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Quarterly Review--We will also review in class tomorrow.

Flowers for Algernon

Final Quarterly Assessment

Friday, June 10, 2011

Format of Test

·        Character Identification

·        Multiple Choice

·        40 total

Characters:

·        Charlie Gordon

·        Norma Gordon

·        Rose Gordon

·        Matt Gordon

·        Professor Nemur

·        Dr. Strauss

·        Burt

·        Fanny

·        Algernon

·        Hilda

·        Alice Kinnian

·        Fay Lillman

·        Gimpy

·        Joe Carp and Frank Reilly

·        Uncle Herman

·        Mr. Donner

Charlie’s Changes Before and After Surgery In:

·        Love and romance

·        Grammar and punctuation

·        Intellect (intelligence)

·        Emotional development

·        Professional development

·        Social relationships

·        Confidence

Effects of Charlie’s Childhood

·        Rose’s confidence in Charlie’s child development

·        Rose’s way of dealing with anger and denial of Charlie; how Rose’s treatment impacted Charlie’s future relationships with women

·        Matt and Rose’s relationship

·        Charlie’s interpretation of good and evil

·        His childhood experiences’ impact on his behavior

·        His fears and concerns

Major Symbols

·        Algernon= symbol for?

·        Mirrors= symbol for?

·        Mazes= symbol for?

·        Knives= symbol for?

·        Windows=symbol for?

·        Darkness=symbol for?

·        Can you think of others?

Themes

·        Mistreatment of the mentally disabled (man’s inhumanity to man)

·        How our past can impact our present

·        Self-realization and understanding of self

·        Use and abuse of science and technology; ethics (or lack of) in scientific experimentation

Elements and Style

• Flashback
• This is a cyclical novel – why?
• Progress Reports – why did the author use this format to write the novel?

Important Quotes: Identify speaker, importance to novel, and which theme may be reflected

• "If your smart you can have lots of frends to talk to and you never get lonley by yourself all the time."

• "Some times somebody will say hey lookit Frank, or Joe or even Gimpy. He really pulled a Charlie Gordon that time. I don't know why they say it but they always laff and I laff too."
• "She says Im a fine person and Ill show them all. I asked her why. She said never mind but I shouldnt feel bad if I find out everybody isnt nice like I think."
• "'The more intelligent you become the more problems you'll have, Charlie.'" 
• "'You're fooling yourself, Rose.  It's not fair to us or to him.  Pretending he's normal.  Driving him as if he were an animal that could learn to do tricks.'" 
• "I'm like a man who's been half-asleep all his life, trying to find out what he was like before he woke up." 
• "I was seeing them clearly for the first time - not gods or even heroes, but just two men worried about getting something out of their work."
• "Our relationship is becoming increasingly strained. I resent Nemur's constant references to me as a laboratory specimen. He makes me feel that before the experiment was not really a human being."
• "What did you expect? Did you think I'd remain a docile pup, wagging my tail and licking the foot that kicks me? I no longer have to take the kind of crap that people have been handing me all my life."
• "Remembering how my mother looked before she gave birth to my sister is frightening. But even more frightening is the feeling that I wanted them to catch me and beat me. Why did I want to be punished? Shadows out of the past clutch at my legs and drag me down. I open my mouth to scream, but I am voiceless. My hands are trembling, I feel cold, and there is a distant humming in my ears."
• "They had pretended to be geniuses. But they were just ordinary men working blindly, pretending to be able to bring light into the darkness. Why is it that everyone lies? No one I know is what he appears to be."
• "'We who have worked on this project at Beekman University have the satisfaction of knowing we have taken one of nature's mistakes and by our new techniques created a superior human being.'" 
• “ ‘It’s not meant for any man to know more than was given to him to know by the Lord in the first place.  The fruit of the tree was forbidden to man. 
• “Strauss again brought up my need to speak and write simply and directly so that people will understand me.  He reminds me that language is sometimes a barrier instead of a pathway.  Ironic to find myself on the other side of the intellectual fence.”
•  “I realize there’s nothing we can do.  When you’ve got a child like him it’s a cross, and you bear it, and love it.  Well, I can bear him, but I can’t stand your foolish ways. “
• “‘You’ve got a superb mind now, intelligence that can’t really be calculated, more knowledge absorbed by now than most people pick up in a lifetime.  But you’re lopsided.  You know things.  You see things.  But you haven’t developed understanding, or—I have to use the word—tolerance.  You call them phonies, but when did either of them ever claim to be perfect, or superhuman?  They’re ordinary people.  You’re the genius.’”
• “What is my place?  Who and what am I now?  Am I the sum of my life or only of the past months?”
• “I’m a human being, a person—with parents and memories and a history—and I was before you ever wheeled me into that operating room!”

