Term Paper on "Flowers for Algernon"

Term Paper 5 pages (1880 words) Sources: 1 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Flowers for Algernon -- What a science fiction literary classic can teach educators of exceptional children

The divide between what is considered normal can be as cataclysmic for a gifted child as it is for a developmentally delayed child. Such is the lesson conveyed by Flowers for Algernon. The book details the story of a young, mentally handicapped man named Charlie Gordon, who becomes the subject of an intelligence experiment by a group of researchers. The researchers have enhanced the intelligence of a mouse, the Algernon of the title, so that it is capable of beating Charlie at a series of intelligence tests. Charlie volunteers to be the first human subject of such intellectual enhancement experimentation. Eventually, the intelligence experiment is a failure, and Charlie reverts to his original mental state, after showing striking progress. However, although the book is science fiction, Charlie's experiences at both polar opposite ends of what constitutes intelligence demonstrate the striking similarities as well as the differences in dealing with the education and socialization of an intellectually exceptional individual.

One of the most striking aspects of Charlie's mental and social journey is the sense of profound isolation that surrounds him at both poles of his intellectual progression. The researchers do not anticipate this sense of isolation at first, although they later, grudgingly admit: "This experiment was calculated to raise your intelligence, not to make you popular. We had no control over what happened to your personality." (Keyes, p.172) Personality, human needs, all of these are absent from the researchers' immediate concerns upon embarking upon the experiment. At first, they only see the science and the implications for humanity in the far, rather than near future. A lack of concern for the here and now, and too much of a focus on the child's projected future (and who knows what will happen tomorrow) may be one of the first traps a family falls into when learning of a child's special needs or intelligence. The parents of a gifted child may envision that they have given birth to a potential Nobel Prize winner, while the parents of a child with a mental handicap might worry about what will happen to the child when they die. Immediate and future needs of the individual, not one or the other, must be the combined focus of a family or school system.

Another important aspect of taking care of the development of a special needs child is that of peer socialization. In Flowers for Algernon, the researchers give little thought to this factor at first. Even the mouse is reared in isolation from his fellow creatures in the wild, as Algernon is confined to the hermetically sealed environment of the laboratory, kept away from the needs and demands of the real world. With an IQ of 68,Charlie is a figure of fun, and similarly isolated in real life. His only friends were the people who made fun of him at the bakery where he swept the floor.

When Charlie went to a bar with his so-called friends, rather than see him as a potential, true friend or romantic prospect, his fellow human beings mocked Charlie's halting intellect and clumsy speech and movements. Thus, at the beginning of the book, tragically, Charlie's only sense of connection with others comes from being an object of ridicule. "Joe Carp and Frank Reilly invited me to go with them after work to Hallorans Bar for some drinks. I don't like to drink wiskey but they said we will have lots of fun. I had a good time" (Keyes, p. 21)

Charlie went along with this ridicule, partially out of ignorance, and partially to feel some sense of human connection with others. Yet even after his intellectual enlightenment peace still eludes Charlie Gordon, as well as a sense that he has a real social life with meaningful connections to other human beings. "I went down to Murray's Bar and had a few drinks. And then I called Fay and we made the rounds." (Keyes, p.161) His drive and his intelligence do not give him the tools to connect with true friends, because he was never taught how to really do so, in his life as a retarded man. Charlie stands aloof, even wearing the mantle of his hard-won intelligence, much like an intellectually isolated but gifted boy. Also, Charlie's previous socialization experiences as a retarded man demonstrate the difficulty of some developmentally delayed children to form real social relationships, if overly protective parents isolate the young children during crucial stages of the children's emotional development. This may mean that have no chance learn social cues from their peers. This is why the bar and groups of people provide Charlie no social solace before or after the experiment goes through. Charlie bitterly resents his past that taught him nothing about how to deal with people normally. "Such people think nothing of abusing a man born with low intelligence. It infuriated me to remember that not too long ago-like this boy -- had foolishly played along," he says, when he sees a young retarded man similarly abused through his present-day perspective as a gifted man. (Keyes, p.139)

Throughout the book, Charlie identifies with the mouse's social isolation in the lab, looked upon as a creature of its intelligence, not an animal with needs beyond the mind, even while the mouse begins its life as smarter than himself, and gradually fails. Both mouse and man are alone; both are exceptional, either for a deficit or for an excess of intelligence. Eventually, as Charlie's IQ skyrockets, not even the researchers can communicate with him, because his thoughts are so advanced, and Charlie is just as disconnected from humanity and normal social discourse as he was when he was sweeping floors for a living.

The social small talk and pace of life of even the researchers, who are of above-average but not exceptional intelligence eludes him, because he never learned how to master such a skill. Before, Charlie was only regarded in light of his intelligence, or lack thereof -- he was simply the poor, retarded man. With a high level of intelligence, he is simply a mind once again. Charlie's researcher parents are inadequate parents because they see him, perhaps unavoidably as a brain, not a socially located being. They are excited by their first human subject's willingness to subject his mind to their control, but they cannot see his own non-intellectual motivations for becoming a scientific case study. This is shown by the inadequate understanding of human intelligence, as they imperfectly communicate it to the old Charlie: "He said an I.Q. showed how much intelligence you could get, like the numbers on the outside of a measuring cup" (Keyes, p.35)

Later on, Charlie, perhaps by virtue of his contrast in experiencing intelligence understands this intuitively. Isn't it "ironic that all my intelligence doesn't help me solve a problem like this," namely the problem of how to function in society as a human being. (Keyes, p.62) He knows one of the reasons he embarked upon the experiment was so: "I could be like other men," and he wonders still "if I could ever ask a woman to share a life with me. Having intelligence and knowledge wasn't enough. I wanted this, too." (Keyes, p.90)

Charlie struggles to be seen as a person by his researcher 'fathers' and in some ways faces different, rather than fewer challenges, as a gifted man. Eventually, even the befuddled architects of the Algernon experiment come to realize this. "You've got a superb mind now, intelligence that can't really be calculated, more knowledge absorbed by now than most people pick up in a long lifetime. But you're lopsided." (Keyes, p.106)

Being lopsided, socially and emotionally, acts as a handicap to Charlie in both incarnations of his life. But a parent or a teacher of the exceptional child has no excuse for such lack of preparation, unlike the researchers, because they should know that their child will want to, and must function socially, to have a meaningful and fulfilling life. Perhaps the most fundamental lesson taught by the example of Flowers for Algernon is not to treat exceptional children as if they are merely minds, without attached bodies or emotionally functioning metaphorical 'hearts.' A child with a high IQ must know how to socialize with his or her peer group of average intelligence, because that child must dwell, as an adult in a real and complex social world that makes many demands upon the psyche that cannot be quantified intellectually.

Of course, having exposure to intellectual stimulation, so the child is not bored, and becomes aware that he or she is not alone is important too. This same lesson is applicable to developmentally delayed students, who can benefit from mainstreaming or exposure to their more normal peers, but require a social and academic environment that is tailored to their special needs and will not result in them becoming lost in the intellectual shuffle of more 'normal' children.… READ MORE

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