Essay On Flowers For Algernon

“I was able to see it through Charlie’s eyes and feel his emotions. I was able to write it, because it happened to me” (Keyes, 76). Daniel Keyes drew on past experiences that altered writing structures such as point of view, plot, and character development when composing Flowers for Algernon. Daniel Keyes did not originally have the novel written from Charlie’s perspective. But after reviewing the text, Keyes seemed unpleased with the idea that readers would laugh at Charlie instead of with him. Keyes previous experience of being laughed at and called a moron after dropping plates working as a server allowed him to sympathize with Charlie. The novel was altered and then written from Charlie’s perspective through progress reports in order to eliminate the idea that the reader could laugh at him. Instead, the reader could laugh with him (Keyes, 253). Keyes experience also allowed him to sympathize with the fact that people laughed at the mentally challenged to feel superior. Taking this into consideration, Keyes started to wonder about Aristotle’s poetic work and how in it, tragedy can happen only to the …show more content…
Strauss, and Ms. Kinnian were also influenced by Keyes past experiences. During his freshman year at New York University, his Biology class dissected white mice. A few years later, Keyes read an article about a man who was a guinea pig for brain surgery. The idea of surgery made him recall his experience freshman year at New York University and he developed the idea that Algernon should be a white mouse while Charlie should represent the guinea pig undergoing surgery. Dr. Strauss was the person who administered the inkblot test to Charlie at the beginning of the novel. Keyes previous shrink, who gave him an inkblot test, was the model for Dr. Strauss (Keyes, 214). Finally, Keyes developed Ms. Kinnian after himself. Ms. Kinnian taught Charlie and many other low I.Q. students at a college university, like Keyes had