Just how far would you push the envelope to improve your intelligence? What price are you willing to pay? Well, for one Charlie Gordon, he paid the price this week with his life -- 37 years after he came to this world.
This story will make your heart sob. This is a story of a scientific experiment that had gone wrong. All Charlie wanted was to be like you and I – normal. It was supposed to treble the intelligence of this factory worker who was born mentally retarded. It did, but only for a while. Soon, the downhill slide began and he lost his intelligence rapidly.
The two scientists who performed the operation on him feel nothing but guilt now. Dr Strauss refused to comment. Dr Nemur, the other scientist, said, "When Algernon passed away, Dr Strauss and I already knew that Charlie's fate would be closely entwined with Algernon's."
Algernon is, or was, the earlier subject of their experiment to boost intelligence. It was a mouse that had died after the experiment when its brain shrunk and regressed, quite the opposite effect of what was intended.
Charlie's mother said in between sobs, "Charlie was always a jovial and happy go lucky boy who loved to play in the garden. We only began to realise that something was amiss when we discovered that he still could not write nor read at the tender age of six. We took him to see a specialist who then told us that Charlie was mentally retarded and had learning difficulties. We feel bad that we allowed the doctors to experiment on our son. But then again, who would not want their child to be intelligent?"
Charlie’s adult-night-school teacher, Miss Kinnian, said," I feel extremely guilty as I was the one to recommend Charlie to the doctors for the operation in the first place. I just wanted him to be like ordinary people."
Joe Carp, Charlie's co-worker, said," We feel bad that we used to make fun of Charlie. "
Mr Donnegan, Charlie's boss, had this to say," Although he was mentally retarded, he was always a hardworking person and he always came to the factory punctually every day. When he started becoming intelligent, the factory workers started to dislike him. Out of eight hundred people, seven hundred and ninety-nine signed the petition to fire Charlie. He did not deserve to suffer all of this, and surely he did not deserve to die this way."
Algernon was being operated on by the scientists before Charlie. The mouse improved its intelligence dramatically, and emboldened by this, Charlie went under the knife. Charlie also showed marked improvement after the operation, but Algernon’s death soon after scared Charlie, and turned him into a recluse. He knew what would happen next.
When his intelligence deteriorated, Charlie thought it best to leave New York for California where people did not know him. There, he met Tom Ross whom he spent the last moments of his life with. Charlie died before Dr Strauss managed to track him down.
Today, in the garden of a small house in Brooklyn, New York, stands two small burial plots. Charlie and Algernon had been buried side by side. Charlie must have known his fate when he buried Algernon, as he had made special effort to clear a bigger plot of land for the mouse’s final resting place. He had also written to Miss Kinnian before leaving New York, asking her to put flowers on Algernon's grave and not to feel sorry for his deteriorating mental state.
Few things in life are more heart wrenching than preparing for one’s own death. The note to his teacher, and burying a mouse that foretells his own fate, must have torn Charlie apart. Perhaps in his plot in heaven, where all men are equal, he could take comfort from how his story would probably save a few other lives like his. Perhaps, even set the scientific world on some soul-searching.
Charlie Gordon, may you rest in peace.
