Flowers for Algernon Study Guide

Daniel Keyes grew up in Brooklyn, and studied psychology at Brooklyn College. He took an interest in writing during his time in school, and after graduating he began working as the editor of the pulp science fiction magazine Marvel Science Stories, the precursor to Marvel Comics. It was during his time working for Marvel that Keyes developed the idea for the short story “Flowers for Algernon,” his most famous work. He published the story in 1959, and was honored for his work with a Hugo Award, the most prestigious honor given to American science fiction authors. Encouraged by his success, Keyes set to work converting his short story into a full-length novel. When he published the novel in 1966, it won the Nebula Award—the other most prestigious award given for American science fiction. After 1966, Keyes continued to write stories and novels, though none were remotely as successful as Flowers for Algernon. He taught creative writing at Wayne State University in Michigan until his death from pneumonia in 2014. He’s survived by two daughters.

Flowers for Algernon doesn’t allude to many specific historical events, but its portrayal of sex and love is unmistakably a product of the 1960s. At this time, American culture was becoming more open to sexuality and frank discussions of sex. The so-called “Sexual Revolution” saw increased sexual education in school, further research into human sexuality (pioneered by Dr. Alfred Kinsey), the wide availability of birth control, and the decriminalization of extramarital sex. In this way, Charlie Gordon’s discovery of his own sexuality could be said to symbolize the way the U.S. was “discovering” its own sexuality at the same time.

Flowers for Algernon alludes to many literary works, including the Bible and Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. Several times, the characters mention the Adam and Eve story, in which the first human beings eat the forbidden fruit, essentially trading eternal life and happiness for knowledge. Charlie Gordon thinks of himself in Adam’s place, sacrificing his own blissful ignorance for a chance at genius. Charlie also mentions reading Robinson Crusoe, which is about a man who lives alone on a desert island. Charlie sees a lot of himself in Crusoe: he’s a lonely man, forced to confront his own problems on the “desert island” of his isolation.