Keyes, D. (1959). Flowers for Algernon. Bantam Books: New York, NY.
Age Level: 6th Grade and Up
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy because the story has elements that are built on scientific concepts, but are outside of reality.
Daniel Keyes’ novel Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction novel that digs inside the mind of a person who is going through rapid changes. This novel is truly heartbreaking and is hard to read at some points. I chose the book because the synopsis sounded very interesting and unlike anything I had read before. After reading it I would recommend this story to others and to students. This book might be used for younger grades, but personally I would use the book in classrooms of 8th grade and up because of some sensitive issues that arise throughout the plot.
The story follows the journey of the protagonist Charlie. Charlie is a man in his early 30’s who has been mentally handicapped throughout his life. He has dealt with issues of always feeling inferior; however, his inability to retain memories has allowed him to sustain a positive outlook on life. Charlie is desperate to learn and joins a class and the adult learning center, where he meets his teacher Alice Kinnian. She changes Charlie’s life forever when she recommends him for a surgery done by scientists at Beekman University. The surgery is groundbreaking and will make Charlie learn and ultimately become a genius. The basis for the surgery is found upon lasting results in a mouse named Algernon, who is able to win maze races against Charlie and is becoming increasingly intelligent after the surgery. Charlie then becomes the scientists’ first human experiment. After the surgery, Charlie begins to learn at a rapid pace and surpasses all of his acquaintances in knowledge, but emotionally, Charlie is still a child. Charlie learns to deal with issues he has with his past after all of his childhood memories come rushing forward after he has forgotten them. He finds that he was not accepted before his surgery and ironically, after he gains intelligence, he is just a specimen to most and not a human being. Then, Algernon begins to act erratically and the scientists realize a mistake in the surgery may have occurred, foreshadowing Charlie’s race against himself before his demise.
The book is arranged like diary entries. Charlie must write progress reports for the scientists to show his progress before and after surgery. The words in the story reflect his mental state and allow his personality to come through by writing his thoughts. For example, before his surgery on the first page of the book, his progress reports are written as such:
“progris riport 1 martch 3
Dr. Strauss says I should rite down what I think and remembir and evrey thing that happins to me from now on. I dont no why but he says its importint so they will see if they can use me.”
After Charlie has the surgery his writing becomes better on page 42:
“Progress Report 10
April 21-I figured out a new way to set up the mixing machines in the bakery to speed up production. Mr. Donner says he will save labor costs and increase profits.”
This way of writing in first-person and using the writing to reflect Charlie’s improvement throughout the book makes this science fiction more believable.
If I were to use this book in the classroom, I would use it to teach about different styles of writing other than using the separation of chapters. This book would also be a great discussion piece for social issues. Big questions that could be used for this discussion would be: How does this book reflect the way that society accepts or doesn’t accept people with differences? What if Charlie could have retained his intelligence? What would he be doing now? In what ways was Charlie treated wrongly by the scientists and others? Do you think Charlie ever gained the acceptance that he craved?
Comprehension Strategy: (Mark My Words) Words that students could mark and try to use in their conversations are:
Page: 5 Page: 136 Page: 71 Page: 79
Word: Psychology Word: Impotent Word: Hallucination Word: Exhibit
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