Nearly 7,000 people die from brain surgery in a year. Charlie Gorden is a 37 year old who is mentally disabled. He goes and gets a surgery to raise his IQ. He does many activities to try and build up his smartness. One of the activites was to beat a mouse, Algernon, in a maze. He struggled with beating Algernon but motivated himself to overcome this obstacle. In the story, “Flowers for Algernon”,Daniel Keyes, creates the theme, determination can lead a person to overcome huge odds. The first way the theme is shown through the story is through the characters. Charlie, the main character, shows the theme that determination can lead to a person overcoming imense odds. According to the text, Dr. Strauss thinks Charlie trys very hard to acheive
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Before Charlie’s operation, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur had Charlie attempt many different tests but this one was a maze against a mouse, Algernon, which had already had the same operation as Charlie was going to. The maze test consisted of 10 different mazes and Algernon beat Charlie every time, this discouraged Charlie but also determined him to overcome this obstacle after he got the surgery. For example, quite awhile after the operation the doctors had Charlie race against Algernon in a maze again and Charlie was very determined to beat him this time, “I beat Algernon! I dint even know I beat him until Burt the tester told me.” This shows because of Charlies determination to beat Algernon after the surgery it led him to overcome this obstacle in his path to become smarter. Another test that Charlie had to take before the operation was to read cards that had words on them, this determination that Charlie had also shows the theme that determination can lead a person to overcome huge odds. For instance, when Charlie was asked if he saw anything on the card he tried the first time but could’t see anything but he was still determined to pass this test, “I said please let me try agen. Ill get it in a few minits becaus Im not so fast somtimes. Im a slow reeder too in Miss Kinnians class for slow adults but I’m trying very hard.” This shows the theme because he tried once and didn’t achieve this obstacle but once he was determined he tries very hard to complete this difficult
Before Charlie’s operation, Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur had Charlie attempt many different tests but this one was a maze against a mouse, Algernon, which had already had the same operation as Charlie was going to. The maze test consisted of 10 different mazes and Algernon beat Charlie every time, this discouraged Charlie but also determined him to overcome this obstacle after he got the surgery. For example, quite awhile after the operation the doctors had Charlie race against Algernon in a maze again and Charlie was very determined to beat him this time, “I beat Algernon! I dint even know I beat him until Burt the tester told me.” This shows because of Charlies determination to beat Algernon after the surgery it led him to overcome this obstacle in his path to become smarter. Another test that Charlie had to take before the operation was to read cards that had words on them, this determination that Charlie had also shows the theme that determination can lead a person to overcome huge odds. For instance, when Charlie was asked if he saw anything on the card he tried the first time but could’t see anything but he was still determined to pass this test, “I said please let me try agen. Ill get it in a few minits becaus Im not so fast somtimes. Im a slow reeder too in Miss Kinnians class for slow adults but I’m trying very hard.” This shows the theme because he tried once and didn’t achieve this obstacle but once he was determined he tries very hard to complete this difficult