Last bit on Frankenstein

So I know that technically, we were finished discussing Frankenstein last week; however, there was one thing that came to my mind during one of the discussion days that I wanted to briefly discuss. One of the things that we discussed in class that there seems to be a pattern between knowledge and grief. This kind goes with the lines “ignorance is bliss” and “with knowledge comes great responsibility”. The more Dr.Frankenstein learns the more mad he his driven and the more miserable he becomes. The reason why I am bringing this up one last time before we move on completely is that when we were discussing this, and Frankensteins troubles, the first thing that came to mind was Flowers for Algernon. Flowers for Algernon was first a short story that was published in 1959 that later became a novel in 1965 by author Daniel Keyes. The name “Algernon” refers to a small laboratory mouse that undergoes a brain surgery to enhance his intelligence. The novel is written, similarly to the beginning and end of Frankenstein, in a series of progress reports by the main character, Charlie Gordon, for he is the first person to receive the same experiment as Algernon. Charlie is a man with a mental disability, which therefore in the eyes of the scientists, is the perfect person for the experiment. The novel then shows the progression of Charlie’s intelligence as well as his unavoidable realization of his life and surroundings. The reason why I bring up Flowers for Algernon is because when Charlie was still handicapped he was happy and unaware of the cruelty and taunting around him by cruel people he considered his “friends”. Once Charlie’s intelligence starts increasing as well as his understanding of everything, he realizes that the people who he thought were his friends were really always making fun of him; he also realized that he had a horrible childhood which he never understood before the operation. Once Charlie realizes all of this he starts to become bitter with everyone around him with the exception of his love interest Alice. The other tragic element to the story is how his intelligence always separates him from society, first because people believed he was below them, then once his intelligence wouldn’t stop growing he was above them so he felt that he couldn’t relate to anyone but Algernon. Flowers for Algernon is a great book and I highly recommend reading it. Going back to my blogs point, along with Dr.Frankenstein, if not more so, Charlie is the epitome of the term “ignorance is bliss” and is a victim to the unhappiness that great intelligence and knowledge can bring.