Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes, tells the story of a mentally handicapped man, Charlie Gordon, and his participation in an experimental procedure to raise his iq. The entire novel is based on the outcome of that experience.
During the first twenty pages of this novel, I was awestruck. I was lying on my bed, laughing out loud in utter shock at what was one of the most unique and bold narrative styles I had witnessed in my life. Here’s a section from the first several pages:
“So Burt sed Charlie what do you see on this card. I saw the spilld ink and I was very skared even tho I got my rabits foot in my pockit because when I was a kid I always faled tests in school and I spilld ink to.”
The alternative structure Daniel Keyes uses in this book is thorough. Because not only does he use alternative form structure ‒ the entire novel is in the format of progress reports that Charlie Gordon writes to track the progression in his general cognitive ability ‒ Daniel also manipulates language, word choice, and even grammar. Note the difference in that sentence with a selection from later
“This is something else I’ve discovered for myself very recently. I present it to you as a hypothesis: Intelligence without the ability to give and receive affection leads to mental and moral breakdown, to neurosis, and possibly even psychosis. And I say that the mind absorbed in and involved in itself as a self-centered end, to the exclusion of human relationships, can only lead to violence and pain.”
Alternate narrative forms are very special. I think one of the reasons alternative narratives are so rare is the sheer literary mastery needed to successfully pull it off. This book reminds me of a creative nonfiction short story I read a little while ago called the Pain Scale. The author, Eula Biss, details her struggle with chronic pain. What’s interesting about her narrative is that the short essay is in the format of the 0 to 10 pain scale typically used for assessing pain. She giver commentary on each number, detailing her pain and how the pain scale fails, in its deceptively simple state, to describe her pain. It’s a well written short story in addition to its unique structure; I’ll leave a link at the bottom of the page.
There have been very few characters which I feel like I know so intimately as Charlie. I think it’s all a combination of the structure of the progress reports and the development of literary style that makes the character of Charlie so successful.
Overall, I have to say that this book is one of my all time favorites, definitely my favorite of the blog. Besides its intellectual commentary on themes of science, philosophy, free will and identity, Flowers for Algernon brings emotional weight as it raises questions on happiness and the meaning of a fulfilling life: Charlie is raised from his blissful shroud of ignorance to an enlightening state that brought its own troubles‒ family abuse, straining human connections, and multiple existential crises. This is novel that will likely stay on my mind for quite a while.
I’ll end with a quote from the beginning of the book. This says it all.
“Any one who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light, which is true of the mind’s eye, quite as much as of the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he sees anyone whose vision is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light. And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other…” Plato’s, The Republic
The Pain Scale, by Eula Biss: http://www.snreview.org/biss.pdf
The book for the upcoming week is the classic Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley.