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NAME
CLASS
SELECTION TEST
DATE
Student Edition page 32
Flowers for Algernon
SCORE
LITERARY RESPONSE AND ANALYSIS
Daniel Keyes
COMPREHENSION (40 points; 4 points each)
On the line provided, write the letter of the best answer to each of the following items.
1. Charlie fails his first inkblot test because he —
A sees images that upset him in the inkblots
B thinks the test is boring
C cannot understand what he is supposed to see besides ink
D is afraid of making a mistake in front of Dr. Strauss
2. Why does Charlie agree to have the operation?
F
He wants to be smart and know things like other people do.
G He wants to please Dr. Strauss and Miss Kinnian.
H He wants to be able to get a better job.
J
He wants to beat Algernon in the maze test.
3. What do the factory workers mean by saying someone “pulled a Charlie Gordon”?
A Someone did something funny.
B Someone did something stupid.
C Someone had an operation.
D Someone lost something.
4. Charlie hopes that when he becomes smarter, people will be —
happier
G less worried
H more understanding
J
more friendly
5. When Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur argue about Charlie, Charlie —
A thinks Dr. Strauss should take credit for the experiment
B thinks that he has done something wrong
C feels like he’s seen both men clearly for the first time
D feels like he’s just an experiment to the two doctors
6. What makes Charlie sad when he takes Miss Kinnian out for dinner?
F
Miss Kinnian doesn’t love him.
G He knows he will leave her behind intellectually.
H Miss Kinnian thinks she was wrong to encourage him to have the operation.
J
22
He thinks that Miss Kinnian will refuse to have anything more to do with him.
Holt Assessment: Literature, Reading, and Vocabulary
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
F
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7. Which of the following events is not caused by the event during which Charlie
defends the boy in the restaurant?
A Charlie is disgusted with himself for at first laughing at the boy.
B Charlie remembers how he also used to play the clown.
C Charlie realizes how intelligent he has become.
D Charlie decides to work in the field of human intelligence.
8. Which event foreshadows what will happen to Charlie?
F
The boy at the restaurant drops a plate.
G Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss’s research is incomplete.
H Algernon becomes uncooperative and disturbed.
J
Charlie is given a laboratory of his own.
9. When Charlie becomes a genius, his most important discovery is —
A his theory about how quickly artificially increased intelligence deteriorates
B that he has to communicate with Miss Kinnian on a simple level
C that Dr. Nemur doesn’t know the work on experimental intelligence in India
D that Algernon will soon die
10. Charlie leaves New York because —
F
his landlady throws him out because he hasn’t paid the rent
G he can’t get a job now that he isn’t a genius
H he doesn’t want people to be sorry for him
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
J
he doesn’t want the men at the factory to laugh at him again
LITERARY FOCUS (20 points; 5 points each)
On the line provided, write the letter of the best answer to each of the following items.
11. Which of the following episodes is repeated in the story to make parallel episodes?
A Charlie has an operation.
B Charlie has dinner with Miss Kinnian.
C The factory workers get Charlie drunk.
D The factory workers force Charlie to leave his work.
12. How is the subplot involving Charlie and the scientists resolved?
F
Charlie overtakes them in intelligence and finds the flaw in their experiment.
G Charlie gives Dr. Strauss an inferiority complex.
H Dr. Nemur publishes his report and leaves Dr. Strauss out of it.
J
Dr. Strauss tries to visit Charlie, but Charlie won’t let him in.
Flowers for Algernon
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13. What is Charlie’s main internal conflict throughout the story?
A Trying to understand his own mind and the nature of intelligence
B Trying to figure out what causes people to laugh at others
C Trying to learn to read and spell correctly
D Trying to get along with the factory workers
14. In the story’s resolution, Charlie —
F
is just the same as he was at the beginning of the story
G has gained a valuable experience but has lost his mental ability
H again becomes a student in Miss Kinnian’s class
J
deeply regrets that he ever had the operation
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT (20 points; 4 points each)
On the line provided, write the word that best completes each sentence.
invariably
15. Charlie is naturally
16. Miss Kinnian
17. Will scientists be able to
18. One hopes that Charlie’s
previous level.
19. Charlie notices his mental
has written.
refute
introspective
regression
and aware of his thoughts and feelings.
treats Charlie with kindness and respect.
