“Flowers for Algernon” Part 1 Test Sample Answers/Responses

1. “Flowers for Algernon” Part 1 Test Sample Answers/Responses We will review the questions from the test and identify each part of the questions. You will be required to rewrite your responses for homework tonight ONLY if you missed more than 5 pts. on a question. Remember TTQA!! Turn The Question Around!! This will help you stick to the topic as well as ensure you answer ALL parts of the questions.

2. 1. Subplot is defined as a minor plot that relates in some way to the main story. Conflict is defined as the problem in the story. Reflect on the subplot involving the Charlie and following characters: (1) Charlie and his coworkers, (2) Charlie and Miss Kinnian, and (3) Charlie and Algernon. Choose one set of characters to answer the following question: What conflict arises between the Charlie and the set of characters you selected. Has the relationship changed from the beginning of the story to the end of part 1? Use information from the reading to support your answer.

3. Sample Answer for Question #1 The conflict between Charlie and Algernon arises before the surgery when Algernon beats Charlie at the maze. At first, this doesn’t bother Charlie; however, after the surgery, Charlie and Algernon race, and Algernon beats him again. Charlie becomes angry and says that he hates Algernon. Later on in part one, Charlie races Algernon once more, this time beating Algernon. Charlie’s feelings for Algernon change yet again as he states, “I think I’ll be friends with Algernon.”

4. Sample Answer 2 for Question #1 The conflict between Charlie and his coworkers arises when Charlie’s intelligence begins to increase. His coworkers don’t understand what or why this change in Charlie is happening; therefore, they begin to feel uncomfortable around him and ask that he be fired. Before the surgery, his coworkers would invite Charlie to go out with them, so they could make fun of him. After the surgery, they, again, feel uncomfortable around him, which led to the petition to have him fired.

5. Sample Answer 3 for Question #1 The conflict that arises between Charlie and Miss Kinnian begins after his surgery. Before the surgery, Charlie saw Miss Kinnian as “an unreachable genius—and very, very old.” However, as his intelligence begins to increase after the surgery, he sees Miss Kinnian differently. He remarks how beautiful she is and that she is only 34 years old. He even states that he loves her. The conflict become more complicated and developed when he finds it very difficult to communicate simply with Miss Kinnian. He fears he will leave her behind intellectually.

6. 2. An idiom is an expression peculiar to a particular language that means something different from the literal meaning of the word. How does “to pull a Charlie Gordon” represent an idiom? What does it mean? Use information from the text to support your answer? Sample Answer: “To pull a Charlie Gordon” represents an idiom because the phrase does not literally mean Charlie is being pulled. The phrase means that someone has done something “stupid.” For example, when Ernie lost a package at Charlie’s worksite, Amos Borg, the foreman, said, “Ernie,…what are you trying to be? A Charlie Gordon?” This indicates that Ernie’s losing the package was a “stupid” action.

7. 3. An Inference is an educated guess based on clues. Foreshadowing is defined as the use of clues or hints to suggest events that will occur later in the plot. When Charlie is on his way to the hospital to have the operation, a black cat crosses his path. What might the black cat crossing his path symbolize? What might this event foreshadow about Charlie’s operation? Use information from the text to support your answer. Sample Answer: The black cat’s crossing Charlie’s path on the way to the hospital to have the operation may symbolize back luck. This event could possibly foreshadow something bad occurring with regard to the surgery. For example, the results of the operation may not last.

8. 4. Dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows something a character does not know. Identify an example of dramatic irony from the story (pages 33-49) and explain how this example represents dramatic irony. What does the reader know that the character does not know? Use information from the text to support your answer. Sample Answer: An example of dramatic irony from the story occurs during a conversation between Charlie and Miss Kinnian. She recently read some of his progress notes and realizes how Charlie’s coworkers have been treating him. This upset her and she tells Charlie she has something in her eye and runs to the bathroom. We, the readers, are aware that she is crying while Charlie truly believes she has something in her eye.