History Literature / FlowersForAlgernon

* InkblotTest

TheUnFavorite: Charlie's mother Rose preferred her daughter Norma to her son Charlie due to Norma having an average IQ compared to Charlie's very low 68. This made Norma a SpoiledBrat and left Charlie mostly confused and afraid of his mother who would beat him for perfectly natural things like having an erection as would any pubescent teen boy. Terrified he would do something to Norma, Rose eventually forced Charlie's father to have him taken away by [[spoiler:threatening to kill Charlie if he didn't]].

* TheUnFavorite - Charlie's mother Rose preferred her daughter Norma to her son Charlie due to Norma having an average IQ compared to Charlie's very low 68. This made Norma a SpoiledBrat and left Charlie mostly confused and afraid of his mother who would beat him for perfectly natural things like having an erection as would any pubescent teen boy. Terrified he would do something to Norma, Rose eventually forced Charlie's father to have him taken away by [[spoiler:threatening to kill Charlie if he didn't]].
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodSandwich - Charlie pays for a meal without eating it after seeing how the restaurant treats a slow busboy.
* TheUnfavourite: Charlie, compared to his sister.

* WantonCrueltyToTheCommonComma - Justified. The narrator's use of punctuation improves and then declines in tandem with his augmented intellect.

* AllPsychologyIsFreudian

* BreakTheCutie - Charlie

* DrJerk: Professor Nemur

** Lampshaded with Charlie's paper on TheAlgernonGordonEffect
* FreudWasRight: Poor Charlie, upon seeing his sister in the bathtub as a child, was struck by her (seeming) lack of gentialia. Not only did he come to the conclusion that their parents [[{{GroinAttack}} removed it to punish her]], but his mother caught him and...[[{{BrotherSisterIncest}} jumped to the wrong conclusion.]] This earned him a traumatic experience with a knife and a deep-seated fear that he'd be castrated one day as well. Anytime he tries to have sex, Bam! Traumatic memories.
* HystericalWoman: Charlie's mother

* ItWasHisSled
* JadeColoredGlasses - Charlie and Nemur
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Fay.
* MeaningfulName: Norma.

* NoPreggerSex - Charlie halted a near-sexual encounter after finding out that the woman was pregnant. He was naturally [[{{Squick}} squicked]]; her, not so much.

** Charlie: self-doubting, rational, and scientifically-minded, emotionally unfulfilled (Superego)
** Fay Lilliman: Overtly sexual, artistic, and whimsical (Id)
** Alice Kinnian: Compassionate, emotionally mature, educated, balances intellect and emotions (Ego)
* ReallyGetsAround: Fay

* ScienceMarchesOn: See AllPsychologyIsFreudian

* SecondaryCharacterTitle - Flowers For Algernon refers to the protagonist's fellow test subject - a white mouse. Averted in the film adaptation ''Charly''.
* SingleTargetSexuality - When all of Charlie's sexual experiences are passionless, confusing, or painful until he has sex with Alice Kinnian, the only woman he's truly loved.
* SpoiledBrat - Charlie's younger sister Norma was this growing up due to her mother's ParentalFavoritism. She grew out of it in adulthood but still retained a mild degree of neediness.

* TheWoobie: Charlie, obviously. [[spoiler:Realized that his so called friends was simply using him as a toy, finally reached genius levels of intelligence, only to lose it, and starts to forget almost all the notable events that happened to him towards the end.]]

* AbusiveParents: Charlie's mother. She first refused to acknowledge that Charlie is mentally disabled, and punishes him for it. When she later gives birth to a daughter, who is of normal intelligence, she blatantly favors him over Charlie, and eventually sends him away to an institution.

* AbusiveParents: Charlie's mother

The original short story can be read [[http://www.educ.kent.edu/community/DOCWHIZ/rdng4.html here]].

* BettyAndVeronica: Charlie is the Archie, [[TeamMom Alice]] is the Betty [[ReallyGetsAround Fay]] is the Veronica.

* DrJerk - Professor Nemur

* ExecutiveMeddling - Daniel Keyes' first attempt to publish Flowers For Algernon almost ran afoul of this; the editor he took it to demanded that he [[spoiler: give the story a happy ending where Charlie keeps his enhanced intelligence]]. Fortunately, every writer Keyes asked about it told him to refuse.

* SecondaryCharacterTitle - Flowers For Algernon refers to the protagonist's fellow test subject - a white mouse.
** Averted in the film adaptation Charly

''Flowers for Algernon'', a novel by Daniel Keyes, tells of a young man named Charlie Gordon who has an IQ of 68, but tries hard to learn and become normal. Charlie works at a bakery with people he considers his friends. His instructor, Alice Kinnian, teaches him at the Beakman College Institute for Retarded Adults, and she is the one who informs him of a possible cure: a surgery designed to improve his mental capacity. The people putting this surgery into action are looking for a human subject, having already had a successful result with the titular Algernon, a lab mouse.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Few people know that ''Flowers'' was originally a short story.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: [[spoiler: When Charlie's journal entry asks that someone else put flowers on Algernon's grave after he's no longer able to -- hence the title. This is more a case of Crowning Moment of [[TearJerker Tear-Jerking]].]]
** [[spoiler: When Charlie returns to the bakery after reverting back to his former self, the same people who made fun of him & hated him when he got smart stood up for him when a new worker bullies him.]]

* TearJerker: Big time.
** So many specific moments, but one that stands out is when Charlie, after having lost his intelligence, returns to his old class with Alice just like he used too. He can't understand why she becomes so upset to see him there; at that point, to him, it's just part of his routine again.
*** Well, he does get it, eventually; that's why that's his ''last'' journal entry.

* InVinoVeritas: [[spoiler:super-genius Charlie Gordon reverts back to barely-functional moron (in the clinical sense) Charlie Gordon when he gets drunk.]]

* TheUnFavorite - Charlie's mother Rose preferred her daughter Norma to her son Charlie due to Norma having an average IQ compared to Charlie's very low 68. This made Norma a SpoiledBrat and left Charlie mostly confused and afraid of his mother who would beat him for perfectly natural things like having an erection as would any pubescent teen boy. Terrified he would do something to Norma. Rose eventually forced Charlie's father to have him taken away by [[spoiler:threatening to kill Charlie if he didn't]].

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: [[spoiler: When Charlie's journal entry asks that someone else put flowers on Algernon's grave after he's no longer able to -- hence the title. This is more a case of Crowning Moment of Tear-Jerking.]]

It's one of the more famous books that has been banned from schools, thanks to its sexual content and profanity, (Except for certain copies that have it severely reduced, so as to avoid it.)

* FreudWasRight: Poor Charlie, upon seeing his sister in the bathtub as a child, was struck by her (seeming) lack of gentialia. Not only did he come to the conclusion that their parents [[{{GroinAttack}} removed it to punish her]], but his mother caught him and...[[{{BrotherSisterIncest}} jumped to the wrong conclusion.]] This earned him a tramatic experince with a knife and a deep-seated fear that he'd be castarated one day as well. Anytime he tries to have sex, Bam! traumatic memories.

* DownerEnding: The last fifty-or-so pages are so depressing it's amazing the book doesn't spontaneously combust.

It's one of the more famous books that has been banned from schools, thanks to its sexual content and profanity.

* Woobie: Charlie, obviously. [[spoiler:Realized that his so called friends was simply using him as a toy, finally reached genius levels of intelligence, only to lose it, and starts to forget almost all the notable events that happened to him towards the end.]]