Flowers for Algernon

By Daniel Keyes, 1966

“…the men of the cave would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes.”— Plato, The Republic

“Intelligence and education that hasn’t been tempered by human affection isn’t worth a damn.”— Charlie Gordon, Flowers for Algernon

In this book, Charlie Gordon recognizes the cruel irony of Plato’s most famous allegory. The prisoner ascends from ignorance (a cave) into knowledge. He returns to the cave, but can no longer function normally among those who haven’t seen what he has seen.

Charlie realizes that his own ascent into intelligence has separated him from everyone around him. Then, tragically, he has to descend again. It's a modern (and superbly unsettling) retelling of the allegory of the cave. What is the value of education if you can’t live with what you learn?