Line #12 YMMV/FlowersForAlgernon


1	* AdaptationDisplacement: Few people know that ''Flowers'' was originally an award-winning short story. Those who do probably remember reading it in ''The Hugo Winners'' anthology. Or that the movie grew out of an 1961 episode of the anthology TV series ''The United States Steel Hour'', in which Cliff Robertson portrayed Charlie Gordon. He bought the movie rights in order to make sure he could play the role again.
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
3	** When Algernon (a mouse) dies, does it mean the treatment killed him (and if so, does that mean Charlie will die too, or that it's more dangerous for mice than humans)? Or did he just die of old age?
4	** At the end, the "d" in "backyard" trails off, and the last few pages are blank. [[UncertainDoom Does that mean Charlie died, or]] that he's now even dumber than before and is illiterate?
5	* BestKnownForTheFanservice: You might think that more modern challenges to the book would involve the constant use of the word "retard" [[note]]today, really uncomfortable, but in the 50s, that was the term used[[/note]] or some of the unintended implications about disabled people [[note]]the story unintentionally implies that being teased and being incapable of realizing it is a natural part of being mentally disabled - totally mainstream thought in 1958, but questionable today, to say the least[[/note]]. But even in TheNewTens, the biggest, practically only, reason the book is challenged for removal from school libraries and elsewhere? Its (utterly mild) sexual content.
6	* FairForItsDay: The novel's frequent usage of the word "retard" and the outdated depiction of psychology has definitely made the book questionable by today's standards. Nevertheless, being written in a time period where the mentally disabled were looked down upon in society, the novel's message was definitely something that needed to be told. Notably, Charlie himself points out the reason why the experiment as described wouldn't take place today: because the men performing it didn't consider him human.
7	* HoYay: The cuddling Warren inhabitant boys.
8	* IAmNotShazam: The guy writing the story who's getting the surgery is named Charlie, not Algernon.
9	* ItWasHisSled: One of the few things people who haven't read the book know about it is that Charlie is a mentally-handicapped man who becomes intelligent and reverted back to how he was beforehand. The fact that [[FlowersForAlgernonSyndrome there's a trope]] on Website/ThisVeryWiki named after the story [[NiceJobBreakingItHero probably isn't helping.]]
10	* NightmareFuel: In the 1968 movie adaptation, Charlie's mental breakdown which involves him running from his older self. The music and the creepy smile of the other Charlie are unsettling enough, but then Charlie gets trapped in a maze and at one point, he's struggling to escape down a long hallway while the other Charlie slowly approaches him. That whole scene (starting from [[https://youtu.be/TqI9-6ZGYjk?t=2m35s 2:35 and going to 6:00]]) is beyond creepy.
11	** There's a moment during Charlie's decline where he tries to look up one of the papers he used in his work, only to realize he can't read it. After a moment, he has the horrific realization that he can't read German anymore. He tests himself on other languages, and it sinks in that the only language he has left is English. And all the evidence points to him losing even ''that'' soon enough.
12	* ValuesResonance: In Charlie Gordon's family, his mother is shown to be the abuser, and while the father tries to do better for his son, he's ultimately whipped into submission, and none of this is PlayedForLaughs. This is a condemnation to the AllAbusersAreMale and DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale that feels ahead of its time.
13	* TheWoobie: Charlie, obviously, starting with his family's treatment of him (specifically his own mother) to others [[spoiler:Realizes that his so-called friends were simply using him as a toy, finally reaches genius levels of intelligence, only to lose it, and starts to forget almost all the notable events that happened to him towards the end.]]

Context YMMV / FlowersForAlgernon