Flowers for Algernon - Quiz
Flowers for Algernon
  • 1. What is the primary format used to collect Charlie's personal notes in the story?
A) Audio logs
B) Progress reports
C) Diary entries
D) Letters to Algernon
  • 2. What timeframe does the collection of Charlie's reports cover?
A) Almost five months
B) Ten years
C) Two weeks
D) Exactly one year
  • 3. What characterises Charlie's initial writing style in the reports?
A) Elementary spelling errors and awkward sentences
B) Foreign language translations
C) Poetic metaphors and rhyming verse
D) Advanced vocabulary and complex grammar
  • 4. From whose point of view is the story told?
A) The doctor's
B) Algernon's
C) Charlie's
D) An omniscient narrator
  • 5. What narrative perspective is used throughout the story?
A) Third-person omniscient
B) Second-person perspective
C) First-person perspective
D) Third-person limited
  • 6. According to Keyes' memoir, why was the first-person perspective necessary?
A) To stay in Charlie's mind and through his eyes all the way
B) To maintain suspense about the medical procedure
C) To hide the true ending from the reader
D) To focus primarily on Algernon's internal thoughts
  • 7. Why is Charlie initially considered an unreliable narrator?
A) His mild intellectual disability
B) His lack of interest in recording events
C) His severe memory loss
D) His deliberate desire to deceive the reader
  • 8. What literary device is created by Charlie's immature worldview?
A) Cosmic irony
B) Situational irony
C) Dramatic irony
D) Verbal irony
  • 9. What happens to Charlie's writing style following the operation?
A) Remains entirely unchanged
B) Shifts into foreign languages
C) Shows marked improvements in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and diction
D) Becomes completely unreadable and chaotic
  • 10. What indicates Charlie's rise in intelligence in his writing?
A) Increased use of crude slang
B) Improvements in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and diction
C) Shorter and simpler sentences
D) Frequent use of spelling errors
  • 11. How does Charlie's perception change as his intelligence improves?
A) It narrows significantly
B) It remains frozen in childhood
C) It becomes entirely visual
D) It broadens
  • 12. What happens when Charlie's awareness matches and surpasses the reader's?
A) He becomes a reliable narrator
B) He stops writing reports
C) He forgets how to read
D) He becomes an unreliable narrator
  • 13. How is Charlie's regression conveyed in the text?
A) By his refusal to write
B) By the sudden introduction of a new narrator
C) By the loss of his improved skills
D) By the doctor's notes taking over
  • 14. What is Charlie's narrative status in his final state?
A) Omniscient
B) Infallible
C) Objective
D) Unreliable
  • 15. What do the polar differences in writing style emphasize?
A) The passage of several decades
B) The decline of the scientific establishment
C) The changes Charlie experiences from the operation
D) The perspective of Algernon
  • 16. Name one of the key themes mentioned regarding the treatment of people.
A) The treatment of laboratory animals
B) The treatment of elderly citizens
C) The treatment of political prisoners
D) The treatment of the mentally disabled
  • 17. What conflict is listed as a key theme affecting happiness?
A) Youth and old age
B) Science and religion
C) Wealth and poverty
D) Intellect and emotion
  • 18. How can past events influence a person, according to the themes?
A) They are easily forgotten
B) They only affect physical health
C) They have no bearing on the present
D) They can influence a person later in life
  • 19. What science-fiction theme does Algernon exemplify?
A) Space exploration
B) Time travel
C) Cybernetic enhancement
D) Uplift
  • 20. Who praised Flowers for Algernon for its realistic depiction of rounded characters?
A) A scientific journal editor
B) An anonymous reviewer
C) Algis Budrys
D) Daniel Keyes
  • 21. In which publication did Algis Budrys praise the novel?
A) The New York Times
B) Astounding Stories
C) The Magazine of Fantasy
D) Galaxy Science Fiction
  • 22. In what month and year did Algis Budrys make his initial praise of the book?
A) August 1966
B) December 1968
C) January 1965
D) February 1967
  • 23. What did Budrys note about Keyes' fiction publishing history in August 1966?
A) Keyes had published little fiction
B) Keyes was a lifelong science fiction author
C) Keyes had written dozens of novels
D) Keyes had retired from writing
  • 24. What did Budrys name the book in February 1967?
A) A mediocre beginning
B) The best novel of the year
C) The most confusing book of the year
D) The worst science fiction story
  • 25. What is Charlie Gordon's age at the beginning of the novel?
A) 18 years old
B) 32 years old
C) 25 years old
D) 40 years old
  • 26. What is Charlie's IQ at the start of the novel?
A) 85
B) 68
C) 50
D) 100
  • 27. Where does Charlie work at the beginning of the novel?
A) A bakery
B) A bookstore
C) A warehouse
D) A laboratory
  • 28. Who teaches Charlie's reading and writing classes?
A) Rose Gordon
B) Norma Gordon
C) Fay Lillman
D) Miss Alice Kinnian
  • 29. Where are the reading and writing classes held?
A) A local community center
B) Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults
C) Warren State Home
D) The bakery
  • 30. What animal had the surgery performed on it before Charlie?
A) A hamster named Charlie
B) A rat named Algernon
C) A mouse named Algernon
D) A mouse named Nemur
  • 31. What peak IQ does Charlie reach within three months after the operation?
A) 150
B) 200
C) 185
D) 130
  • 32. How did Charlie's younger sister Norma feel about him?
A) She protected him
B) She resented him
C) She was indifferent
D) She loved him deeply
  • 33. Where does the scientific convention take place where Charlie feels humiliated?
A) Chicago
B) Manhattan
C) New York
D) Boston
  • 34. Who does Charlie flee with from the scientific convention?
