In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie has dreams that allude to sexual repression that disrupts Charlie's unconscious thoughts and disrupts his reality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Charlie's mother represses his sexual thoughts at a young age, causing Charlie to have nightmares about women that distress his mental state. When young Charlie gets dirty in front of his mother, he states: “The penis is mine, but his mother will take it away from me like she always does. He will take it away and keep it for himself." The tone used by Charlie suggests that he is inadvertently expressing a desire to free himself from his mother's repression of his sexual impulses. It also implies that he doesn't appreciate her wanting to subjugate his penis or his sexual proclivities. In the midst of a nightmare, Charlie describes: “But when Miss Kinnian reads the report she gets angry and tears up the pages because they contain dirty words... When I get home Prof. Nemur and Dr. Strauss are waiting for me and take me beaten because I write dirty things in the progress report." This dream suggests that he is afraid of having sexual contact with a woman because of Rose, Charlie's mother. Rose represses his sexuality and beats him every time he does something involving his penis. In the dream, Miss Kinnian represents his mother and his tearing out the pages symbolizes his mother beating him for writing dirty words, which represent his sexual actions and thoughts. This nightmare suggests that Charlie's mother represses his sexuality from a young age. During Charlie's second date with Alice, she says, "Charlie looked up and saw a boy of fifteen or sixteen, squatting nearby...he saw that the boy's pants were open and he was exposed." Charlie sees himself in the past as he makes physical contact with Alice. The boy is Charlie and his open pants represent him wanting to express his sexuality through sex with Alice. Charlie drives the boy away by demonstrating that he wants to rid himself of his sexuality and that Rose's repressions on the old Charlie still persist in the new Charlie. Rose's repressions towards Charlie take a toll on her mental state, going so far as to disrupt her reality, such as seeing the boy with his pants open when he doesn't exist, and her relationship with Alice. Charlie has castration anxiety in his dreams making him afraid of women. In a memory Charlie has when Norma takes a bath and peeks in, he recites: “Three blind mice… three blind mice, / See how they run! Look how they run!/ They all run after the farmer's wife,/ She cut off his tail with a carving knife,/ Have you ever seen such a sight in your life,/ Like three… blind… mice?”. This exemplifies the fact that Charlie fears the idea of castration. The farmer's wife who cuts off the tails of blind mice suggests that the tails depict Charlie's penis or manhood. Cutting off the tails, or penises, would mean that Charlie would lose his penis, and he is worried about that happening. His castration anxiety comes from a woman, or in this case the farmer's wife, and cutting off the tails of mice establishes a fear of women in general. In another nightmare, Charlie describes: “There is a red-haired girl with her arms outstretched... she takes me in her arms, kisses me and caresses me.... I feel a strange bubbling and throbbing inside me... my pockets are empty.” The girl in Charlie's dream represents a woman and perhaps his sexual desires towards women. He likes the feeling of the "strange... throb" he gets from this girl. Charlie also says he had something in his pocket, something.
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