![]() In this excerpt, Plato discusses "The Allegory of the Cave," in which people are chained inside a dark cave and watch the shadows of real things projected on the cave walls. How do the changes in Charlie’s cognitive development impact his credibility when relaying events?Īt the novel’s start, Daniel Keyes includes an epigraph quoting the philosopher Plato’s treatise, The Republic. Because the story is told completely from Charlie’s perspective, students should question Charlie’s reliability as a narrator. Through this epistolary format, readers receive a firsthand account of Charlie’s unfathomable rise-and rapid fall-in intelligence. A brief lesson on the story’s historical context and the evolution of disability terminology may be appropriate before starting the book, as some students may find the obsolete terms to be offensive.įlowers for Algernon is told through a series of progress reports written by the main character, Charlie. 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people with intellectual disabilities.īecause Flowers for Algernon was published in the mid-20th century, it contains outdated language used to describe intellectual disabilities.
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