A) Alice Kinnian
B) Algernon
C) Fay Lillman
D) Professor Nemur
  • 35. Where do Charlie and Algernon move after fleeing?
A) Chicago
B) Brooklyn
C) Manhattan
D) Warren State Home
  • 36. Who is Charlie's neighbor in Manhattan who becomes involved in a relationship with him?
A) Fay Lillman
B) Rose Gordon
C) Norma Gordon
D) Alice Kinnian
  • 37. What is the name of the effect Charlie publishes before losing his intelligence?
A) The Algernon–Gordon effect
B) The Plato regression theory
C) The Beekman intelligence theorem
D) The Nemur–Strauss phenomenon
  • 38. What medical condition does Charlie's mother Rose develop?
A) Alzheimer's disease
B) Schizophrenia
C) Amnesia
D) Dementia
  • 39. What is Charlie's final request in his postscript?
A) That Professor Nemur apologize to him
B) That someone put flowers on Algernon's grave
C) That Alice visit him every week
D) That his research be burned
  • 40. Whose epigraph opens the novel?
A) Socrates' Apology
B) Homer's Odyssey
C) Plato's The Republic
D) Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics
  • 41. How many pages long was the original 'Flowers for Algernon' novelette?
A) 50-page
B) 26-page
C) 100-page
D) 10-page
  • 42. In what month and year was the novelette first published?
A) October 1979
B) May 2000
C) January 1966
D) April 1959
  • 43. Which publisher released the expanded novel in 1966?
A) Penguin Books
B) HarperCollins
C) Bantam
D) Harcourt Brace
  • 44. When did the Bantam paperback edition of the novel follow?
A) 1970
B) 1968
C) 1966
D) 1979
  • 45. By 2004, how many languages had the novel been translated into?
A) 10 languages
B) 5 languages
C) 50 languages
D) 27 languages
  • 46. How old is Charlie Gordon at the beginning of the story?
A) 16
B) 25
C) 37
D) 45
  • 47. What is Charlie's menial job at the factory?
A) Accountant
B) Dishwasher
C) Manager
D) Janitor
  • 48. How old is the imbecile dishwasher Charlie defends at the local diner?
A) 10-year-old
B) 16-year-old
C) 21-year-old
D) 37-year-old
  • 49. What was the title of the Academy Award-winning film adaptation released in 1968?
A) Algernon
B) Babel-17
C) Charly
D) The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
  • 50. Which ancient philosopher's dictum in Poetics inspired Keyes regarding tragedy?
A) Socrates
B) Homer
C) Aristotle
D) Plato
  • 51. In what year did the ideas for Flowers for Algernon begin to develop due to conflicts with Keyes's parents?
A) 1966
B) 1959
C) 1957
D) 1945
  • 52. What was the name of the editor at Galaxy Science Fiction who wanted a happy ending for the story?
A) Horace Gold
B) Strauss
C) Nemur
D) Burt
  • 53. What specific psychological test frustrated Charlie and was based on Keyes's own college experience?
A) Rorschach test
B) Turing test
C) Stanford-Binet test
D) IQ test
  • 54. Which novel did Flowers for Algernon tie with for the Nebula Award in 1966?
A) Babel-17
B) A Curious Feeling
C) The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
D) The Science Fiction Hall of Fame
  • 55. Who wrote Babel-17, which tied with Flowers for Algernon for the Nebula Award?
A) Daniel Keyes
B) Samuel R. Delany
C) Tony Banks
D) Robert A. Heinlein
  • 56. Which novel won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1967, beating Flowers for Algernon?
A) The Bourne Legacy
B) HOMR
C) The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
D) Babel-17
  • 57. Who wrote The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress?
A) Karine Pontiès
B) Samuel R. Delany
C) Robert A. Heinlein
D) Daniel Keyes
  • 58. What place did the novelette version of Flowers for Algernon place in the SFWA retroactive Nebula vote?
A) Forty-third
B) First
C) Second
D) Third
  • 59. How many nominees were there in the SFWA retroactive Nebula vote for stories ending December 31, 1964?
A) 100
B) 132
C) 1966
D) 1960
  • 60. On whose list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999 is Flowers for Algernon ranked?
A) Science Fiction Writers of America's
B) SFWA retroactive
C) Prix de la Critique's
D) American Library Association's
  • 61. What number does Flowers for Algernon hold on the ALA's 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books list for 1990–1999?
A) 43
B) 2000
C) 3
D) 1960
  • 62. Which Genesis keyboardist was inspired to create the album A Curious Feeling by Flowers for Algernon?
A) Samuel R. Delany
B) Robert A. Heinlein
C) Karine Pontiès
D) Tony Banks
  • 63. What is the name of the 2006 modern dance work inspired by Flowers for Algernon?
A) The Bourne Legacy
B) HOMR
C) A Curious Feeling
D) Holeulone
  • 64. Who created the modern dance work Holeulone?
A) Robert A. Heinlein
B) Tony Banks
C) Karine Pontiès
D) Daniel Keyes
  • 65. Which award did the modern dance work Holeulone win?
A) SFWA Author Emeritus
B) Hugo Award for Best Short Fiction
C) Prix de la Critique de la Communauté française de Belgique
D) Nebula Award for Best Novel
  • 66. What is the title of the 2001 episode of The Simpsons with a plot similar to the novel?
A) HOMR
B) The Bourne Legacy
C) Flowers for Charlie
D) Holeulone
  • 67. Which 2012 film features a mentally disabled soldier reliant on an experimental medication to raise his intelligence?
A) A Curious Feeling
B) The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
C) Babel-17
D) The Bourne Legacy
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