When Flowers for Algernon Became a Mirror for Our Soul

I know many people have recommended Flowers for Algernon, and although I only got around to reading it much later than most, it truly moved me and cry a lot.

What struck me most were the deliberate typos (at the beginning and the end) and the clever phrasing (like “IQ at its peak”) in the diary format. These little details vividly reveal Charlie’s transformation, making it easy for me to really get into his experience. Algernon isn’t just Charlie’s experimental counterpart—he’s also a mirror of his fate. Both become victims of so-called scientific exploration, and Algernon’s death turns into a subtle yet powerful metaphor.

It feels as if, through these experiments, Charlie experiences an entire lifetime in fast forward. Think about it: we start with babbling as infants, then learn, explore the world, and tap into our potential, only to watch our bodies gradually give out—until we eventually regress into a sort of childlike state in our old age, won't remember the feeling when the bright ideas flashed through my mind when I was young, before death finally arrives. Isn’t that, in itself, a metaphor? Although the novel is labeled as “science fiction,” it’s really a profound exploration of our self-awareness and the search for meaning.

What tugs at my heart even more is the painful contrast between the simple joy Charlie once experienced as someone with limited intelligence and the deep sorrow he felt after becoming a genius. It made me reflect even more on the idea that “understanding is the cruelest.”

This is truly a thought-provoking and deeply profound book! I'm looking forward to read Keyes’s The Minds of Billy Milligan.