Psychoanalysis plays a vital role in Flowers For Algernon as it helps Charlie connect and describe his feelings towards others in the novel.
Charlie is caught off guard when his intelligence starts to increase as he expects the opposite of what will actually happen. For example, in the beginning of the book Charlie Gordon says: “I could go back to show the guys at the bakery how smart I am and talk with them about things and maybe even be an assistant baker.” (17) Later in the story, the reader sees a different response to what Charlie had thought in the beginning of the novel. “He stares at me when he thinks I’m not looking. Nobody at the place talks to me anymore, or kids around the way they used to. It makes the job kind of lonely.” (56-57) This demonstrates the changes he…show more content… His life is not mine to throw away. I’ve just borrowed it for a while, and now I’m being asked to return it. (256)
Page (257) dictates how Charlie’s therapy session with Strauss went.
I found myself being lightheaded. My mind was a blank, and that was unusual because during therapy sessions I always had a great deal of material to bring out and talk about. Dreams… memories… associations… problems… But now I felt isolated and empty. (255)
“Strauss again brought up my need to speak and write simply and directly so that people will understand me. He reminds me that laguage sometimes is a barrier instead of a pathway.” (105)
“It’s not just because of the nightmares; it’s because I’m afraid of letting go. I tell myself there’ll be time enough to sleep later, when it’s dark.”
This demonstrates the sadness Charlie experience when he knows he will be soon losing the most precious commodity he ever had obtained: knowledge.
Page 266 Charlie Gordon has an important flashback on how his mother wanted so very badly wanted for him to be and act like everyone else.
