Flowers for Algernon

Started on 2022-04-24; updated on 2022-05-02

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last updated on: 2022-05-02

Finished on May 1

Personal rating:⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ . I highly recommend this book.

This novel should be on your ‘must read’ list. – Palm Beach Post-Times

I totally agree with the above review and highly recommend anyone who stops here to read this novel.

It’s a beautiful but sad story. Charlie’s unfortunate life and unique experience from the IQ-improving operation makes me think deep about humanity: how we as human beings judging and treating each other solely based on their intelligence level; how we naturally tend to discriminate others if they appear to be inferior in intelligence… There are so many things that we take for granted as a “normal” person and ignore the needs for less “normal” groups.

Although depressing in general, there are also sparks of humanity in this book. Alice Kinnian, Uncle Herman, and Mr. Donner (owner of the bakery that Charlie works) are all good moral examples to follow. “Humanity is complex”, people always like to use these words as an excuse to avoid facing the actual issues rather than trying to solve them. In fact, we don’t need to have a complete or final answer to solve all those weaknesses or issues born with humanity, instead we can start by advocating the awareness and doing small things daily in our lives to make the world a better place.