Flowers for Algernon: Charlie's Psychological Traumas Medical operations are carried out everyday, but for some, an operation can change a person's life. One experiment was done on a mentally retarded person to try to raise his intelligence. The experiment worked, but after months, the patient regressed dramatically. In the book, Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, this intelligence operation was preformed, and the patient was Charlie Gordon. After the operation, Charlie was very bright, but experienced psychological traumas, loneliness, disillusionment, and social inadequacies. Charlie's psychological t