Charlie’s Treatment

Charlie’s Treatment

Charlie, the main character in Charlie, by Daniel Keyes is treated differently by everyone he
knows. Imagine you had mental retardation. You only know the basics of anything. You can’t spell and
have an extremely limited vocabulary. Suddenly you have an experimental operation. This makes you
extremely smart. Now you can understand emotions. With this new understanding you know how
everyone has been treating you.
Compared to everyone else Charlie is treated nicely by his father. His father protects him from
most everyone. Even his mother. Not only does his father accept him but excepts the fact that Charlie is
retarded. "How do you know? What do you know about this man? If there was anything that could be
done, the doctors would have told us a long time ago." (94, Keyes). This is what Matt, the father, was
saying to Rose, the mother. They were at a doctors office with the young Charlie. Rose felt that Dr.
Guarino could make Charlie smart. Matt is skeptical that this could work. He is right, it doesn’t. Charlie’s
mother treats him much differently than Matt.
How Rose treats Charlie can classified into two phases. Before Norma, his sister, was born Rose
was kind and loving towards Charlie. However, once Norma was born Rose was harsh and concerned that
Charlie would hurt, or even kill Norma. In the book there is an incident in which Rose was planning to kill
Charlie if he wasn’t sent away. Again, before Norma was born ...

Charlie’s Treatment

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