Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes STUDY GUIDE

Progress Reports 1-8 p. 1-24 (Bantam); p. 1-34 (Harcourt) 1. Describe Charlie. 3. What kind of test did Burt give Charlie, and what was the result? 4. Why was Charlie taking the tests? 5. What did Miss Kinnian, Charlie's teacher, tell the doctors about him? 6. What happened when Charlie was given the Thematic Appreciation Test? 7. Who was Algernon? Describe Charlie's first meeting with him. 8. What was Professor Nemur worried about with regard to the operation? 9. Why did Charlie want to be smart? 10. What was Mr. Donner's relationship with Charlie? 11. How did Charlie feel after the operation, and how did the doctors help him? 12. How long after the surgery was it when Charlie began to see results, and what were they?

Progress Reports 9-10 p. 24-53 (Bantam); p. 34-76 (Harcourt) 1. Describe what happened at the bakery on April Fool's Day. 2. What did Charlie discover at the party he went to with Joe and Frank? 3. How did Charlie know he was getting smarter? 4. To whom did Charlie talk about his memories and dreams? Why? 5. Describe what happened when Burt administered the Rorschach test to Charlie. 6. How were Mr. Donner and the other employees at the bakery reacting to Charlie after his operation? 7. What was Charlie's IQ at the point in the story when his co-workers at the bakery started acting differently towards him? 8. What happened when Charlie overheard Nemur and Strauss discussing the presentation of their findings? 9. What concerned Charlie about making friends with some of the boys at the Campus Bowl? 10. Describe Charlie's dream about P.S. 13. Why was it significant?

Progress Report 11 p. 54-79 (Bantam); p. 76-113 (Harcourt) 1. What was Charlie beginning to realize about Alice Kinnian? 2. What did Charlie find confusing about his dreams and memories? 3. Describe the problem Charlie discovered at the bakery, and tell what he did about it. 4. What did Charlie realize when he talked to Alice about the problem at the bakery? 5. What did Charlie discover in his conversations with various professors and specialists? 6. Why did Mr. Donner fire Charlie, and what did Charlie realize as a result?

Progress Reports 12-13 p. 79-115 (Bantam); p. 113-165 (Harcourt) 1. What happened to the relationship between Charlie and Dr. Nemur and Strauss when Charlie didn't want to turn in progress reports? 2. As Charlie's intelligence increased, what happened to his powers of recall? What did Charlie think about it? 3. Describe the event Charlie remembered involving his sister. What was Charlie's feeling upon remembering it? 4. Why did Charlie and Alice have a quarrel? 5. What was Charlie's IQ at the time when he had a quarrel with Alice at school? 6. What memory was triggered by fastening the seat belt in the airplane? 7. What was Charlie's observation about Dr. Guarino? 8. What was Charlie's main resentment concerning Professor Nemur? 9. Describe the main events at the conference.

Progress Report 14 p. 115-149 (Bantam); p. 165-215 (Harcourt) 1. What did Charlie discover when he read the newspaper account of his actions at the conference? 2. What memories did the newspaper article trigger? 3. What did Charlie do when he was in back New York? Why? 4. Describe Charlie's meeting with Fay Lillman and his observations about her. 5. Describe Charlie's visit to Matt Gordon's barber shop. 6. What gift did Fay bring for Algernon? Why? 7. Describe the first night Charlie spent with Fay. 8. What insights did Charlie share with Alice when he finally contacted her? 10. What did Charlie do when he went back to his apartment? 11. How did Charlie spend the next few weeks? 12. What was Algernon's condition when Charlie returned him to the lab?

Progress Reports 15-16 p. 150-193 (Bantam); p. 215-278 (Harcourt) 1. Describe Charlie's reception when he takes Algernon back to the lab. 2. What question did Charlie ask Burt, and what was Burt's reply? 3. After seeing Algernon's decline and talking with Burt, where did Charlie want to go? Why? 4. Describe the meeting between Alice and Fay. 5. What was Charlie's behavior like after his talk with Alice? 6. What happened at Mrs. Nemur's cocktail party? 7. What did Dr. Strauss say had come up in recent therapy sessions? 8. What was the Algernon-Gordon effect, and what did it mean? 9. What happened to Algernon? 10. Describe Charlie's visit to his mother. 11. Describe Charlie's meeting with Norma.

Progress Report 17 p. 193-216 (Bantam); p. 278-311 (Harcourt) 1. Describe Charlie's therapy session with Strauss. 2. What was the first thing Charlie now refused to do for the doctors? 3. What happened when Charlie took the Rorschach test? 4. Describe Alice and Charlie's relationship. 5. What was happening to Charlie, and how was he feeling? 6. What happened when Charlie went back to the bakery? 7. What "Charlie Gordon" did Charlie pull, and what was the result? 8. What was Charlie's plan? 9. What was Charlie's last request in his progress report? 10. What was the length of time that elapsed from the first to the last progress report?