Why is Charlie's departure from Donnegan's a turning point in Flowers for Algernon?
Charlie is actually forced out of his job after nearly all of his coworkers sign a petition to have him fired. The reason for this is that the people he works with are no longer comfortable around him once his treatment starts to take effect. He actually starts doing better at work as a result of the treatment, but his relationships with the other workers become strained—he no longer has friends there. When he is fired, his boss claims that it is for the best.
Initially, Charlie’s low IQ makes it so he doesn’t realize it when his coworkers make fun of him or are mean to him, but later on, it hits him: "Now I know what it means when they say 'to pull a Charlie Gordon.'" This is a turning point for him because up until the men take him to a bar and trip him while he...
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tries to dance, he honestly believes that they're his friends. Once the men realize he understands what they've been doing to him, they are unable to own up to it, and Charlie is fired.
How do the final scenes at Donnegan's and Miss Kinnian's class influence Charlie's decision to leave in "Flowers for Algernon"?
In "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, by the time we reach the Progress Report when Charlie goes back to the plant to try to get his old job back, he has regressed to the same level of intelligence he was in the beginning. Mr. Donnegan gives him the job, but when a new worker makes a remark about his intelligence, Joe Carp comes to Charlie's defense--something he had never done before.
"I felt bad but Joe Carp came over and grabbed him by the shirt and said leave him alone you lousy cracker or Ill break your neck. I didn't expect Joe to take my part so I guess he's really my friend" (Keyes 40).
Then Charlie forgets he is no longer in Miss Kinnian's class, and when he shows up, she gets very upset and leaves the room crying.
Charlie decides to leave New York for good at that point because he does not want anyone feeling sorry for him, neither at the factory nor at his class--especially not Miss Kinnian. Charlie does not want people he cares about feeling badly for him and for what he is experiencing as he loses his once superior intelligence.