Amelia Chow 08S304 Progress Report 1

Reading Flowers for Algernon has shown me how people, despite the odds stacked against them, never stop trying. Charlie had the worst cards anyone could draw in life. Mentally challenged, it cost him a chance to normal life, and his mother’s love. His mother failed to love him for who he was, and tried persistently to prove to herself and the world that Charlie was ‘normal’. In the process, she neglected to provide Charlie with emotional support, and instead, used violence to try to force him to be someone he could not. To be deprived of a mother’s love is one of the most tragic events that could happen to a child, no matter if the child was normal or not. As I read about the earlier events that happened in Charlie’s life, I pitied him. The workers at Donner’s Bakery were never true friends towards him. He was their clown. In a way, I felt that his life was made up of lies. Nothing was as Charlie thought it was. Yet I also envied him. His perspective of the world was so simple, everyone was a friend. This way, his disability had made his life a peaceful and happy one.

I feel that the book places most emphasis on Charlie’s quest to find out the truth of his past, in order for him to come to terms with himself and find his identity. It was sad to see that after all his efforts to locate his family, there was nothing left for him there. All it brought was more sorrow, especially since Charlie knew that he could not be there for his sister and mother. However, it also showed him coming to terms with his mother as he forgave her. It was this overcoming the shadows of his childhood that finally allowed him to have a romantic relationship with Alice. To me, this was a symbol of his growing up.

Charlie’s regression back to his original mental state was an emotional part in the novel. For him to be the one to discover the flaw and yet be unable to stop it was excruciating. On the whole, I feel that it was better for Charlie to have had this operation. Although it did not last, it allowed him to experience things he normally would never be able to. Also, in the last progress report, it shows his pride at being able to contribute to society and the people like him, proving that his life was not for nothing.