After the End

After the tremendous acclaim "Flower's for Algernon" received, Keyes expanded the story into a novel. Do you think there needs to be more to the story? Do you prefer having the story end without showing you the rest of Charlie's deterioration or do you want to read on?

Better to Have Loved and Lost?

As many of you have noted, at issue in "Flowers for Algernon" is a basic life philosophy--Is it better to have loved and lost or never to have loved at all? For some people ignorance is bliss, while others prefer to take chances. What philosophy most closely correlates with your attitude toward life?

What Would You Have Done?

Let's say you were like Charlie Gordon and someone offered you the opportunity to participate in an experimental procedure that might artificially raise your intelligence. Let's say they warned you the results might be temporary.

Would you avail yourself of the opportunity or not? Why?

If I Only Had a Brain...

Charlie wants more than anything to be smart, so much so that he undergoes an experimental procedure in an attempt to increase his intelligence. As rather intellectually gifted individuals, what value do you place on your intelligence? How much does being smart play into how you define yourself? How would a dramatic increase or decrease of intelligence change your life?