I picked up this book after seeing it
on several Top-100 lists of Science fiction books. People discussing
the book on online forums talked about how it had affected them
profoundly. So, naturally, I expected a lot from it.
Flowers for Algernon is the
story of Charlie Gordon, a 30-odd year old man with the mental
capacity of a little child. Growing up, all Charlie had ever wanted
was to become smart and have friends. Then, one day, he's given the
chance to participate in an experiment, an operation that's only been
performed on a mouse before -the titular Algernon-, which, if all
goes well, will turn him into a genius. Sure enough, through
Charlie's written reports, we witness his transformation from a
likeable, mentally handicapped person to someone whose intelligence
surpasses even that of the people who designed the experiment.
The story is told from Charlie's
perspective, through his accounts of everyday life, as they become
more and more complicated, more and more grammatically correct. As
Charlie becomes smarter, his language changes, and with it the way he
perceives himself and his surroundings. He starts noticing things
about the people in his life that he had neither noticed or
comprehended before. He starts making connections and remembering
significant events in his life, which in turn changes his attitude
towards the world.
Keyes created an original story about a
subject that is today as relevant as ever: knowledge, intelligence
and the status they have in society. Some of the words he uses are so
politically incorrect today (for example, moron or retarded) but we
have to remember that Flowers for Algernon was written in
1966: indeed, despite the language that he uses, he means no offence.
He has nothing but affection for mentally disabled people, whom he
sees as small children, people, worthy of our respect.
This book should have become a
favourite of mine, seeing as its subject matter (social inequalities,
the human brain etc) is one that I am very interested in. The promise
many reviews made that it would touch me deeply resonated with me on
some level, and I expected some emotional devastation that never
came. Instead, I cringed at how insufferable Intelligent Charlie was.
I found the glorification of intelligence at the core of this book to
be at odds with what the author also seemed to be saying, which is
that terrible things only become terrible if we're smart enough to
understand that they are so. Charlie went through his childhood
afraid at times, but always with a warm smile on his face, laughing
along when his friends laughed at him. Keyes seemed to imply that
with knowledge and intelligence comes misery (and he mentions Plato's
Cave a couple of times) at the same time as he has his main character
desperate to become intelligent. I am not sure if that was Keyes'
intention, but the message his book seems to send is that life is
terrible no matter if you're smart or dumb – you just don't know it
if you're dumb. You have to either choose to have friends and think
you're happy, or be smart – never both. I am oversimplifying here,
of course, and picking out only one of the themes in the book, but it
was a theme that was quite central to the story and which I felt was
something of a false dilemma. And maybe that is why the book failed
to affect me as deeply as all the online reviews suggested it would:
I had trouble believing that the only possible outcome of becoming
smart is that you become depressed and arrogant.
Overall, the book has many good points
(originality, accurate portrayal of the way the human brain works,
the author's intention to show the reader that mentally disabled
people deserve our respect) but it failed to have an emotional impact
(maybe because it was preaching to the choir). It certainly made me
think about the human condition, though.
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