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Flowers for Algernon

By Daniel Keyes

Study Guide

DIRECTIONS: Answer the following questions IN COMPLETE SENTENCES.

Keep these questions in mind as you read Flowers for Algernon:

WHAT GIVES A PERSON VALUE? HOW IMPORTANT IS INTELLIGENCE TO ONE’S HAPPINESS?

Progress Report 1

1. How old would you guess Charlie is from his writing?

2. How old does Charlie tell you he is?

GRAMMAR BREAK!!

On your own paper, rewrite Charlie’s first journal entry using correct spelling

and mechanics.

Progress Report 2

3. Why do you think the doctors performed the psychological tests on Charlie before they would experiment on him?

Progress Report 3

4. What are the doctors asking Charlie to do?

5. Why can Algernon beat Charlie in the maze? Could any mouse beat him?

6. Explain why Charlie’s ideas about the Rorschach and Thematic Apperception tests are humorous.

**Journal for five minutes on your own paper: What aspect of yourself are you most dissatisfied with? If there were an operation available to change it, would you have that operation? How might your life be affected if you did?

Progress Report 4

7. What is the significance of a 68 I.Q.? What is an average I.Q.?



8. Algernon’s motivation is cheese. What is Charlie’s motivation?

9. What are the doctors’ reasons for wanting to use Charlie?

10. Does Charlie understand what is going to happen to him?

**Discuss 1st person narration/unreliable narrator.

Progress Report 5

**Journal for five minutes on your own paper: Do you think Charlie made the right decision to have the operation? Would you have made the same decision?

Progress Report 6 & 7

11. Do you see any changes in Charlie’s journal entries so far? If so, what are they?

Progress Report 8

12. How does Charlie feel about his job?

13. “So far Algernon looks like he mite be smart perminent.” What does this statement imply?

3/25

14. Are Joe and Frank really Charlie’s friends? Why does Charlie think they are?

15. How do you and your friends treat people who aren’t “smart?” Do you ever make jokes about people who are different? Give examples.

3/28

16. What kind of changes are you seeing in Charlie’s writing?

3/29

17. Is it possible to learn while you sleep? Give reasons for your opinion.

4/3

18. What is the difference between conscious and subconscious?

19. What will happen to Charlie’s relationship with Joe and Frank as Charlie gets smarter?

**Journal for five minutes on your own paper: Have you ever seen someone

get exploited/made fun of and not know? Write about that OR just a time when

you saw someone getting picked on because they were different.

4/9

20. Contrast Charlie’s conclusion about the picture of Robinson Crusoe to his earlier conclusions.

4/15

21. Why is Miss Kinnian worried about Charlie?

4/16

GRAMMAR BREAK!!

On your own paper, correct Charlie’s passage of 4/16. Discuss comma rules

from your Write Source 2000 book.

4/18

22. Is Charlie learning the same way you and I learn? Explain.

4/20

23. What do you notice about Charlie’s punctuation?

24. What is Charlie realizing about his friends?

4/22

25. Contrast this Rorschach test to Charlie’s previous Rorschach test.

4/25

26. Why are people reacting as they are to Charlie now?

4/27

27. What do Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss feel is important in life?

28. What might that mean for Charlie?

4/28

29. What’s the possibility Charlie didn’t want to think of?

4/30

30. Why do you think the people at the factory have turned against Charlie?

5/15

31. What do you notice about Charlie’s perception of the doctors?

32. How is it humorous that Charlie expected the doctors to know Greek, Latin, and Hebrew?

33. What does the look on Dr. Strauss’ face mean?

5/18

34. How is Charlie handling his new intelligence? Is it making him happier?

5/20

35. Why does Charlie react the way he does in the restaurant?

36. Review and discuss Charlie’s realizations in the 2nd column of page 215. Does he believe he’s better off knowing these things?

**DISCUSSION: Have you ever had an experience like this where you’ve found

out after the fact that someone was making fun of you or saying bad things about

you? Were you better off when you found out about it?

5/23
37. Why is Algernon’s behavior a bad sign for Charlie?

5/25

38. Why has time suddenly become very important for Charlie?

6/4

39. What does Charlie believe about the experiment done on him and Algernon?

6/5

40. Try to paraphrase Charlie’s hypothesis here:

6/15

41. How is Charlie’s deterioration paralleling Algernon’s?

**JOURNAL: Charlie’s deterioration appears to be out of his control. How much control do you believe you have over your own life? Over things that happen to you? How does it feel when you don’t have control over what happens to you?

6/21

42. Is Charlie better off now than before the operation? Why or why not?

6/22

43. Why is Charlie’s deterioration so rapid (refer to his hypothesis)?

7/25

44. Discuss what happened to Charlie’s and Miss Kinnian’s relationship and how she might feel about it.

7/27

45. How is Charlie’s view of his friends changing again?

7/28

46. What’s Charlie’s plan for the future?

47. Why is Charlie so concerned about marking Algernon’s grave?

48. What do you think might happen to Charlie?

QUESTIONS TO PONDER…

Was Charlie truly capable of making the decision to have this operation?

Was this experiment ethical?

Was Charlie better off for having the operation, even if the effects didn’t last?

Does intelligence have anything to do with happiness? IS ignorance bliss?

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