Love and Sexuality Theme Analysis

Arguably the biggest change that Charlie Gordon undergoes in Flowers for Algernon—even bigger than his rise from mental disability to genius—is the change in his romantic life. At the beginning of the novel, Charlie is completely ignorant of the opposite sex (he’s assumed to be straight). He’s never even kissed a girl, and from an early age his mother, Rose Gordon, has impressed upon him that he mustn’t touch women. As he ages mentally, Charlie contemplates sex, his relationship with the opposite sex, and his relationship with his mother, maturing to the point where he can feel sincere, emotional love for another woman. In describing Charlie’s sexual maturation, Keyes incorporates elements of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis and allusions to the “free love” movement of the 1960s.

Perhaps Keyes’s most important point about love and sexuality is Freudian in nature: human sexuality begins with childhood experience. Even after Charlie Gordon becomes a genius, he’s dominated by hallucinations of his childhood self—an internalized version of his sexual insecurities. As a child, Charlie’s mother would spank and beat him for showing any interest in women. Keyes implies that Charlie’s childhood experiences give him a permanent Oedipus complex: an aversion to having sex with women, caused by a fixation on a strong, domineering mother figure. Because he’s still afraid of his mother’s punishments, Charlie can’t perform sexually with the women he meets after becoming a genius. In typical Freudian form, Charlie conquers his aversion to sex by first identifying the source of the problem—his mother’s cruelty—and then reconnecting with his aging mother, who’s suffering from dementia. It’s only after Charlie visits his mother, symbolically “burying” her and closing the door on his Oedipus complex, that he succeeds in having a stable, mature relationship with Alice Kinnian, the love of his life.

Although Freudian psychoanalysis has a clear influence on the novel’s view of human sexuality, Keyes is equally influenced by the free love movement of the 1960s, which was in full force at the time when Flowers for Algernon was published (in the film version, released in 1968, Charlie actually joins the counterculture movement, smoking marijuana and riding motorbikes). Charlie experiments with a number of sexual partners during his sexual maturation, including women he meets in Central Park, and one bohemian woman—Fay Lillman—whom he knows to have other sexual partners. There’s no expectation that Charlie remain loyal to any one of these sexual partners (indeed, at one point, Charlie argues for the value of polygamy)—on the contrary, Charlie moves from one encounter to the next, conquering his aversion to sex little by little. Keyes’s view of sexuality was considered radically open at the time: a reflection of the new Sixties ethos that sexuality should be de-stigmatized and celebrated as a critical part of love and maturity. Indeed, Charlie learns how to love and respect women—that is, to have mature emotional relationships—partly because he has sex with women. During his first sexual encounters, Charlie is confused and even violent, reflecting his fear and ignorance of love. Gradually, however, Charlie progresses from physical love to emotional love, using each sexual encounter to fight his lifelong aversion to women.

Flowers for Algernon provides a surprisingly frank look at love and sexuality. Although it’s dated in some ways (Freud’s influence on psychology has waned, and Keyes’s descriptions of Charlie’s earliest sexual encounters are guilty of the same problem as the sexual revolution itself: they trivialize and objectify women), Keyes’s work continues to teach relevant lessons: first, that human sexuality begins in childhood, not adulthood; and second, that sexuality is an ongoing process, one which takes a great deal of practice and experimentation. Moreover, Keyes suggests that sex, far from being an incidental part of mature romantic love, is a key part of building a stable relationship with another person.