Linking Science and
Flowers for Algernon
By Daniel Keyes
Marci Levy
1. How would you define “smart”?
2. What do “Psych Depts” study?
3. The test that was administered to Charlie on p. 2 was the Rhorshach Test.
Research this test and find out its goals, uses and methodology.
4. How would you define “retarded”? How does the APA define “retarded”?
5. Recently the Supreme Court ruled that “retarded” Americans could not be
punished with the death penalty. What was their rationale? How do you feel
about this ruling?
6. P. 3 – Dr. Strauss explains that the experiment he wants to do with Charlie has
only been administered to animals. Why do we use animals as test subjects?
Which ones do we use? Why those? How do you feel about animal testing?
7. What is the Thematic Apperception Test? How would it help psychologists
understand a person better?
8. P. 5 – What was special about Algernon’s run through the maze?
9. Why did they shock Charlie on p. 6?
10. P. 7 – Charlie is told that he has an IQ (“eye-Q”) of 68. What does that mean?
11. Do you think it is possible to “increase intelligence by surgery”? If so, how
would you go about it?
12. Why were the doctors debating whether or not to use Charlie in their experiment?
13. Why would the doctors test Charlie so much before the experiment?
14. What are some reasons why the doctors might not want Charlie to tell his friends
and colleagues about his operation?
15. P. 9 – “This is sience. I don’t know what sience is…” What is your definition of
science?
16. Do you agree with Charlie’s statement on p. 9 that being smart causes you to have
more friends? Why or why not?
17. Charlie mentions the “scientific methid” on p. 11. What is he referring to?
18. What do you think about Hilda’s assertion on p. 12 that “if God wanted [Charlie]
to be smart he would have made [him] born that way”? Can you think of other
examples where we (humans) alter people’s realities?
19. Do you agree with Ms. Kinnian’s statement on p. 13 that you have to work very
hard to get smart? Why or why not? Explain this using findings from brain
research.
20. What evidence is there that people can learn in their sleep by using machines such
as that described on p. 18?
21. Compare and contrast the conscious and the subconscious minds.
22. Explain why changes occur in your brain (and body) while you sleep.
23. Charlie says that he didn’t know he knew how to use the mixer on p. 24. What
are some things you didn’t know you know?
24. After the surgery, Charlie began remembering some things from his childhood.
How do scientists explain the surfacing of old memories?
25. Dr. Strauss, on p. 33, says “The more intelligent you become the more problems
you’ll have, Charlie. Your intellectual growth is going to outstrip your emotional
growth.” Explain this statement.
26. Why doesn’t Dr. Strauss want Charlie to read any books on Psychology until he’s
ready?
27. What is free-association? How do psychologists use it to help patients?
28. On p. 55, Miss Kinnian says “You’re beginning to see what’s behind the surface
of things.” Why would scientists describe this as increased intelligence?
29. “How does a man learn to behave toward a woman?” is the question Charlie poses
to himself on p. 58. What do you think?
30. On p. 71, Charlie is convinced that he had a hallucination. How do scientists
explain hallucinations?
31. On p. 95, Charlie’s mother, Rose, explains that they are taking Charlie to see Dr.
Guarino who is going to make Charlie “smart”. In response to her husband’s
cynicism, Rose defends Dr. Guarino’s methods in the following statement: “They
won’t sponsor his invention, he says, because it will prove they’re wrong. Like it
was with those other scientists, Pasteur and Jennings, and the rest of them. He
told me all about your fine medical doctors afraid of progress.”
 Who are “they”?
 Why would “they” be afraid of being proved wrong?
 Research Louis Pasteur and Jennings.
o What important discoveries did each scientist make?
o Is it true that their discoveries remained unsupported by the scientific
community for some time? Why or why not?
 Do you agree that medical doctors could be afraid of progress? Why or why
not?
32. On p. 97, Charlie is subjected to a form of shock treatment by Dr. Guarino.
 What is shock treatment?
 What do the words “short-wave encephalo-reconditioning” mean?
 How is shock treatment supposed to help patients?
 Do doctors currently use shock treatment? Why or why not?
33. On p. 102, Dr. Nemur attempts to explain Charlie’s mental retardation: “We don’t
know exactly what causes the type of phenylketonuria that Charlie was suffering
from as a child – some unusual biochemical or genetic situation, possibly ionizing
radiation or natural radiation or even a virus attack on the fetus – whatever it was
resulted in a defective gene which produces a, shall we say, ‘maverick enzyme’
that creates defective biochemical reactions. And, of course, newly produced
amino acids compete with the normal enzymes causing brain damage.”
 Define the following terms: phenylketonuria, biochemical, genetic, ionizing
radiation, natural radiation, virus, fetus, defective gene, maverick, enzyme,
biochemical reactions, amino acids.

Re-word this explanation so that it would be understandable to middle-school
students.
34. Explain how enzymes work. Provide 3 examples of enzymes in humans.
35. Charlie asks Dr. Strauss what he knows, on p. 104.
 Define the following terms: quantum theory of physics, geomorphology,
stratigraphy, petrology.
36. Who are Freud, Jung, Pavlov and Watson?
37. Why do scientists have large conferences?
38. Explain why Charlie states, on p. 113, that “Nemur’s conclusions had been
premature”.
39. Algernon bit Fay on p. 149.
 What do veterinarians say about animals that bite or snap, when it is not
normal behavior for them?
40. Define the following: clinical psychology, personality, psychometrics, learning,
experimental psychology, animal psychology, physiological psychology,
behaviorist, gestalt, analytical psychology, functional psychology, dynamic
psychology, and organismic psychology.
 Choose 1 of these fields on which to write a 3-page report.
41. Explain how Charlie’s statement, on p. 169, is important to science and especially
the scientific method: “No one really starts anything new, Mrs. Nemur. Everyone
builds on other men’s failures. There is nothing really original in science. What
each man contributes to the sum of knowledge is what counts.”
42. Charlie states the following hypothesis, on p. 173, that: “Intelligence without the
ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to
neurosis, and possibly even psychosis.”
 What does he mean by this?
 Define neurosis and psychosis.
43. Explain what is meant by Charlie’s solution that “Artificially-induced intelligence
deteriorates at a rate of time directly proportional to the quantity of increase.”
44. Explain why disproving a theory is so important to science.
45. Why did the “general smoothing out of the cerebral convolutions as well as a
deepening and broadening of brain fissures” in Algernon’s brain provide evidence
for Charlie’s hypothesis?
46. What are “fugues of amnesia”?
47. After reading Flowers for Algernon, do you think Charlie should have had the
surgery? Why or why not?