Paying the Price in Flowers for Algernon Medical operations are performed every day, but for some, one operation can change a person's life. An experiment was conducted on a mentally retarded person to try to increase his intelligence. The experiment worked, but after months the patient regressed significantly. In the book Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, this intelligence operation was carried out and the patient was Charlie Gordon. After the operation, Charlie was very bright, but experienced psychological trauma, loneliness, disillusionment and social inadequacies. Charlie's psychological traumas or emotional upsets were caused by his memories. After the operation, he remembered every aspect of his childhood, good or bad. "...It's normal! It's normal! He will grow up like the others. Better than the others..." Charlie dreamed of how his mother was ashamed of him. His mother always thought that her son was normal, that he would grow up and become someone. "...He's like a child. He can't play Monopoly, or checkers, or anything. I won't play with him anymore..." Charlie's sister also ignored him. To her, Charlie was stupid and couldn't do anything. Charlie dreamed that his sister was scolding and teasing him. He also had memories of the night his parents brought him to the Warren home. He was terrified and his father would never answer his questions. Charlie remembered his childhood and through his memories felt guilty for hurting his family. After the operation, Charlie also suffered from disillusionment. He had friends in the bakery. Friends who would talk to him and take care of him. "...Why? Because suddenly you're a big shot. You think you're better than all of us..." Charlie then realized that he had no friends but simply knew people who made fun of him. The bakery employees liked him simply because they could blame Charlie for their mistakes. So, they couldn't do it after the operation, so they all turned against Charlie. "...I had to find out how much they knew. I found out. Nothing..." "Both crooks" Charlie also learned about Nemur and Strauss. He realized that they were not professionals, but two men shooting in the dark. Charlie felt like an expendable lab specimen. So, Charlie had lost his friends and now knew that he was just like a lab rat. Charlie had no faith in his peers. “…Suicidal thoughts about stopping it all while I still have control…” Every day Charlie lost a piece of himself. He was starting to regress and contemplated suicide to end his life of ups and downs. He became irritable and nervous around people at university. He would get angry very quickly at people and then yell at them. His self-centered and arrogant personality was a symptom of his regression. People stayed away from him because he was going crazy and was unpredictable. Because of this, Charlie felt lonely for the last few weeks before completely regressing. “…Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection can lead to a nervous breakdown…” Charlie experienced social inadequacies while being intelligent. "...You know as well as I do, you don't need to work here anymore..." Charlie lost his job because he was too smart to work in a bakery. He couldn't interact socially with the people he worked with and the people he met. Charlie also couldn't perform with Alice or Fay. "...I saw him looking at me with his eyes wide open. I couldn't do it..." He experienced illusions when he tried to make love to Alice. The "Charlie" within emerged and began to regain control of his mind. All in all, Charlie suffered from the pain of not knowing how..