What characterizes Charlie before his surgery is his mental illness

What characterizes Charlie before his surgery is his mental illness

What characterizes Charlie before his surgery is his mental illness; it prevents him from forming relationships with others but does not prevent him from being a member of society. People mock him for his disability, and people have sympathy for him, but none see an opportunity for friendship. After the full effects of the surgery start to come upon Charlie, he begins to become aware of the way people treated him before. Charlie has no understanding of why “somebody will say hey look at Joe or Frank or George he really pulled a Charlie Gordon.” all he knows is that people laugh when somebody makes that remark. After the surgery, he starts to become self-aware of his disability. He becomes angry and upset about his treatment because of this.

Despite this, Charlie’s increased intelligence allows him to see parts of life he was unable to before. Charlie could not comprehend love, friendship or even basic understanding of the things around; after the surgery, his mind was moving towards being able to grasp these foreign ideas. If the surgery had been permanent, Charlie would have been able to slowly adapt to normal life. “Please let me not forget how to read and write” As the effects of the surgery begin to regress, Charlie is disappointed because he does not want to lose his ability to read and write. Charlie is most upset about losing the capability to function as a member of society. Even though after the surgery, Charlie’s mind regressed past the point it was at initially he is more conscious of the people and how they treat him. The surgery allowed him to become better equipped to deal with the world around him, even if only a little the surgery overall helped Charlie.