Flowers For Algnernon Flashcards
Who is Charlie’s sister?
Norma Gordon
Who is Charlie’s outgoing and fun-loving neighbor?
Fay Lillman
Who looks at Charlie as though he was not a human before his operation and that he created Charlie?
Professor Nemur
Who helps Charlie through therapy sessions?
Dr. Strauss
Who is the mouse that goes through the same operation as Charlie?
Algernon
Who constantly sticks up for Charlie at the bakery?
Fanny Birden
Who is a barber who does not recognize Charlie when he was in the shop?
Matt Gordon
Who is Charlie’s teacher at Beekman college?
Alice Kinnian
Who does Charlie catch stealing money from the bakery?
Gimpy
Who does Charlie get frustrated with because he thinks he gives him different directions each time he administer the Rorschach test?
Burt
Who is the author of Flowers for Algernon?
Daniel Keyes
Who is the protagonist in Flowers for Algenon?
Charlie Gordon
Where does a majority of the story take place?
New York
Who is the narrator of the story?
Charlie Gordon
What is the point of view of the story?
First person
Why was Charlie considered a good candidate for the operation?
Charlie was extremely motivated to be intelligent
What is the genre of the story?
Science fiction
What are the important themes in the novel?
The relationship between intelligence, wisdom, emotion, and happiness
The role of technology in man’s evolution
The treatment of the mentally disabled
What is the major conflict in the novel?
Man vs self
What are the symbols in the novel?
Adam and Eve and the tree of knowledge
Algernon
Charlie’s tendency to wander the streets
How does Fay help Charlie?
She helps him open up emotionally
What is a Rorschach test?
A test where the patient is shown ink blots on a card and tell what image he sees
When Charlie is first able to start remembering things from his past, what process does he use to have those memories?
Free association
As Charlie gets smarter, what happens to his progress reports?
The grammar and spelling get better but the reports stay the same length
Why does Charlie get fired from the bakery?
The other employees signed a petition
Where does Charlie get fired from the bakery?
All the employees sign a petition
Where does Charlie decide to go at the very end of the novel?
To Warren State Home
What does Charlie constantly struggle with throughout the book?
His emotions
His past
His relationship with people
When things happen to Algernon - we have good reason to believe the same things MIGHT happen later to Charlie because of what literary device?
Foreshadowing
What is Charlie’s IQ at the beginning of the book?
68
Why was Hilda (Charlie’s nurse who was relocated while caring for Charlie after the operation) opposed to the operation?
She thinks the doctors are playing God
What does to “pull a Charlie Gordon” mean?
To do something stupid
As Charlie becomes more intelligent what happens?
He become lonelier
What is the first sign that something is “wrong” with Algernon?
He quits eating
How old is Charlie?
32
What is the Algernon-Gordon Effect?
The rate at which artificially induced intelligence with deteriorate
What did the operation give Charlie?
Cognitive intelligence
What did the operation NOT give Charlie?
Emotional Intelligence
What type of phrase is “not the sharpest tool in the shed”?
A Euphemism for someone who is not smart
What is the term used for “thinking about thinking?”
Metacognition
What is another term for “thinking” or “the thinking processes?
Cognition
Why did Charlie use free association?
To probe his subconscious mind
What is the term for a statement or hypothetical situation that seems to defy logic and creates a contradiction?
paradox
What does Charlie remember as he gets smarter?
Repressed memories from his childhood
What is the term for the “shock” that Charlie received everytime he made a mistake in the maze?
Stimulus
Why does Charlie walk the streets at night in New York?
To Practice introspection
What happens to Charlie after his rise in intelligence?
He regresses and is back to mentally disabled
What is the term for that which questions what is right and wrong regarding humans use of science and technology to influence the brain?
Neuroethics
Why is the word “retard” now considered offensive when it was standard medical terminology 40 years ago?
Language changes over time - - it is no longer just a clinical term.
How a word is used is more important
How did old Charlie expect people to treat him after his operation? What really happened? What realizations did Charlie make about his “friends?”