Charlie’s theory?
will not take him down to his
when he can’t understand the report he
CONSTRUCTED RESPONSE (20 points)
20. Discuss the subplot involving Algernon and Charlie. Describe the conflict
and the resolution. On a separate sheet of paper, write a paragraph that
explains your answer. Support your ideas with details from the story.
24
Holt Assessment: Literature, Reading, and Vocabulary
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
deterioration
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Answer Key
Constructed Response
Flowers for Algernon
20. Students’ responses will vary. A sample
response follows:
by Daniel Keyes
Selection Test, page 22
When Alfonso first asks Ernie to borrow
his bike, Alfonso’s external conflict is that
he needs an extra bike so he can take
Sandra bike-riding. His internal conflict is
that he has summoned up all his courage to
ask Sandra out, and the date is important to
him. Ernie’s external conflict is that some
girls have stood him up, and the incident
has made him angry. Ernie’s internal conflict is that he is jealous that his younger
brother might have a girlfriend, so he
refuses to lend his bike to Alfonso.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
The second time Alfonso asks to borrow
Ernie’s bike, Alfonso’s external conflict is
that he has broken his bike chain. His internal conflict is that he thinks he always
messes things up. Ernie’s external conflict is
that he really needs his bike because he has
a plan with a friend to go catch frogs. He is
sympathetic toward Alfonso’s problem and
no longer angry but cannot lend the bike
when Alfonso wants it. Ernie resolves the
situation by lending Alfonso his bike when
he comes back from the pond.
Road Warriors, Listen Up: Some
Rules for Streetwise Biking
by Madeline Travers Hovland
Selection Test, page 20
Comprehension
1. A
2. H
3. C
4. J
5. D
6. F
7. B
8. G
9. C
10. J
Answer Key
Comprehension
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
C
F
B
J
C
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
G
C
H
A
H
Literary Focus
11. C
12. F
13. A
14. G
Vocabulary Development
15. introspective
16. invariably
17. refute
18. regression
19. deterioration
Constructed Response
20. Students’ responses will vary. A sample
response follows:
The subplot involving Charlie and
Algernon begins when Charlie is asked to
do the same experiment that the white
mouse is doing—to find the way out of a
maze. A conflict arises when the mouse
always wins, and, consequently, Charlie
begins to dislike the mouse. After Charlie’s
operation, he starts winning contests
against the mouse and begins to like it. He
is sorry that the mouse has to compete to
win food. He wants to hold it and be with
the mouse but is not allowed to because the
mouse is “special.” When Algernon starts
to deteriorate, Charlie realizes that other
people identify him with the mouse.
Charlie must have identified, too, because
he titles his report “The Algernon-Gordon
Effect.” The subplot is resolved when
Charlie sadly buries the mouse when it
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Answer Key
dies. At the end of the story, Charlie asks in
a note that Miss Kinnian leave flowers on
Algernon’s grave.
Constructed Response
15. Students’ responses will vary. A sample
response follows:
The most exciting moment in the story is
when the landlady says that Mulholland
and Temple are still upstairs. Because of
clues that have been given before, we know
that they checked in over two years ago, yet
they are not visible in the house. We soon
learn that the dachshund hasn’t moved and
may be a stuffed animal. We can figure out
that the landlady has somehow killed the
men and stuffed them, and we are just
waiting to see what will happen to Billy. A
second event that could be the climax is
when the landlady has given Billy the
poisoned tea, tells Billy that Mulholland’s
skin was like a baby’s, and then admits
she has stuffed the parrot. Then we know
exactly what will happen to Billy.
Memory a Matter
of Brains and Brawn
by Lauran Neergaard
Selection Test, page 25
Comprehension
B
J
C
H
B
Vocabulary Development
6. b
7. d
8. e
9. a
10. c
Collection 1 Summative Test,
page 31
Vocabulary Skills
The Landlady
by Roald Dahl
Selection Test, page 27
Comprehension
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
B
F
A
H
B
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
H
D
G
C
J
Literary Focus
11. D
12. G
230
13. A
14. H
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
B
H
C
F
D
Comprehension
6. H
7. C
8. F
9. B
10. J
Holt Assessment: Literature, Reading, and Vocabulary
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.