SuitabookFlowers For Algernon
Daniel Keyes
- Reading
- Consider reading together or checking in after sections that recall Charlie's childhood or describe Algernon's decline. You could also discuss the historical language separately from how disability is treated in the story.
- Themes
- Intelligence, identity and connection: The book addresses intelligence, identity and connection; the detail of how it is developed remains unclear. The book presents this favourably.
- Disability and social treatment: Charlie encounters mistreatment, and the novel uses language about intellectual disability that is now outdated. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Human experimentation: Charlie undergoes an experimental procedure intended to increase intelligence; the story also identifies the ethics of human experimentation as a theme. The book’s stance on this remains unclear.
- Worth knowing
- Charlie's loneliness and depression, and Algernon's decline, may also feel upsetting.