Test and Key 1. Where is this story set? Future, in western Europe or North
America 2. How old are Charlie and Miss Kinnian? 37, and 34. 3. What was the
first test Charlie did, and what was it for/ What did Charlie call it? A
Rorschach test, which asks the patient to say what he/she thinks of inkblots on
cards. This test is to determine if Charlie is intelligent or truly retarded.
Charlie called it a raw shok test. 4. How did Charlie do on the test, and why is
it important? He sees no inkblots, showing that he has very little advanced
thinking. He has little imagination. His brain can't do much difficult thinking,
proving that he is "dumb" enough for the test. 5. What was the
Thematic Apperception Test? It asked that Charlie look at pictures of people and
make up stories about what they are doing in the pictures. This test also proves
that Charlie is not very smart. 6. Who is Algernon? How does Charlie race
against Algernon? Algernon is a mouse. Charlie is given pictures of a maze that
Algernon must run through to get food. Charlie must draw the proper route out of
the maze in the picture before Algernon finds it himself. 7. How is Algernon
special? Why does Charlie need to do this race? Algernon is 3 times smarter than
other mice because he has had an operation. Charlie must race against him now so
that after his own operation, the doctors can see how much progress Charlie has
made. 8. What is Charlie's IQ before the operation? After? What does the
operation do? 68. ~204 to 210. The operation triples intelligence in the
subject. 9. How do the two doctors decide if Charlie is right for the
experiment? 1. He is mentally retarded. 2. He has motivation (like Algernon, but
the mouse wants food), because he works hard to learn. 10. What kind of class
does Charlie go to at night? A night school class for adults that are mentally
retarded. Miss Kinian is the teacher. 11. Where does Charlie work? What is his
job? Who is his boss? He is a janitor at a plastics factory. Mr. Donnegan is his
boss. 12. Who are his "friends"? How do they treat him? What does it
mean to "do a Charlie Gordon"? Frank and Joe. They make fun of him.
When someone makes a mistake or does something stupid, they call it "doing
a Charlie Gordon". 13. Who are the two doctors who perform the experiment?
What are the differences between them? Dr. Nemur is an unpleasant man who wants
to become rich and famous. He is in a rush to publish his experiment as a
success. Dr. Strauss is a surgeon who thinks they should wait before they say
anything. He is worried about Charlie. 14. What does Dr. Strauss ask Charlie to
do while he sleeps? Leave the TV on low so he can learn in his sleep. 15. What
happens when Charlie drinks at the party? Joe and Frank get Charlie to
"show the girls" how he mops toilets, so they can laugh at him.
Charlie gets a little drunk, gets sick, and a policeman brings him home. 16. Who
is Charlie's landlady? What nice things does she do for Charlie? She is Mrs.
Flynn. She lets him pay his rent late after he gets sick. She worries about him.
She brings him food, and tries to encourage him to go out to work again. 17.
Give examples of how the reader can tell that Charlie is getting smarter. He
beats Algernon in the race. His spelling and writing get better. His dialogue
with other people is more intelligent. He reads more and more books, or higher
and higher difficulty. His learns several languages. He leans much math and
science. He begins to think the doctors aren't that smart. He starts to think
other people are boring because they don't understand what he is talking about.
He falls in love with Miss Kinnian, seeing her as an equal, not as an old
teacher. He studies the Algernon-Gordon Effect. He predicts his own demise. 18.
Why does Charlie have so much sympathy for Algernon? Algernon must pass a test
every time he wants food, which Charlie thinks is not very kind. 19. What
happens with Ellen? What does this make Charlie realize about his
"friends"? Joe and Frank get Charlie to dance with Ellen. Everyone
watches and someone trips Charlie. Charlie realizes this and understands that
his "friends" are just making fun of him. 20. Why does Charlie feel
sick all the time? He is afraid to see the people at work. 21. Why does Mr.
Donnegan fire Charlie? What is the motivation behind it? He fires Charlie
because he has been missing work, but mostly because the other workers signed a
petition demanding that Charlie be fired. They want him fired because they are
afraid of his new intelligence. They feel threatened by his new powers. They
ostracize him and alienate him because he is different. 22. How does Charlie do
on the Rorschach test after the operation? What does this tell us? He starts to
"see" things in the inkblots, which tells us that he is developing an
imagination and an advanced brain. 23. What does Mrs. Nemur do to make Dr. Nemur
make quickly to publish his experiment? She wants to be married to a famous
person. She is greedy. 24. How do Charlie's feelings change towards Miss Kinian?
