Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Does intelligence hold the key to happiness or peace of mind? Central Questions Does intelligence hold the key to happiness or peace of mind? What would happen if it was possible to artificially increase someone’s intelligence?

“How strange it is that people of honest feelings and sensibility, who would not take advantage of a man born without arms or legs or eyes – how such people think nothing of abusing a man born with low intelligence.”

Daniel Keyes Daniel Keyes is a resident of Southern Florida. Born in New York, he joined the U.S. Maritime Service at seventeen and went to sea as ship's purser. After Keyes left the sea, he resumed his studies at Brooklyn College where he received his B.A. Degree in psychology. He has been employed as an associate fiction editor, a fashion photographer, and school teacher, and a Professor of English and American literature Ohio University. Keyes' award-winning first novel Flowers for Algernon was published in 1966 and has never gone out of print. It has been widely translated and is studied in schools and colleges around the world.

Anticipation Guide – Do You Agree or Disagree? 1. Intelligence makes a person more likeable. 2. Mentally handicapped people cannot hold a job. 3.  A real friend is someone who would never make fun of you. 4.  Rats are smart animals. 5.  The more you read the smarter you become. 6.  A person’s IQ tells how much knowledge a person has. 7.  The more intelligence a person has, the less worries they have. 8.  Surgery can fix almost any problem these days. 9.  People should be paid based on their IQ rather than how well they do their job. 10. Animal testing is okay as long as the animal doesn’t die. 11.  If money wasn’t an issue, I would have an operation to change something I don’t like about myself.

Parts of the Brain Frontal Lobe- associated with reasoning, planning, parts of speech, movement, emotions, and problem solving Parietal Lobe- associated with movement, orientation, recognition, perception of stimuli Occipital Lobe- associated with visual processing Temporal Lobe- associated with perception and recognition of auditory stimuli, memory, and speech

Brain Scans

analyzing a personality based on inkblot designs Rorschach Test analyzing a personality based on inkblot designs

Rorschach Test

Take a look at the following inkblots and write down what you see. Rorschach Test Take a look at the following inkblots and write down what you see. Can you say Irish Wristwatch fast…..

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Rorschach Test – Wasted Ink?? “It looks like two dinosaurs with huge heads and tiny bodies. They’re moving away from each other but looking back. The black blob in the middle reminds me of a spaceship.” Once deemed an “x-ray of the mind,” the Rorschach inkblot test remains the most famous—and infamous—personality test. An examiner hands ten inkblots one at a time to a viewer, who says what each blot resembles. Five blots contain color; five are black and gray. Responses to the inkblots are suppose to reveal a person’s personality and mental health. Advocates believe, for instance, that references to moving animals—such as the dinosaurs mentioned above—often indicate impulsiveness, whereas allusions to a blot’s “blackness”—as in the spaceship—often indicate depression. Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach debuted the test in 1921 and it became very popular by 1945. The test has been criticized because researchers found that psychologists often interpreted the same responses differently. Even though the results might be questionable, the test is still used by today’s psychologists.

Thematic Apperception Test The TAT is a personality test. The subject looks at a series of 30 pictures and is asked to make up a dramatic story for each one, including: what has led up to the event shown what is happening at the moment what the characters are feeling and thinking, and what the outcome of the story was.

Mazes

Sample TAT Pictures

What has lead up to the event? What is happening? What are the characters feeling? What is the outcome?

Answer “yes” or “no” to the following statements. Verbal Rorschach Test Answer “yes” or “no” to the following statements.

I salivate (mouth waters) at the sight of mittens.

My father was a good woman.

I often lie to make myself obnoxious.

I prefer spiders to lima beans.

Chiclets make me sweat.

Boredom excites me.

Eggplants make me blush.

Weeping brings tears to my eyes.

I believe I smell as good as most people.

Halitosis is part of my style.

I would never tell my nickname in a crisis.

I always let people get ahead of me at swimming pools.

Santa rarely answers my letters.

Sitting in the glove compartment makes me claustrophobic.

It is hard for me to find the right thing to say when I am sitting in a room full of cockroaches.

