry if there is any wrong spelling or something)