Structure

“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is written in an epistolary style, being structured in the form of journal entries of the protagonist, tracking his progress and regression while undergoing an intelligence enhancing experiment. While the story follows plot elements like exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution, they are not as important as the way the external events impact the protagonist’s mind.

Title

The title of the story is intriguing at first because of the unusual name ‘Algernon’ and because it makes us think that the flowers are either gifts or a form of commemoration.

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Beginning

The short story begins with a couple of journal entries of the protagonist,...

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Middle

The middle of the short story is structured following the three phases of the experiment: Charlie’s life before getting smart, Charlie’s life during the time he is smart, and Charlie’s life while regressing to a mentally disabled state.

In the first phase, we get to know Charlie and his naive perspective on the world. Initially, Charlie does not understand the doctors very well; he is mocked by work colleagues without realizing it and feels dumb, yet hopeful and happy. Tension points in this first phase represent Charlie’s anxieties about not being chosen for the experiment: “I told him I pretend a fowntan pen with ink leeking all over a table cloth. Then he got up and went out. I dont think I passd the raw shok test.”;

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Ending

In the falling action, we see Charlie becoming mentally challenged again and resuming his old lifestyle. He goes back to work at the factory as a janitor, and even to Miss Kinnian’s class.

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