I am tired of being elected President.

I believe in Cincinnati.

I have an uncontrollable urge to touch people’s teeth.

The three greatest men who ever lived were Eleanor Roosevelt.

When I look down from a high place, I want to spit.

Most of the time I go to sleep without saying “good-bye.”

Vocabulary impair – to make or cause to become worse absurd – obviously senseless, laughably foolish vacuous – lacking in ideas or intelligence, empty introspective – examining one’s own mind and feelings hypothesis – a possibility, theory, educated guess opportunist – one who takes advantage of an opportunity without regard for anyone’s feelings or consequences regression – a return to a less-perfect state. shrew – an animal resembling a mouse but having a long pointed snout and small eyes and ears. psychology - The science that deals with mental processes and behavior

Match each vocabulary word to the correct picture.

Major Characters Charlie Gordon Alice Kinnian Fay Lillman Rose Gordon Matt Gordon Norman Gordon Harold Nemur Jay Strauss

Will you take the “smart drugs”? What personal goals could you achieve by becoming a genius? What drawbacks might there be to becoming a genius in such a short time? How might others including your friends, family and schoolmates react to your new intelligence? Can you think of anyone famous who is a genius? Would you want to take their place? Why or why not?

Irony Irony is the contrast between the way things seem and the way they really are. In situational irony a character expects one outcome but the opposite occurs. In dramatic irony the reader or audience has important information that the character does not have.

Journal What is your opinion of the experiment? Be specific with the pros and cons.

Advantage or Disadvantage?? Category Advantages Disadvantages Having “super intelligence” Have little or no “intelligence’ Charlie pre-surgery with little “intelligence” Charlie post-surgery with “super intelligence”

Charlie Before Surgery Create A Venn Diagram Charlie Before Surgery Charlie After Surgery

Rewrite these excerpts, correctly using appropriate punctuation marks in the appropriate places. “You got to mix them up, she showed? me” how. to mix! them) up,. and now; I can! mix up all kinds” of punctuation, in writing? There, are lots! Of rules? to learn; but im getting’g them in my head. One thing I? Like about, Dear Miss Kinnian: (that’s the way it goes in a business letter if I ever go into business) is she, always gives me’ a reason” when—I ask. She’s a gen’ius! I wish I cou’d be smart” like, her; (Punctuation, is; fun!)”

True or False? 1. _____ Charlie does not understand the purpose of the “Raw Shok” test. 2. _____ Charlie is a hard worker and is conscience about how he performs. 3. _____ Both scientists thoroughly agree to select Charlie for the operation. 4. _____ Charlie is not scared about the operation. 5. _____ After surgery, the change is immediate. 6. _____ Algernon had the same procedure as Charlie. 7. _____ Charlie’s friends at work are excited about the “change” in Charlie. 8. _____ Before the surgery, Charlie was unaware of the cruelty he faced. 9. _____ Charlie is aware of his deterioration after the surgery. 10. _____ Charlie becomes a genius at one point. 11. _____ At the story’s end, Charlie has kept most of his “genius” status. 12. _____ Charlie feels sorry for himself and wants others to feel sorry, as well. 13. _____ Charlie remembers being a genius. 14. _____ Charlie regresses back to his “old” self.

Final Questions 1. How did having little or no intelligence affect Charlie’s feelings, emotions, and perceptions? 2. Why did Miss Kinnian feel that Charlie was the best candidate for the operation? 3. Why were Charlie and Algernon subjected to the same tests? 4. How did the operation affect Charlie’s intelligence and his personality? 5. How did the operation affect Charlie’s relationship with people surrounding him? 6. How did the doctors know that the operation was not going to be permanently successful? 7. Why might an intelligence-altering operation be unethical or risky? 8. Why did the doctors not want Charlie to see Algernon after the surgery? 9. How did Charlie’s friends react to his becoming smarter? 10. How was knowing what the outcome would be difficult for Charlie?

The Movie Version Cliff Robertson won an "Oscar" for his performance in the movie version of Flowers for Algernon, "CHARLY."