The Sci-Fi Tearjerker Classic Everyone Should Read And See

Readers of Flowers for Algernon are first introduced to Charlie’s spelling and grammar mistakes in his progress reports, reflecting his initial intellectual limitations. He works at a bakery and attends special education classes, hoping for a chance to improve himself. Charlie is selected for an experimental operation that has previously been successful in enhancing the intelligence of a mouse named Algernon.

As the experiment progresses, Charlie’s intelligence rapidly increases, and he starts to outperform the researchers. However, as Charlie becomes more intelligent, he becomes cynical due to the complexities of human relationships and emotions. As Charlie’s intelligence peaks, he discovers the loneliness and isolation that come with his newfound intellect.

One day, Charlie finds a flaw in the research behind his procedure. It indicates he will likely lose his intelligence and regress to his previous state. In a final postscript to his writings, he asks that someone place flowers on the grave of Algernon – a mouse that underwent the same procedure as he did but eventually died.