Flowers for Algernon Section 5 Quiz

 "I feel a lot better today, but I guess I’m still a little angry that all the time people were laughing and making fun of me because I wasn’t so smart. When I become intelligent like Mr. Strauss says, with three times my I.Q. of 68, then maybe I’ll be like everyone else and people will like me and be friendly.

       I’m not sure what an I.Q. is. Dr. Nemur said it was something that measured how intelligent you were—like a scale in the drugstore weighs pounds. But Dr. Strauss had a big argument with him and said an I.Q. didn’t weigh intelligence at all. He said an I.Q. showed how much intelligence you could get, like the numbers on the outside of a measuring cup. You still had to fill the cup up with stuff."

“Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes

Part A

What is ironic about Charlie’s description?

• A.  People laugh and make fun of Charlie, but he still likes them.

• B.  Charlie does not know what an I.Q. is, but his doctors do.

• C.  Charlie learns that an I.Q. is like a measuring cup, and that now he must fill his head with knowledge.

• D.  Charlie thinks that when he is smarter people will like him better, but what happens is the opposite.

Part B

Which quotation best supports the answer to Part A?

• A.  “. . . I guess I’m still a little angry that all the time people were laughing and making fun of me because I wasn’t so smart.”

• B.  “When I become intelligent like Mr. Strauss says, with three times my I.Q. of 68, then maybe I’ll be like everyone else and people will like me and be friendly.”

• C.  “Dr. Nemur said it was something that measured how intelligent you were—like a scale in the drugstore weighs pounds.”

• D.  “You still had to fill the cup up with stuff.”

    "When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands, I hesitated a long time concerning the manner in which I should use it. Although I possessed the capacity of bestowing animation, yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labor. I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization; but my imagination was too much overjoyed by my first success to permit me to doubt of my ability to give life to an animal as complex and wonderful as man. The materials at present within my command hardly appeared adequate to so difficult an undertaking, but I doubted not that I should ultimately succeed."

_{Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley}

Part A

What is the central idea of this excerpt?

• A.  Dr. Frankenstein is not sure if he wants to create a creature as complicated as a human being or something more simple. 

• B.  Dr. Frankenstein is so terrified of the power he possesses that he considers stopping the experiments.

• C.  Dr. Frankenstein thinks it may be too difficult to succeed because he does not have the proper materials.

• D.  Dr. Frankenstein believes he could create a man like himself, but is concerned about whether that would be the right thing to do.

Part B

Which quotation best supports the answer to Part A?

• A.  “When I found so astonishing a power placed within my hands . . .”

• B.  “. . . yet to prepare a frame for the reception of it, still remained a work of inconceivable difficulty and labor.”

• C.  “I doubted at first whether I should attempt the creation of a being like myself, or one of simpler organization.”

• D.  “The materials at present within my command hardly appeared adequate to so difficult an undertaking . . .”

 "No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. Pursuing these reflections, I thought that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption. These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting passion."

_{Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley}

Choose two statements that best describe what motivates Dr. Frankenstein to do his work.

• A.  He wants to stop failing and begin feeling some success.

• B.  As hard as the work is, it lifts his spirits.

• C.  He wants the being to look up to him as its creator.

• D.  Like a doctor, he is passionate about making people well.

• E.  He likes the idea of bringing something dead back to life.

Match a character trait of Dr. Frankenstein with a quotation from the story.

“A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.”

• self-centered

• obsessive

• determined

Match a character trait of Dr. Frankenstein with a quotation from the story.

“I could not tear my thoughts from my employment, loathsome in itself, but which had taken an irresistible hold of my imagination.”

• • 
    self-centered

• obsessive

• determined

Match a character trait of Dr. Frankenstein with a quotation from the story.

“Sometimes, on the very brink of certainty, I failed; yet still I clung to the hope which the next day or the next hour might realize.”

• self-centered

• obsessive

• determined

Summary of the Book of Genesis from the Old Testament:

God places two people, Adam and Eve, in the beautiful garden of Eden, encouraging them to enjoy themselves but forbidding them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve encounters a crafty serpent who convinces her to eat the tree’s forbidden fruit and assures her that she will not suffer if she does so. Eve shares the fruit with Adam, and the two are immediately filled with shame and remorse. God discovers their disobedience, and the two are subsequently banished from Eden and made to suffer pain and work to feed themselves.

Which theme does this story share with both “Flowers for Algernon” and Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus?

• A.  When you disobey God, you should prepare to be punished.

• B.  You should never trust a talking animal because it will lead you to evil.

• C.  Trying to gain access to what is forbidden can lead to negative consequences.

• D.  All knowledge is dangerous.