Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes.
(first edition cover)
Algernon is a laboratory mouse who has undergone surgery to increase his intelligence by artificial means. The story is told by a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon, the first human test subject for the surgery, and it touches upon many different ethical and moral themes such as the treatment of the mentally disabled.
Flowers for Algernon looks at so many different things: mental disabilities, human nature, intelligence and love. It made me feel sad, angry, frustrated and hopeful, it made me shake my head at people's behaviour and it made me incredibly thankful for so many things - I know how cliche that sounds but it's true.
Even though Charlie's intelligence grows to beyond that of a normal human, he is emotionally still very much a child and has to learn the things other people learned long ago. He doesn't understand what is happening when his body becomes sexually responsive to a woman and he often doesn't understand why people say one thing but mean something completely different. The abuse he has endured because of his disabilities runs back through the years to his first public school and even his own mother. This is a very sad story that made me think about so many things and the ending just about broke my heart
