Flowers for Algernon

American Lit 2

Flowers For Algernon

By Daniel Keyes

Pp. 149-216

Here is a quick overview of the plot for this section. Charlie goes back to the lab and he takes over the experiment. Burt tells Charlie that Algernon is losing his intelligence. Charlie goes to the Warren home to see what it is like. At the lab Algernon continues to decline and Charlie works hard to find out why. At a party Charlie gets into an argument with Nemur. Charlie comes up with his “Algernon-Gordon Effect” which explains his demented and Algernon’s deterioration. Charlie visits his demented mother and sister. Things don’t go very well with his mother but he knows he must forgive her. “… I must not hate Rose for protecting Norma. I must understand the way she saw it. Unless I forgive her, I will have nothing.” P. 192. Charlie then starts losing

his intelligence faster. He finds happiness with Alice but knows it will be short. He soon is working back at the bakery, but realizes that people are feeling sorry for him so he moves into the Warren home.

In this part of the book Charlie seemed more believable when it came to the possibility of losing his intelligence. He was working very hard to find the cause of the reversal of intelligence. I was some what puzzled by the fact he did not want to reveal himself to his father but he did reveal himself to his mother and sister. I thought Daniel

Keyes used an interesting form of writing style and structure in writing his story. The structure of the entire book in the form of journal entries Charlie writes that his doctors have asked him to write. The style of Keyes writing changed with his intelligence. When you read Charlies first progress report the writing is very simple with many misspellings. “I told dr Strauss and perfessur Nemur I cannot

rite good…” p. 1 near the peak of his intelligence while in Chicago for a convention he writes, “Strauss dealt largely with the theory and techniques of neurosurgery… the mopping of hormone central centers…” p.111. This contrast in writing