Flowers for Algernon

By Daniel Keyes

Name:____________________________________________
Ms. Matis Grade 8

Flowers for Algernon: Part 1 Notes

I. Text Structure:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
A. Why is it important to understand text structure?
1. ______________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________
B. When you analyze text structure, you:

look for signal words and phrases

determine what type of text structure the signal words indicate.

think about how text structure works to give meaning to the story.

C. Flowers for Algernon uses:

___________________________________________________________________________________
II. Irony:
__________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
A. Situational Irony
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
B. Dramatic Irony
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Flowers for Algernon: Part 1 Vocabulary

2

Practice: Complete vocabulary activities using your handout.

1. Anguish

Agonizing mental or physical pain

2. Anti-social

Unsociable, isolated

3. Deteriorate

To grow or become worse

4. Genius

Exceptional intellect

5. Hostility

Antagonistic, not friendly, warm, or generous

6. Impaired

To make or cause to become worse; diminish in ability, value,

excellence, etc.; weaken or damage
Unqualified, lacking ability

7. Incompetent
8. Inferior
9. Motivation
10.

Less important, valuable, or worthy;

Acting or performing in a way that is comparatively poor or
mediocre
Having the incentive or drive to do or accomplish something

Regress Return to a former condition

Application: Fill in the correct vocabulary word in the sentences below.

1. The girl was _____________ and therefore did not make new friends easily.
2. The doctors were afraid Johns condition would _____________ rapidly if he was
released from the hospital too soon.
3. Albert Einstein was considered a _____________ because of his high IQ.
4. After a serious car accident, a person may _____________ and not be able to do the
things she once could.
5. Sheila felt _____________ when she was around others who were more educated.
6. Steves vision was ______________ by the rain on the windshield.
7. Certain medical conditions can cause _______________ and anger in a person.
8. Mark left the room in _____________ after learning of the death of his grandmother.
9. Jean felt ______________ because she could not complete the task asked by her
teacher.
10. Because he did not like to clean the bathroom, he lacked _________________ to finish
the chore.

Flowers for Algernon: Part 1

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Focus: Text Structure and Irony

Analyzing Text Structure
Analyzing text structure helps you in the following ways:
o Understand the organization of the text
o Makes it easier to locate the authors main points
o Makes it easier to understand how ideas relate to each other.
To help you identify text structures, do the following:
o Look for signal words and phrases that indicate the structure
o Think about how the structure works to give meaning to the story
1. (P. 347) What do the headings suggest about the structure of the story?
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. (P. 349) What transition words keep the events in this entry in order?
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. What kind of text structure is this?
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. (P. 354) How does the structure of the text help you see that Charlies intelligence
is increasing?
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. (P. 360) What transition words does Charlie use in his April 20th entry? Think about
how Charlies use of signal words has improved since the beginning of the story.
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

Identifying Irony
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Irony occurs when there is a difference between what is expected and what actually
happens in a short story, poem, or play.

Situational irony
o An author creates situational irony when a character expects a particular
outcome, but the opposite occurs.
Dramatic irony
o An author creates dramatic irony when the reader or audience has important
information that the character or characters do not have.
For example, dramatic irony may result when a character lacks selfawareness and acts according to false ideas.
Situation

Type of Irony

Why is it ironic?
(Usually, what is expected to happen?)

The only things Charlie

sees in the inkblots are
inkblots.
Other workers at the
factory use the phrase
pulling a Charlie
Gordon.
Dr. Strauss gives Charlie
the TV to listen to at
night.

Charlie wants to be
smart like his friends,
Joe Carp and Frank
Reilly.
Charlie believes Miss
Kinnian gets something
in her eye and has to
leave the room.
At the end of Part 1,
Charlie is realizing that
there are negative
aspects to becoming
smarter.

Situational
Dramatic
Situational
Dramatic

Situational
Dramatic

Situational
Dramatic

Situational
Dramatic

Situational
Dramatic

Flowers for Algernon: Part 2 Notes

III. Foreshadowing: What is it, and why is it important?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
IV. What is an inference?
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
How do you make inferences about a character?
a. ___________________________________________________________
b. ___________________________________________________________
c. ___________________________________________________________
d. ___________________________________________________________
V.

Point of View:
____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
a. first-person:
___________________________________________________________
b. third-person limited:
___________________________________________________________
c. third-person omniscient:
___________________________________________________________
d. second-person:
___________________________________________________________

Flowers for Algernon: Part 2 Vocabulary

6

Practice: Complete vocabulary activities using your handout.

1.

Mental process that blocks emotions, thoughts, or feelings

A feeling of knowing something without any real reason

nhibition
2.
ntuition
3.

N
eurosurgeon
4.
O
pportunist
5.
P
essimist
6.
P
lateau
7.
P
latonic
8.
P
sychology
9.
R
epelled
10.
S
olitary

A doctor who operates on the brain and the nervous system

A person who adapts his actions to take advantage of certain situations
Always expecting the worst in any situation
A halt or stop in progress
No romantic relationship or feelings
The study of the mind/brain
To reject or force away
Living or being alone

Application: Fill in the correct vocabulary word in the sentences below.

