Vocabulary
- Vacuous: having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless
- Psychopathology: the scientific study of mental disorders
- Phenylketonuria: an inherited inability to metabolize phenylalanine that causes brain and nerve damage if untreated
- Veneer: a thin decorative covering of fine wood applied to coarser wood or other materials
- Pompous: affectedly and irritatingly grand, solemn, or self-important
- Interim: the time between one event, process, or period and another
- Introspective: having examined one’s own thoughts and feelings
- Convolution: a curve or twist; ridges or folds on the surface of the brain
- Naïve: not knowing; being immature of knowledge; unaware
Flowers for Algernon: Important Quotes
- “I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.”
This quote is important because it shows how conflicted Charlie’s thoughts about the world are. Would he rather be naïve and think that the people who laugh and make fun of him are his friends, or finally be smart enough to distinguish between feelings and isolate himself from the outside world?
- “Its easy to make frends if you let pepul laff at you.”
This quote, also from Charlie Gordon, piggybacks off of the first quote I chose from Charlie Gordon. Charlie said this before he had the operation, and he still wasn’t able to tell when people made fun of him.
- “I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.”
Charlie stated this quote later on in the book, after he had his operation. Charlie learns that the operation does not have a lasting effect, and that his mental capabilities are decreasing rapidly. Knowing that he has very little time, Charlie would rather devote his diminishing knowledge to researching how to cure mental retardation and slow down the deterioration process. He’s more afraid of not being able to find a solution on time than actually losing his knowledge.
- “How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes—how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence.”
This quote demonstrates how cruel society can be when it discovers something that it can’t comprehend, or accept as normal, such as mental retardation.
- “Why am I always looking at life through a window?”
This quote pretty much sums up the lives of most people who have disabilities or mental disorders. Instead of letting them become productive members of society, people with disabilities are forced to watch the world from the inside out, through a window, never allowed to be seen in the outside world.
- “I wasn’t his son. That was another Charlie. Intelligence and knowledge had changed me, and he would resent me—as the others from the bakery resented me—because my growth diminished him. I didn’t want that.”
This passage comes from Progress Report 14, when Charlie goes to visit his father, Matt, hoping to talk with him and learn more about his own childhood. However, Matt does not recognize Charlie, and Charlie cannot bring himself to tell Matt who he really is. This reluctance emphasizes the feeling of split identity Charlie experiences as he grows smarter. When Charlie notes his intelligence increasing, he starts to have a sense that the “other” Charlie—his former mentally disabled self—watches over him, remaining present in the back of his mind. In this quotation, Charlie realizes why he feels he cannot and should not reveal his identity to Matt: Charlie is no longer that “other” self that he imagines, and therefore is no longer the same Charlie who was Matt’s son.
- “A child may not know how to feed itself, or what to eat, yet it knows hunger.”
This quote is very significant, because it shows that people who are different or have disabilities feel the same things as normal people. Someone with a retardation might not know what a knife is, but still feel pain when they cut themselves. They might not be able to express emotion, but they still feel sadness and loneliness.
-“There are a lot of people who will give money or materials, but very few who will give time and affection.”
The way to show true support and compassion isn’t through giving money or support to something. You have to experience things hands on. This quote also shows how people might say they accept those with disabilities, but turn away when they pass them on the street.
-"They had pretended to be geniuses. But they were just ordinary men working blindly, pretending to be able to bring light into the darkness. Why is it that everyone lies? No one I know is what he appears to be."
This quote marks Charlie’s loss of innocence in the novel. The people he thought were his friends and actually cared for him were all frauds.
-"P.S. please if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard."
This quote shows that even though Charlie is losing his intelligence rapidly, he is still thankful for all of Algernon’s hard work, and for his sacrifice.
- Vacuous: having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless
- Psychopathology: the scientific study of mental disorders
- Phenylketonuria: an inherited inability to metabolize phenylalanine that causes brain and nerve damage if untreated
- Veneer: a thin decorative covering of fine wood applied to coarser wood or other materials
- Pompous: affectedly and irritatingly grand, solemn, or self-important
- Interim: the time between one event, process, or period and another
- Introspective: having examined one’s own thoughts and feelings
- Convolution: a curve or twist; ridges or folds on the surface of the brain
- Naïve: not knowing; being immature of knowledge; unaware
Flowers for Algernon: Important Quotes
- “I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.”
This quote is important because it shows how conflicted Charlie’s thoughts about the world are. Would he rather be naïve and think that the people who laugh and make fun of him are his friends, or finally be smart enough to distinguish between feelings and isolate himself from the outside world?
- “Its easy to make frends if you let pepul laff at you.”
This quote, also from Charlie Gordon, piggybacks off of the first quote I chose from Charlie Gordon. Charlie said this before he had the operation, and he still wasn’t able to tell when people made fun of him.
- “I am afraid. Not of life, or death, or nothingness, but of wasting it as if I had never been.”
Charlie stated this quote later on in the book, after he had his operation. Charlie learns that the operation does not have a lasting effect, and that his mental capabilities are decreasing rapidly. Knowing that he has very little time, Charlie would rather devote his diminishing knowledge to researching how to cure mental retardation and slow down the deterioration process. He’s more afraid of not being able to find a solution on time than actually losing his knowledge.
- “How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes—how such people think nothing of abusing a man with low intelligence.”
This quote demonstrates how cruel society can be when it discovers something that it can’t comprehend, or accept as normal, such as mental retardation.
- “Why am I always looking at life through a window?”
This quote pretty much sums up the lives of most people who have disabilities or mental disorders. Instead of letting them become productive members of society, people with disabilities are forced to watch the world from the inside out, through a window, never allowed to be seen in the outside world.
- “I wasn’t his son. That was another Charlie. Intelligence and knowledge had changed me, and he would resent me—as the others from the bakery resented me—because my growth diminished him. I didn’t want that.”
This passage comes from Progress Report 14, when Charlie goes to visit his father, Matt, hoping to talk with him and learn more about his own childhood. However, Matt does not recognize Charlie, and Charlie cannot bring himself to tell Matt who he really is. This reluctance emphasizes the feeling of split identity Charlie experiences as he grows smarter. When Charlie notes his intelligence increasing, he starts to have a sense that the “other” Charlie—his former mentally disabled self—watches over him, remaining present in the back of his mind. In this quotation, Charlie realizes why he feels he cannot and should not reveal his identity to Matt: Charlie is no longer that “other” self that he imagines, and therefore is no longer the same Charlie who was Matt’s son.
- “A child may not know how to feed itself, or what to eat, yet it knows hunger.”
This quote is very significant, because it shows that people who are different or have disabilities feel the same things as normal people. Someone with a retardation might not know what a knife is, but still feel pain when they cut themselves. They might not be able to express emotion, but they still feel sadness and loneliness.
-“There are a lot of people who will give money or materials, but very few who will give time and affection.”
The way to show true support and compassion isn’t through giving money or support to something. You have to experience things hands on. This quote also shows how people might say they accept those with disabilities, but turn away when they pass them on the street.
-"They had pretended to be geniuses. But they were just ordinary men working blindly, pretending to be able to bring light into the darkness. Why is it that everyone lies? No one I know is what he appears to be."
This quote marks Charlie’s loss of innocence in the novel. The people he thought were his friends and actually cared for him were all frauds.
-"P.S. please if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard."
This quote shows that even though Charlie is losing his intelligence rapidly, he is still thankful for all of Algernon’s hard work, and for his sacrifice.