In Daniel Keyes' story Flowers for Algernon, a man named Charlie Gordon has experimental surgery to try to become smarter. Charlie is developmentally delayed and has a low IQ, but he is happy with his life. He works in a bakery and attends night school to improve his reading and writing. His teacher, Miss Kinnian, recommends that he participate in an experiment with Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur. They are curious about developing a surgery to improve intelligence, and have had positive results on a little mouse named Algernon. In the beginning, Charlie doesn't like Algernon because the mouse can solve puzzles faster than he can. After his surgery, Charlie's self-esteem is boosted when he is able to beat Algernon in tests, but soon it shows that Algernon isn't performing as well as he used to. Unfortunately, the effects of the surgery are not long-term, and Algernon's intelligence declines until finally he dies. Throughout all of this, Charlie has grown quite fond of Algernon. As his own intelligence declines, he writes that he hopes others will not feel bad for him--he only hopes that they will put flowers on Algernon's grave.
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