What is different? He falls in love with her. He is now her equal, or her
superior. He no longer sees her as an old teacher, but as a woman his age,
beautiful and appealing. 25. Why does Dr. Nemur develop an "inferiority
complex" around Charlie? What does it mean? He feels angry and envious that
Charlie is smarter than he is. 26. How many ancient languages does Dr. Strauss
understand, and how is this important to Charlie? Dr. Strauss can only
understand ancient Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Charlie thinks this is surprising,
that Dr. Strauss should know more. 27. What happens in the restaurant? How is
this important in Charlie's life? He sees a young busboy drop and break some
dishes. The people in the restaurant laugh at the boy, and Charlie laughs too.
Then Charlie realizes that people once laughed at him, and he gets angry with
the people in the restaurant, screaming at them. He now understands what it is
like to be dumb and smart. 28. What does Charlie decide to do with his new
abilities after this? To spend his life increasing the levels of intelligence
for all people, for the good of humanity, and for fairness among people. 29.
What does Algernon do to Charlie that tells us that something is wrong with
Algernon? What is happening to Algernon? He bites Charlie. The effects of the
operation are wearing off. He is "getting dumb" again. This is
important because Algernon had the same operation as Charlie. What happens to
Algernon will also happen to Charlie. 30. What is the Algernon-Gordon Effect?
What does it prove? It is what happens to both Algernon and Charlie. Their
brains lose the effects of the operation, and they must die. 31. Why does
Charlie bury Algernon in a cheese box? Because he loves Algernon and cheese is
what mice love. 32. What starts to happen to Charlie? Describe his
deterioration. He starts to lose his memory. Reading and spelling become
difficult. 33. What does Charlie remember about his family? That they were not
very happy. His father was a drunkard and never kept his promises. He ran away
with another woman, but Charlie's mom insisted that his dad was dead. This shows
that we often deny the truth even when it is clear. 34. Why does Charlie chase
the strange doctor out of his room? Because he makes fun of Charlie like the
others once did. 35. What does Charlie tell Miss Kinnian when she comes to his
door? Why? What does Miss Kinnian do for him, and why? He tells her that he
doesn't like her anymore, and doesn't want to be smart any more. He is lying -
he wants to be smart, and he loves her, but he says these things to make her
leave. Miss Kinnian pays Charlie's overdue rent because she loves/loved him, and
she is terribly sad about what has happened. 36. When Charlie goes back to the
job at the plastics factory, how do Joe and Frank act, and why? They don't make
fun of him anymore. They threaten to beat up a guy who makes fun of Charlie.
They do it because they feel guilty for hurting his feelings before. 37. What
does Miss Kinnian do when Charlie returns to the night school? Why? She cries
and leaves. She is heartbroken -she can't live with Charlie the way he is now -
she is so sad about what happened. 38. Where is Charlie going at the end of the
story, and why is her going there? He thinks her will go to New York to find new
friends and start a new life. He takes a couple of books to read. 39. What does
he say to Miss Kinnian in his final letter, and who does Charlie blame for what
has happened? He says good-bye to her and tells her not to worry. He thinks that
perhaps he didn't try hard enough to stay smart, even though the reader knows
that isn't true. 40. What is important about the last sentence, asking someone
to put flowers on Algernon's grave? Charlie will die too, soon. He doesn't
realize it. He will die for the same reason Algernon did. It shows that in spite
of the fact that Charlie isn't very smart, he is still kind and loving in his
own way. 41. What is the irony of this story? The main irony is that society
pushes away someone (Charlie), when he has the power to solve many great
problems. Dr. Nemur and the workers at the plastics factory are jealous and
hateful of Charlie, even though they should like him and be happy he is so
smart. 42. What is the theme of the story? People are so competitive that they
would rather push away a great person like Charlie rather than be near him,
fearing that they will look stupid compared to him. When Charlie is dumb,
everyone likes him because he isn't a threat. Society is foolish because it
alienates the people who have the greatest potential to advance humanity. 43.
What are the conflicts in the story: Internal: Man vs. Himself: Charlie vs.
himself - can he succeed? Can he fit it? Miss Kinian vs. Herself: Should she
love the new Charlie, or will this be a foolish thing to do, because he may go
back to being dumb. External: Man vs. Man: Charlie against Dr. Nemur Charlie
against the plastics workers - they think they're normal. They make fun of
Charlie for being dumb. They hate him for being smart. Dr. Strauss vs. Dr. Nemur:
Nemur wants fame and fortune. Strauss wants to test the experiment and see if it
really works. Man vs. Circumstances: Charlie vs. Society: He cannot be accepted
as a dumb or a smart person. Man vs. The Unknown: Charlie vs. Universal Ethics:
Charlie broke the rules by being "made" smart. He is paying a price of
losing all the intelligence he gained, losing his love (Miss Kinnian), and
losing his life.