Within our science fiction unit, two stories in particular left the biggest impression. Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon and Timo Vuorensola's take on life on the moon and its inhabitants' involvement in an implied World War III, Iron Sky, both contain aspects that equally compel and propel readers and viewers, but they also include facets that keep the audience guessing and incorporating two specific characters who, although they don't have much on the surface, but their shared ignorance of social queues allows them to be categorized together. The story of Charlie Gordon's miraculous transformation from mental retardation to intellectual genius is self-narrated in Flowers. for Algernon. Keyes' speech describes Charlie as a friendly and trusting man, and he assumes that the people in his life are as well-intentioned and kind as he is. Unfortunately, his naivety and mental deficiencies prevent him from identifying his friends, colleagues and doctors as they really are. However, as his intelligence grows, Charlie discovers the reality of his social life. He discovers that his "friends" at work have often taken advantage of his inferiority and manipulated him into doing things for their own personal entertainment. Likewise, he realizes that those who were kind to him, the doctors who administered and supervised his operation, generally acted out of selfishness, only furthering Charlie's progress in order to gain scientific recognition and wealth. These realizations turn into constant suspicion, and Charlie is unable to trust, inadvertently distancing himself from everyone, similar to his disability. He was once again out of the picture and failed to fit in. Charlie even forces himself to cut...... middle of paper...... Adler's true motivations: genocide. She had been deceived by the power of the Reich. Back on the moon, Renate confronts Adler, who has declared himself the new Führer, after having killed the previous one, Kortzfleisch. By finishing it with a simple stiletto heel, Renate frees herself from her deception. As international nuclear war consumes Earth, Renate reunites with Washington (who has reversed the Aryan process) and, further stabbing his devotion to the Reich, kisses him in front of a group of astonished Nazi refugees. While Charlie Gordon and Renate Richter don't have much in common, they both clung to false beliefs in the goodness of others and, with their naivety, were easily manipulated by those they most defended. Their strength in overcoming these components unifies their stories and makes them the most sympathetic characters in our science fiction unit..