'Flowers for Algernon' banned at high school (2024)

FAQs

Why was Flowers for Algernon banned in some schools? ›

Cities such as Emporium, Pennsylvania, Glen Rose, Arkansas, and Plant City, Florida have all prohibited access in schools throughout the novel's lifespan. Other reasons for objection have centered around adult themes, profanity, and drinking, albeit much more infrequently.

Most ban/challenge requests revolve around some “sexually explicit” scenes in the novel, as Charlie frequently grapples to understand his newfound sexual urges. There have also been complaints about perceived profanity and adult themes.

Why was Flowers for Algernon banned? Daniel Keyes' 'Flowers for Algernon' was published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1959, and later expanded and published as a short novel. It was Keyes' first published work. It was banned from many American libraries foremost because of its explicit sexual content.

Charlie's disability is the result of an untreated physical disorder called phenylketonuria; most babies born with this condition today would be treated early enough to prevent the type of learning disability that Charlie experiences.

Charlie fights to become intelligent his entire life. He has battled his disability since childhood, so much so that he takes classes at a local college to increase his intelligence. This struggle is the main conflict in the novel: one that sends Charlie on his journey to an operation that changes his entire life.

It's one of those books which feels destined to have been written, somehow – the idea behind it is just so perfect, so horribly disturbing.

I was discussing it with a friend of mine and she claims she was assigned it in middle school. Here in the US that would put her at around age 12-13.

Flowers for Algernon is one of those rare beasts: a story that won awards in both its original short story form and the subsequent novelisation. It's also one of those lucky books that finds itself regularly banned (in the US) because – gasp – it features swearing and sexual frustration.

Flowers for Algernon raises a number of important ethical issues about the rights of human subjects-in particular, informed consent. The novel is a moving and creative work of literature and is an excellent starting point for class discussion and reflective writing exercises.

Why was the experiment in Flowers for Algernon unethical? ›

Strauss acted unethically by selecting Charlie to undergo the operation because they did not finish testing the procedure and because Charlie was unable to make a proper decision. Algernon, a mouse that was one of the first successful animals to undergo the operation, had been studied by Dr. Nemur and Dr.

On the contrary, Charlie's reason for wanting to be intelligent is purely social: he wants people to like him. Charlie knows that his intellectual disability has cut him off from most of society, but his powerlessness does not upset him.

Algernon dies on September 15. Charlie buries him in the backyard and puts wildflowers on his grave. While still confident in his abilities, Charlie borrows Burt's car and goes to see his mother, Rose.

Working as a peer, Charlie learns the details of his experiment. He discovers that most lab specimens are incinerated; however, he requests that Algernon be given to him for a proper burial when Algernon dies.

Charlie is a 32-year-old man with an I.Q. of 68, who has struggled his whole life toward the goal of "being smart." This goal is actually his mother's obsession, and when she realizes the futility of it, she threatens to kill him.

Flowers for Algernon has several conflicts, which can be classified into 3 categories; protagonist versus nature, protagonist versus self, and protagonist versus society.

At the end of Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon is losing his intellect, the experiment that he has undergone is reversing, and will not return him to the intellect he had before but will completely debilitate him mentally. Due to this detrimental effect, Charlie must be committed to a home to be taken care of.

Charlie's great flaw, we see, is his “hubris”—his extreme, selfish pride; i.e., the very thing that motivated him to become a genius in the first place.

Charlie beats Algernon in a maze competition. He realizes that he's getting smarter, even if he doesn't feel smarter.

Is Algernon a white mouse? ›

Character Analysis Algernon

Algernon is a white mouse that undergoes neurosurgery to in-crease his intelligence. Charlie initially meets him at the lab prior to his own surgery and cannot beat him at the mazes that both Algernon and Charlie are forced to complete.

Under Charlie's circ*mstances, the operation was unethical. Charlie, mentally disabled, cannot give informed consent. While being tested for eligibility for the operation, Charlie writes in his report, “I told them becaus all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb.

Mistreatment of the Intellectually Disabled

For the most part, other people have treated Charlie not only as an intellectual inferior but also as less of a human being than they are.

Up to this point, Charlie's struggle has been to establish and trust his own independence after having been conditioned his entire life to believe that he is inferior.

Charlie says that he 'hates' the lab mouse, Algernon, because he can never outperform him. Moreover, we as the readers can see that Charlie's hopes for intellectual conversation and friendship may be disappointed.

Algernon, the lab mouse, is symbolic of the part of Charlie that is viewed as a science experiment, the piece of Charlie that resents the professor for not treating him like a human being. Algernon's journey is a reflection of Charlie's own reality and the mortality he has to eventually accept and face.

This experiment is considered very unethical. The researchers failed to decondition Albert to the stimuli he was afraid of, which should have been done after the experiment. Albert ended up passing away at the age of six due to hydrocephalus, a condition that can lead to brain damage.

Originally published as a short story in 1959, Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is an award-winning science fiction novel that deftly explores the shifting nature of identity, the ethics of human experimentation, and society's treatment of people with intellectual disabilities.

Charlie is a 32-year-old man with an I.Q. of 68, who has struggled his whole life toward the goal of "being smart." This goal is actually his mother's obsession, and when she realizes the futility of it, she threatens to kill him. Charlie's father takes him to his Uncle Herman's to live.

Is Algernon a rat or mouse? ›

The Algernon of the title is a laboratory mouse with whom Charlie competes during experiments with a maze. Before the operation, he loses but afterward he mops the floor with mousie--not literally, of course.

Here in the US that would put her at around age 12-13. I know the book is a short and easy read, but I can't imagine it assigned to the majority of a middle school classroom.