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| Plot Summary of Flowers for Algernon |
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"It was a good book, but at first can be annoying. Once you get used to the punctuation purposely being bad, you have a well-done 1st person account of a story about a retarded person becoming super-genuis."
Keith C, Resident Scholar
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"Charlie Gordon is mentally retarded. He works very hard to have brain surgery (that was successfully conducted on a mouse) to make him smart. He soon becomes smart, surpassing himself, and gains perspective on humanity making fun of a retarded person. He then mentally surpasses his doctors (thus, knocking them from their God-like pedistle) and goes on even further... "
Amy, Resident Scholar
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"Charlie Gordon's IQ is below 70. He works as a janitor in a factory and he is the butt of practical jokes by his coworkers. Charley attends night school and wishes he could learn to read and write. Charley is accepted for a new program where he is paired for study with a mouse named Algernon that has undergone a brain operation. The procedure accelerates the rate of comprehension making the subject incredibly intelligent. Algernon beats Charlie over and over in a race to run a maze every time, thanks to his new found "brains".
Finally, Charley has the operation. He keeps a journal of his progress and we are astounded at the progress he makes by the improved language skills he begins to display in the diary. Charley's rapidly increasing IQ has several side effects. He falls for his schoolteacher, Miss Kinnian, he begins beating Algernon with ease, and he outgrows his friends and his menial labor position at the factory. He has lost himself in the course of gaining a new mind.
The story takes a tragic twist as it is determined that Algernon is not only losing the temporary gains in intelligence but he pays the ultimate price and suddenly dies prematurely. The story closes with Charley losing his gained knowledge, knowing he is reverting back to his former self and likely to the same fate as Algernon."
David Fletcher, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Flowers for Algernon |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- depressed
Time/era of story
- 1960's-1970's
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- special abilities
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental
Yes
Eccentric:
- a bit retarded
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Main Adversary
Identity:
- natural phenomena
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 2 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Misc setting
- scientific labs
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Unusual Style:
- written like a journal/diary/letters
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
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Click here for more information about this book
Daniel Keyes Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Fletcher
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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