1. Maybe it was______________________, but I had a feeling I should check on my son.
2. I love studying about the human brain; therefore, ________________ is my favorite
subject in school.
3. My friend that usually wants to spend time with me, for some unknown reason,
___________________ me.
4. A person can be a _____________________ and think the worst will happen.
5. I lost a lot of weight and then reached a __________________________.
6. My son has a ___________________ relationship with a girl in his class.
7. The cancer patient needed a _________________________ to do an operation on his
brain.
8. The murderer had been in _______________________confinement for years.
9. The businessman was a real____________________________; he was able to take
advantage of some great business transactions.
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10.

Her emotions were_____________________ because of the trauma she had

encountered.

Flowers for Algernon: Part 2

Focus: Foreshadowing, Point of View, & Character Inferences
Identifying Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is an authors use of clues to prepare readers for events that will
happen later in a narrative.
Foreshadowing creates feelings of suspense, dread, or anticipation that involve the
reader more fully in a story.
Directions: In the first column, write examples of foreshadowing from the story (please
quote the story or summarize in detail). In the second column, write what actually
happens.
Examples of Foreshadowing

What actually happens

When I become intelligent like

Dr. Strauss says, with three times my
I.Q. of 68, then maybe Ill be like
everyone else and people will like me
and be friendly.

As the story progresses, Charlie

becomes much more intelligent than
those around him, but this ends up
making his relationships with others
even more complicated.

Characterizing Charlie & Making Inferences

Method of
Characterization

Inference
(It is clear that or I know
that)

Example from story

(In the text, it says that)

Charlies Appearance
What do you learn about
Charlie based on how he
looks/dresses?

Charlies Actions &

Reactions
What do you learn about
Charlie based on how he acts
or reacts to others?

Charlies Words
(Dialogue)
What do you learn about
Charlie based on the things he
says?

What Others Say about

Charlie (Dialogue)
What do you learn about
Charlie based on the things
that other people say?

Charlies Thoughts and

Emotions

What do we learn about

Charley based on his dreams,
wishes, hopes, fears and
feelings?

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Identifying Point of View

Point of view is the vantage point from which a story is told.

First Person Point of View

o The narrator is one of the characters in the story.
o First person pronouns, such as I, me, my, and mine are used in telling the story.
o Since the narrator is a character in the story, he/she may not be completely reliable.
o We find out only what this character knows, thinks, and witnesses.
Third Person Limited
o The narrator is not a character in the story.
o Third person pronouns, such as he, his, she, hers, it, its, they, and them are used in
telling the story.
o The narrator tells the story from the vantage point of one character.
o The narrator can see into this characters mind, but not any of the other characters.
o We find out only what this character does, knows, thinks, and witnesses
Third Person Omniscient
o The narrator is not a character in the story.
o Third person pronouns, such as he, his, she, hers, it, its, they, and them are used in
telling the story.
o The narrator is all knowing, and can see into the minds of all the characters. The
narrator can also report what is said and done.
o We find out what all the characters do, feel, think, and witness.
Second Point of View
o Second person pronouns such as you, your, and yours are used.
o Most stories are NOT told in second person. It is reserved for items of personal
address, such as letters and editorials.

Short stories are usually told from the first-person or third-person point of
view.

Directions: On the lines provided below, indicate whether the sentence is an example of first,
second or third-person narration.

1. _______________I dont know what eating has to do with getting smart.

2. _______________I realize that Dr. Nemur is not at all a genius.
3. _______________Charlie hates competing with Algernon.
4. _______________Youve got to be a little patient.
5. _______________I lost my reader that we were using.
6. _______________And you remember every single thing you read?
7. _______________Once again, I have this feeling of shame burning inside of me.
8. _______________Youll see how the different branches of learning are related.
9. _______________The test still doesnt make sense to me.
10.

_______________Fanny explains to Charlie why he was rejected at work.

11.

_______________From which point of view was Flowers for Algernon narrated?

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Flowers for Algernon

Charlie Chart
Directions: Keep track of the changes that Charlie experiences
throughout the story. Pay attention to the physical, personality and
mental changes he experiences.

Physical
Changes

Mental
Changes

Personality
Changes

BEGINNING
(pgs. 347-353:
before
operation)

MIDDLE

(pgs. 353-373:
after operation)

END

(pgs. 373-380:
regression)

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Analyzing Conflict

Directions: Identify four conflicts that characters face in the story and fill in the
following chart with as much information as possible.
Character vs. Self
Describe conflict from story (who was involved, what happened, etc.):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain how the conflict is resolved (or why it wasnt):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Character vs. Character
Describe conflict from story (who was involved, what happened, etc.):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain how the conflict is resolved (or why it wasnt):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Character vs. Nature
Describe conflict from story (who was involved, what happened, etc.):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain how the conflict is resolved (or why it wasnt):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Character vs. Group

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Describe conflict from story (who was involved, what happened, etc.):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Explain how the conflict is resolved (or why it wasnt):
___________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

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