Old Charlie thought that everyone loved him when he was smart. However people became afraid of him and were intimidated by him. He realized that his friends only wanted to laugh at him not help or see him succeed.
When Charlie has memories, he see Old Charlie instead of placing himself in the memory. Why does this happen?
It is a snapshot of his past and future. He will not be able to escape old Charlie because he can’t make peace with his past and the reality that he will return to his original state.
Why does Charlie struggle to have a relationship with
Alice Kinnian? What effect has his mother had on his relationship with Alice and women in general?
Charlie can’t see Alice as a romantic partner - even though he has strong feelings of attraction for her - because his mother taught him that it was shameful to have romantic feelings for women. Even though he has grown intellectually - he isn’t equipped to deal with emotional situations that he encounters along the way.
In progress 10 Charles says that Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss are just “two men worried about getting something out of their work.” What happened that made him say that? What realization does
Charlie come to about the two? Why is this an important realization for Charlie?
Both of these men were arguing about weather or not they should present their finding about the research. Strauss does not want to while Nemur is in favor of presenting the research. Through this Charlie realizes that all three of them are equal. This allows Charlie to take control of his life and what lies ahead for him.
What does Charlie witness Gimpy do at the bakery? How does Charlie react? How does he handle the situation? What does he learn?
Charlie sees Gimpy steal from the bakery. Charlie asks many different people how to handle the information. He takes Alice’s advice to give Gimpy a chance to stop stealing. Charlie realizes that he is able to make moral decisions on his own.
Describe how the content of Charlie’s progress reports change over the course of the novel. What cause these changes?
Charlie’s first reports are very short, have many spelling mistakes and poorly written.As he gains intelligence - - his reports begin to get longer, full of emotion and no grammatical errors. This is due to his increased intelligence and his entrance into a world where he is not welcomed and then realizes that he will never be welcomed in.
What does the phrase “ignorance is bliss” mean? How does it tie into one of the major themes of the novel? How does Plato’s Allegory of the Cave relate to them both?
It mean that the less you know about a situation the happier you’ll be. It ties into one of the major themes in that it suggests happiness does not come from knowledge. Plato’s allegory of the cave warns about the trouble that come with greater knowledge. Knowledge is powerful and that requires a lot of responsibility. It also revolves around the theme - Is humanity responsible for the technology it creates.
Analyze Charlie’s emotional development over the course of the novel. How does his thoughts, word and actions change? Think in terms of his relationships (how he interacts with others) and his ambitions. Is he ever satisfied?
Intelligently he goes from a toddler to a full grown man and then returns to a toddler again in about 9 months. He learns to contribute to society, make friends, have romantic relationship, and how to settle arguments. His relationship with knowledge and all that goes with that knowledge changes. He wants to learn because he feels that it will bring him friends - - and then finally discovers learning for learning’s sake. He struggles mostly with romantic love. Charlie overcomes all the destruction from his mother about women and has a sexual relationship with Alice and realizes that women are not sex objects. - - This is when Charlie is finally satisfied.
how are Charlie and Algernon Juxtaposed? How does this Juxtaposition help show a particular theme of the novel?
They are juxtaposed in many ways: first as “lab rats”. Both Algernon and Charlie are subjected to the will of Professor Nemur and Dr. Strauss. both have the same rise in intelligence and then the drastic fall. both are really looked out as scientific tools. The theme this reflects is “the treatment of the developmentally impaired”
In Progress Report 17 - Alice says this about Old Charlie - - “There was something about you that made us respect you - yes, even as you were”. What was it about old Charlie that she was referring to? Why did people respect him? How was new Charlie different?
He was talking about Charlie’s kind-hearted nature and his pure intentions. Before the operation Charlie only wanted to make friends. He thought be being smart would bring him more friends. Even though he had a low IQ - people loved his heart and he was still very wise. New Charlie was cold, cruel and insensitive. He did not want to develop relationships and was not kind to other people - - he only wanted to develop more knowledge.
