Flowers for Algernon

Title: Flowers for Algernon
Author: Daniel Keyes
ISBN: 0553274503

Plot Summary: Charlie Gordon, a developmentally disabled man, is selected by two researchers to be the subject of an experimental technique designed to increase intelligence, having already tried the technique on Algernon, a laboratory rat. The technique works, and Charlie's intelligence increases exponentially; at the same time, he also becomes increasingly aware of how the people in his life relate to him, and develops an interest in the opposite sex. However, this increased awareness is not without its drawbacks: his former co-workers, resentful that he now realizes how they have taken advantage of him, become alienated from him, and Charlie is unable to carry on a meaningful romantic relationship without being haunted by images of his former self. When his increase in intelligence turns out to be temporary, those around Charlie who care about him are distressed, but Charlie does not wish them to pity him, content with the memory that he was once a genius.


Critical Evaluation: This book is very much a product of the time period in which it was written, including the dialogue and vocabulary, the prevailing attitude towards the developmentally disabled and the options available to them, and even Charlie's attitude towards women. That said, its vision of the potential drawbacks to experimenting with human intelligence is a compelling one. The book is told from Charlie's perspective, in the form of a diary, and the gradual transformation of his writing is fascinating. Charlie himself, a sympathetic character to begin with, loses some of his early good will when he develops arrogance in conjunction with his genius. However, the book makes clear that Charlie is having trouble adjusting to the rapid mental changes he is undergoing, and is emotionally tormented by the alienation he feels from the people in his life. As such, although Charlie's tale is ultimately a cautionary one, the character himself has gained something from his experience, making his story if not hopeful, at least less than a complete tragedy.
Reader's Annotation: Charlie is a developmentally disabled man who becomes the subject of a scientific experiment designed to increase his intelligence. The experiment works, but what effect will becoming a genius have on Charlie and the people around him?

About the Author: Daniel Keyes was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1927. At the age of 17 he joined the Maritime Service as a ship's purser, eventually returning to New York and earning a bachelor's degree in Psychology from Brooklyn College (now City University of New York). After working as a fiction editor and then a fashion photographer, Keyes earned his teaching credential and taught English in the New York City public schools, while taking post-graduate night courses in English and American Literature. He has taught English and Creative Writing at the university level, at Wayne State University and Ohio University. Flowers for Algernon, his first novel, has never gone out of print, and has been adapted into a stage play, a musical, and a motion picture. Keyes has published three other works of fiction, as well as three non-fiction works. He is currently a professor emeritus at Ohio University, and is currently working on another novel.

Genre: Science Fiction

Curriculum Ties: Psychology

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: Charlie and Alice vs. Charlie and Fay
Approach: Character-based
Ideas for Booktalk: Charlie loves Alice, but cannot consummate his relationship with her, because he is haunted by visions of his former self whenever he tries. He has these same visions, of the former Charlie watching him, when he is with Fay, but as he does not care as much about her, does not have any trouble having sex with her, telling his former self to "go ahead and watch." Possible virgin-whore complex. Charlie's relationship with his former self. Discuss how his relationships change for the worse when his intelligence starts to revert to its former state.

Hook: Charlie recalls an incident from his childhood when he asked a friend to write a valentine for him to a girl he liked, and got beaten up by the girl's brother for writing her a "dirty note." (p. 51-55)
Approach: Scene-based
Ideas for Booktalk: Charlie remembers the scene and realizes things about it now that he didn't at the time. Trusted someone he thought was his friend to write the note for him, and the "friend" betrayed him, simply because he could. Why does Charlie remember this now? Contrast with Charlie's present-day relationships with women. He doesn't want to insult "nice" girls, but has sexual feelings that are difficult for his former self to handle. Also compare with how Charlie's current co-workers took advantage of him, sometimes because they could and sometimes because it amused them that he didn't know any better. Examine the emotions that come up when he realizes the extent to which he has been betrayed by people he considered friends.


Reading Level/Interest Age: High School

Challenge Issues: Sexual content, offensive language.
The characters in this book use general profanity, as well as language that is specifically insulting to the developmentally disabled. When Charlie is still in the beginning phases of the experiment, he is sexually teased by a girl, resulting in confusion on his part and requiring an explanation from the researchers; as a genius, he embarks on a purely sexual relationship with a free-spirited young woman after being unable to consummate his relationship with the beautiful scientist he truly cares about. Charlie, although physically of age, is both mentally and emotionally immature when it comes to the opposite sex, which lends his sexual experiences a more disturbing air than might exist for a character of average intelligence. The derogatory language is, I would argue, indicative of the general stigma regarding mental illness and retardation at the time the book was written, much as Charlie's eventual consignment to the mental hospital indicates the lack of options available to those with mental diseases and defects. The sexual content, and Charlie's growing sexual awareness, are indicative of his maturation as a character, and of his neuroses' growing along with his intelligence. As neither the sexual content nor the language are gratuitous to the plot, then, I would encourage my library to keep the book on the shelves.

Why I Chose This Book: This book provides a strong caution of the consequences of experimenting with human intelligence. When one of the senses is increased, the others must compensate, and the subject must learn how to deal with the change in perception. Although dated in some aspects, this book raises questions, still thought-provoking today, about the unanticipated consequences of experimenting with something as complex as the human brain.