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well i have been working on my damn 5 paragraph eassay n the gay story flowers for algernon and since i am utterly bored ill put it all here..its BORING..and i use to many analogys, i know but thats me. i dunno why..THATS HOW I WRITE! besides its still better than emilys..right emily? wink

You don’t need a lot of friends to be popular. You truly only need one good friend that will stand beside you in good and bad times. In the story Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon finds out that he does not need a lot of friends, he only needs one true friend.

Charlie simply wants to be accepted and have more friends. Charlie is willing to get the surgery because he wants more friends, but sadly his “friends” Joe Carp and Frank Reily make fun of Charlie tirelessly. The Charlie before the surgery truly believed that all people are created equal and that all people are gentle and kind. Charlie believes getting the surgery will make him smarter therefore he will have more friends. Charlie figures out a way to fix Mr. Donnegan’s company and save him thousands of dollars each year yet he only gives Charlie a $25 bonus. Charlie thinks a $25 bonus is great, yet he saved Mr. Donnegan so much every year. By fixing the machines Charlie pulled the last straw in many of the minds of Charlie’s co-workers. Charlie wants to be seen as an equal and be more popular.

Charlie’s heart is frozen, covered in ice, slowly melting but as for now hard and unfeeling. For example, Charlie’s friends get further away from him due to him hardness, when sadly he got the surgery to be more liked. His heart was frozen in the surgery and with the loss of its power and knowledge his heart is melting. When Charlie laughs at the dishwasher boy at the bar he realizes what has happened to him. He realizes he is making fun of his old self, after all he was the one being made fun of only a few weeks before. Charlie feels guilty for laughing at the boy and he understands what the boy is going through. He is saddened greatly by how the boy is treated by the crowd and he is embarrassed at this outburst. Charlie is slowly recovering from the hardness that the surgery brought Charlie.

As time passes, Charlie’s is melting but very slowly and his friends are getting farther and farther away. He forgets things such as foreign languages and where he lives. He gets the feeling that he has forgotten the way to his house before. He feels very stupid and aggravated because he knows how its feels to be smart. The loss of Algernon fuels his research and he basically gives up once he finds out what will happen to him. He feels like there is nothing he can do to save himself. He believes that one day the effects of the surgery will be permanent and also that it will not harden people. Charlie’s personality is like a boomerang, it always comes back. He was kind and caring in the beginning of the story, yet later on he becomes crueler and harder, and towards the ending he becomes the loving and kind Charlie Gordon again.

When faced with hard choices sometimes we don’t make the right one. Instead of running away from these difficult situations we should face them. All of us can step into the sunlight, going beyond our safe haven to face our fears.