Quarterly Review

The review guide will be handed out in class on Tuesday or Wednesday.  We will review for the quarterly on Thursday in class.

Essay Rubric

	Genius (Einstein) 25 points	Super Intelligent (post-op Charlie) 21 points	Intelligent (Alice Kinnian) 17 points	Smart (Gimpy) 15 points
Craftsmanship and Creativity - font -layout is 1.5 spaced in a neat font -hook	-consistent and uniform font -layout is adhered to -effectively integrates a meaningful or symbolic title -pleasing appearance -hook is engaging and humorous	-Overall appearance is acceptable -hook is creative -interesting title	-Overall appearance is distracting -hook lacks imagination and creativity -simple title	-Overall appearance is unacceptable -no hook -no title
Ideas and Book Content -book details -analysis -quotes	-Goes beyond obvious and predictable -Answers reader’s questions -Shows connections and insight -quotes throughout all paragraphs	-New ways of thinking about content attempted -Credible details with support -quotes included in body paragraphs	-Reasonably clear understanding of content -Details present but not precise -Shows some specifics -1-2 quotes	-Many unanswered questions -Sporadic details -Inaccuracies of content -no quotes integrated
Conventions -spelling -grammar -punctuation	-Accurate and creative use	-Few spelling errors -Consistent use of punctuation and capitalization	-Spelling generally correct -Grammar errors infrequent	-Frequent spelling errors -Usage and grammar problems
Character and Voice -grasp of antagonist and protagonist motivation and inner thoughts -compositional risks (See R in A-Z book)	-Exceptional grasp -include compositional risks throughout essay	-Evident grasp -includes evident use of risks	-Minimal grasp -a few risks	-No grasp -no risks taken

Essay Topics

DIRECTIONS: Choose one of the following essay topics.  Make sure you address EACH bullet.  Use quotes from the story to support your ideas/arguments.  The essay will be DUE June 9^th.  It will be scored using the provided rubric.  Each essay must consist of five paragraphs. 

1.        Write an essay in which you explore and analyze the theme of perception versus reality.  Keep in mind our discussion about “Allegory of the Cave.”

• What is Charlie’s perception of his life before the surgery?  How about after the surgery?

• How does Charlie’s perception of his life differ from the reality of his life?

• Explain how the events in Flowers for Algernon relate to “Allegory of the Cave.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________

2.       Write an explanatory essay about the following quote: “Ignorance is bliss.” 

• Use DACH when responding to the question (dissect, analyze, connect, hypothesize).

• Fully explain HOW “ignorance is bliss” using details from Flowers for Algernon.

• Use specific information from the story (character names, events, etc.) for support.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

3.       Pretend you are Charlie’s doctor (Dr. Strauss).  Write an analytical and reflective essay in which you analyze Charlie Gordon’s character development.  DO NOT write an essay explaining how Charlie became smarter.  Rather, write an essay about how he changes emotionally and socially.

• Describe Charlie before the surgery.

• Describe Charlie after the surgery.

• What factors contribute to the changes in Charlie (other characters, flashbacks, acquisition of knowledge, etc.)?

__________________________________________________________________________________________

4.       Write a persuasive essay about the following prompt: Charlie’s intelligence greatly improved.  However, his intelligence regressed by the end of the story, leaving Charlie mentally handicapped once again.  Should doctors continue to perform this surgery on other individuals?

•  Fully explain why or why not by providing three body paragraphs supporting your decision.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

5.          Write an allegory that is based on the theme of the darkness and light of the cave/real world from Flowers for Algernon.  Recall that we read an allegory earlier in the year, Terrible Things, based on the Holocaust.

·         Allegory: a form of extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings from our current novel.  An allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.  Your allegory must closely relate to the lessons and journey’s experiences that Charlie Gordon went through…just like the allegory of the cave.

·         Minimum of 2.5 pages.

____________________________________________________________________________________

6.       There are a variety of genres in which stories are told.  In this unit, we’ve encountered parodies, nonfiction, philosophical, allegorical, and scientific.  Write a compare and contrast essay comparing Flowers for Algernon to “The Simpsons” episode and “The Little Mermaid” (the Disney classic.)  You will need to watch “The Little Mermaid” in order to include accurate and relevant details.

Option #A: Character Essay

·         How is Charlie similar to Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”?

·         How is Charlie similar to Homer Simpson?

·         In what ways are the characters different from Charlie?

Option #B: Genre Exploration

·         How does “The Simpsons” parody episode accurately reflect on the fictional story of Flowers for Algernon?

·         How does the children’s film “The Little Mermaid” movie accurately relate to the allegorical story about the cave?

·         How do the protagonists (Homer, Ariel, and Charlie) face the adversities of life outside “the cave”?