William Arthur Ward once said, “Change like the sun, can be a friend or foe, a blessing or a curse, a sunrise or sunset.” Change can be good and bad, but it all depends on the person's attitude. In Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes, the thirty-two-year-old protagonist lives in New York City. Charlie is a man who has been mentally retarded since birth and desperately wants to become intelligent so he can communicate and live a normal life. In the time period of the book, those who have a mental disability are considered less than human. At the beginning of the novel he thinks of everyone as his friends and yet they make fun of him and he is rejected by the public. Charlie Gordon meets Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, who have created an experimental operation that enhances human intelligence. As Charlie undergoes experiences and changes, he becomes more sexually oriented, emotionally sensitive, and less disrespectful towards everyone. Charlie started having more sex as he started to get smarter and understand what was going on in the world. It is evident that Charlie is developing sexual feelings, when his colleagues who he calls "friend" from the bakery take him to a bar and force him to dance with a random woman. "Dance with Ellen" (40). At first he felt very happy when he started dancing with a woman and felt normal, just like all the other boys in the bakery. Charlie then had a "wet dream" (48), a little later that night, which involved Ellen. This clearly shows that his puberty came a little later, at the age of thirty-two, unlike most boys who had it during adolescence. He's still a guy talking about a woman. When Charlie meets Fay, his neighbor, the painter across the hall...... middle of paper......a smile on people's faces “The problem, dear professor, is that she wanted someone who could be kept in a cage and exposed when necessary to reap the honors you seek. The problem is that I am a person” (247). Charlie failed to realize how much Dr. Nemur and Professor Strauss did for him, as he becomes a selfish, cynical, and evil person. He no longer has respect for those around him. It is evident that as Charlie becomes more intelligent, he becomes more focused on sexuality, becomes more emotionally unstable and less polite. There's a different amount of changes that happen in Charlie's life that completely change everything. The change can be good or bad and can be seen in both changes in Charlie's life. Having money or being intelligent is not true happiness but surrounding yourself with the right people can be and the way a person lives is also important