Flowers For Algernon Analysis

Arthur Koestler once said “The evolution of the brain not only overshot the needs of prehistoric man, it is the only example of evolution providing a species with an organ which it does not know how to use”. This quote, while being a joke, calls into question, why do we as humans try to improve what we do not fully understand? Daniel Keyes explores this in his short story “Flowers For Algernon” by mapping the intellectual growth and decay of a mentally retarded man who experiences the theoretical effects, side-effects, and social repercussions of using surgery as a means to enhance intelligence. “Flowers For Algernon” demonstrates that any artificial enhancement to human intelligence results in an evolutionary disadvantage.

“Flowers For Algernon” …show more content…
We have reached the biological point of diminishing return and dramatically growing cost. That cost is what what poses a problem to the longevity of Charlie’s surgery results. It is the fact that our brain needs energy, and the energy required is proportional to the intensity of thought, or usage of the brain. “Neural tissue is metabolically greedy, while our brains takes up only 2% of our body weight it consumes 20% of our energy requirements and nutrients” (The Scientific American). By rapidly increasing Charlie’s intelligence by 300%, his body needed to supply 300% more energy, something the body has not yet evolved to do. The heart presents another problem, as stated in “The Algernon Argument”, evolution couldn’t afford to engineer more reliable hearts, in part for lack of electronic microchips and because humans are already at the limits of the performance envelope”. What ties this back to “Flowers For Algernon” are the symptoms Charlie reports compared to the symptoms of overworked or burnout brains. These symptoms include “inability to concentrate on problem solving, slower thinking, Words, numbers, and letters becoming scrambled when speaking or writing, clouded thinking, becoming grouchy, taking a long time to gather thoughts or find words, and deteriorating memory” (TheNutritionalHealingCenter). Charlie experiences similar symptoms on a more extreme scale including, “I have become absent-mindedness” (June 10), “ I have become touchy and irritable” (June 15), “Last night I couldn't remember where I lived” (June 19), “it gets harder to form the words and remember spellings. I have to look up even simple words in the dictionary now” (June 30). Because Charlie’s brain and body haven’t evolved to supply so much energy and are therefore overworked the cells in his heart and body begin to fatigue, leading to the heart pumping slower, leading

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