Flowers for Algernon

1
Flowers for Algernon

• Test Review

2
Point of View

• The story is told in first person from Charlie
  Gordon point of view.

3
How is the story told?

• The story is told in the form of progress reports
  written by Charlie.

4
What is an inference?

• When you make inferences, you look at the
  information the author provides to make logical
  assumptions about what the author leaves
  unstated. To make inferences, use details that
  the author provides as clues.
• An inference can also be called an educated guess.

5
Who is Charlie Gordon?

• Charlie is a 37-year-old man of below average
  intelligence who is selected for an experiment
  which will triple his intelligence if it works.
• Charlie is very motivated and really wants to
  learn to read and write well.
• Charlie works as a janitor at a factory.
• His coworkers laugh at him.

6
Who is Algernon?

• Algernon is the mouse that the doctors have
  experimented on first.
• Charlie really wants to beat Algernon at the maze.

7
Who is Miss Kinnian?

• She is Charlies teacher at the night school
  where Charlie has gone to learn how to read and
  write better. She recommends him for the
  experiment because he is cooperative and
  motivated.

8
Who are Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss?

• Dr Nemur is the psychologist who is conducting
  the experiment, and Dr. Strauss is the
  neurosurgeon who performs the surgery on Charlie.

9
How does Charlie change after the operation?

• He eventually becomes very intelligent. He has
  trouble communicating simply so that others can
  understand him.

10
How do Charlies coworkers react to him after the
operation?

• They want him to be fired.

11
What finally happens to Algernon?

• His behavior changes, he loses his intelligence,
  and he dies.

12
What do the changes in Algernon mean for Charlie?

• He will also lose his intelligence.

13
How do the progress reports written from the
first person point of view allow you to see the
changes in Charlie?

• You can see how he changes through his spelling,
  sentence structure, and vocabulary.

14
What is a Rohrschach test? How does Charlie
perform on the first one he takes?

• It is a test where psychologists analyze someone
  based on what they see in a series of inkblots.
  Because Charlie is very literal, he cannot see
  anything in the inkblots or pretend that he does.