DionneAlviedo08S402

What I liked about Flowers for Algernon is the way Charlie has developed throughout the story. His 'Progress Reports' not only showed us how his spelling and grammar improved, it also showed us how his view of the world changed as he began to understand his surroundings in a higher level. Flowers for Algernon, in my opinion, is a deeply sad and moving story. Firstly, the way it was written, in the first person, allowed us to go through the whole process with Charlie, yet it also allowed us to interpret for ourselves what Charlie was going through. In the first part of the story, when Charlie's IQ was still low, we saw how the people he considered as his "friends" made him a laughing stock. Still, he was not aware of this and he continued to trust and like them. This made us feel for Charlie as a character.

At first, I was not too keen to read the book, but as it is required, I had to. Plus, as I read through the first part, Charlie was such a likable character that I just had to know what happens to him.

As the story progressed, I felt sad for Charlie as he saw the world for what it truly is. A cruel world full of meanies. Putting myself in his shoes, I wondered how it must have felt like to realize that everything you knew no longer holds true. And all this took place in such a short period of time. Imagine going through mental 'puberty' at his age, the teenage awkwardness in a middle-aged man. We saw how Charlie progressed mentally and emotionally. But as we witnessed how hard it was for him to relate to people once he became a genius, we realize that science cannot do everything.

I think one of the themes of this story is the impact of science in our lives. Yes indeed, science and all the modern technology that comes with it is very helpful. It can cure previously incurable diseases, yet as we see in Flowers for Algernon, it shows that some of the 'sicknesses' are best left alone, for they may not even be a sickness at all; that maybe, the real sickness is within us, for even thinking that 'retards' are a lower form of human beings, and trying to change them.