flowers for algernon

charlie gordon, a man with an intellectual disability, undergoes an experimental intelligence-boosting surgery. what it gives him beyond intellect is a shift in his perception of the world. his understanding of his past shifts irrevocably, and the grief that follows is destabilizing.

the experiment is flawed: tampering with one faculty of the mind in isolation is to defy nature, which carries an inevitable cost. charlie's intellect far outweighs his emotional development, and the imbalance proves just as isolating.

even as charlie faces deterioration at the end, he doesn't regret the operation. but the weight of everything he lived through tells a more complicated story.