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Literature:

Flowers For Algernon

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alt title(s): Flowers For Algernon

Flowers for Algernon, a novel by Daniel Keyes, tells of a young man named Charlie Gordon who has an IQ of 68, but tries hard to learn and become normal. Charlie works at a bakery with people he considers his friends. His instructor, Alice Kinnian, teaches him at the Beakman College Institute for Retarded Adults, and she is the one who informs him of a possible cure: a surgery designed to improve his mental capacity. The people putting this surgery into action are looking for a human subject, having already had a successful result with the titular Algernon, a lab mouse.

Charlie gets the surgery and his intelligence quickly blooms. While this is happening, he falls in love with Alice, but soon finds that he cannot relate to her because he is much smarter than her. As well, he discovers that his friends have not been as trustworthy as he thought they were, and he is given a device that allows him to recall memories from his childhood, finding even more incidences of trickery and ridicule. As a result, he becomes quite jaded and cynical.

His intelligence tops out at 185, where he is deemed a certified genius. At this point, he is frantically soaking up all the knowledge he can, and is becoming aware of a sharp decrease in intelligence happening in Algernon. Charlie begins to write an essay about his own experiences, matching them up to Algernon's, and publishes it. He is panicking because his fates are in the air when it comes to his brain power.

Told entirely in journal entries ("progress reports"), the book does a wonderful job of showing how Charlie's intelligence changes. It is often used in School Study Media.

It's one of the more famous books that has been banned from schools, thanks to its sexual content and profanity.

The original short story won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960. The novel won the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1966 and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1967.

The original short story can be read here

This book contains examples of:

Adaptation Displacement: Few people know that Flowers was originally a short story.
Coming Of Age Story: An interesting version, since Charley is already an adult, but has a mind of a child and must grow up quickly. In the end while he returns to his former intelligence level, he is still not as ignorant as he used to be.
Crowning Momentof Heartwarming: When Charlie's journal entry asks that someone else put flowers on Algernon's grave after he's no longer able to — hence the title. This is more a case of Crowning Moment of Tear-Jerking.
Doctor Jekyll And Mister Jack Daniels
Downer Ending: The last fifty-or-so pages are so depressing it's amazing the book doesn't spontaneously combust.
First Girl Wins: And eventually loses.
Flowers For Algernon Syndrome: The Trope Namer.
Inherited Illiteracy Title: Not the book itself, but The Film Of The Book is called Charly.
Inkblot Test
Innocent Inaccurate: In the beginning, Charlie doesn't understand that his co-workers mock him and treat him like dirt. He describes their taunts and insults as funny jokes.
Intelligence Equals Isolation: Charlie becomes so intelligent that everyone around him seems like a moron.
I Pulled A Weird Al: Pulling a "Charlie Gordon" is messing up.
It Was His Sled
No Medication For Me
Science Is Bad: Some of the scientists in this story border Complete Monster territory.
Scrapbook Story
Stylistic Suck: Charlie's early entries, before he gets the operation, and his last entries.
Tear Jerker: Big time.