Flowers Essays - Charlie Pace, Charlie Harper,

Flowers For Algernon By Keyes Test and Key 1. Where is this story set? Future, in western Europe or North America 2. How old are Charlie and Miss Kinnian? 37, and 34. 3. What was the first test Charlie did, and what was it for/ What did Charlie call it? A Rorschach test, which asks the patient to say what he/she thinks of inkblots on cards. This test is to determine if Charlie is intelligent or truly retarded. Charlie called it a raw shok test. 4. How did Charlie do on the test, and why is it important? He sees no inkblots, showing that he has very little advanced thinking. He has little imagination. His brain can't do much difficult thinking, proving that he is "dumb" enough for the test. 5. What was the Thematic Apperception Test? It asked that Charlie look at pictures of people and make up stories about what they are doing in the pictures. This test also proves that Charlie is not very smart. 6. Who is Algernon? How does Charlie race against Algernon? Algernon is a mouse. Charlie is given pictures of a maze that Algernon must run through to get food. Charlie must draw the proper route out of the maze in the picture before Algernon finds it himself. 7. How is Algernon special? Why does Charlie need to do this race? Algernon is 3 times smarter than other mice because he has had an operation. Charlie must race against him now so that after his own operation, the doctors can see how much progress Charlie has made. 8. What is Charlie's IQ before the operation? After? What does the operation do? 68. ~204 to 210. The operation triples intelligence in the subject. 9. How do the two doctors decide if Charlie is right for the experiment? 1. He is mentally retarded. 2. He has motivation (like Algernon, but the mouse wants food), because he works hard to learn. 10. What kind of class does Charlie go to at night? A night school class for adults that are mentally retarded. Miss Kinian is the teacher. 11. Where does Charlie work? What is his job? Who is his boss? He is a janitor at a plastics factory. Mr. Donnegan is his boss. 12. Who are his "friends"? How do they treat him? What does it mean to "do a Charlie Gordon"? Frank and Joe. They make fun of him. When someone makes a mistake or does something stupid, they call it "doing a Charlie Gordon". 13. Who are the two doctors who perform the experiment? What are the differences between them? Dr. Nemur is an unpleasant man who wants to become rich and famous. He is in a rush to publish his experiment as a success. Dr. Strauss is a surgeon who thinks they should wait before they say anything. He is worried about Charlie. 14. What does Dr. Strauss ask Charlie to do while he sleeps? Leave the TV on low so he can learn in his sleep. 15. What happens when Charlie drinks at the party? Joe and Frank get Charlie to "show the girls" how he mops toilets, so they can laugh at him. Charlie gets a little drunk, gets sick, and a policeman brings him home. 16. Who is Charlie's landlady? What nice things does she do for Charlie? She is Mrs. Flynn. She lets him pay his rent late after he gets sick. She worries about him. She brings him food, and tries to encourage him to go out to work again. 17. Give examples of how the reader can tell that Charlie is getting smarter. He beats Algernon in the race. His spelling and writing get better. His dialogue with other people is more intelligent. He reads more and more books, or higher and higher difficulty. His learns several languages. He leans much math and science. He begins to think the doctors aren't that smart. He starts to think other people are boring because they don't understand what he is talking about. He falls in love with Miss Kinnian, seeing her as an equal, not as an old teacher. He studies the Algernon-Gordon Effect. He predicts his own demise. 18. Why does Charlie have so much sympathy for Algernon? Algernon must pass a test every time he wants food, which Charlie thinks is not very kind. 19. What happens with Ellen? What does this make Charlie realize about his "friends"? Joe and Frank get Charlie to dance with Ellen. Everyone watches and someone trips Charlie.