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From SCIFIPEDIA
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Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is a core classic of the science fiction genre. It has received the highest honors the field has to give, winning both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and it has stayed in print since 1959 through numerous editions, including many study editions for use in school curricula. You can find versions in any number of languages, TV and stage adaptations, and a movie version, Charly, which won Cliff Robertson the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor. Flowers for Algernon was first published as a novella in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Keys later expanded the story and it was published as a full length novel in 1966.
Spoiler Warning: Plot details and/or information about the ending follow. If you wish to enjoy the work first, stop reading here and return at another time.
Charlie Gordon, the hero of Flowers for Algernon, wants to be smarter. He has an I.Q. of 68, and is eager to learn to read and write, convinced that literacy would help him understand his friends' in-jokes so he can fit in with them better. Charlie is too innocent to see what readers can see: Charlie's "friends" make him the butt of their jokes, and take advantage of his good nature.
Charlie's night-school teacher, Miss Kinnian, recommends Charlie for an experimental surgical procedure that has successfully tripled the IQ of its first subject, a mouse named Algernon. The experiment succeeds on Charlie, too, who discovers a new life, and love. But the aura of tragedy-to-come taints Charlie's achievements, because Algernon's keen intelligence begins to fade.
Charlie wants what we all want: to fit in, to have friends, to love. When his high intelligence reverts to its former lowly state, Charlie doesn't give up trying to learn or striving for a better life. His determination exemplifies the heroism and resilience of the human spirit.
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