Flowers for Algernon [review]
 Author: Daniel Keyes |
This book appealed to me because I'm fascinated by the measure of intelligence: what constitutes it, what it involves, how people differ in capacity, employment and understanding of intelligence. Charlie, a retarded man undergoes an operation to raise his intelligence, with his IQ increasing from a moronic 70 to over 180 within the space of a few months. It's no literature classic, but the story, told as a series of autobiographical progress reports, is deeply compelling in the way it charts the development of this one individual, who at the peak of his prowess, declares what I've always believed: that "intelligence alone doesn't mean a damned thing. Intelligence and education that hasn't been tempered by human affection isn't worth a damn. Don't misunderstand me," Charlie continues, "intelligence is one of the greatest human gifts. But all too often a search for knowledge drives out the search for love. I present it to you as a hypothesis: Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis. And I say that the mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can only lead to violence and pain." And love, comprehended only as something mysterious, nearly spiritual, pure, rather than as an effort of sheer intellect. Indeed. |