In 1957, after receiving his Masters in American Literature and his New York English teaching license, he taught English at his old high school. He wanted a character 'who would be memorable and with whom the reader and I could identify someone with a strong motivation and goal who evoked a response from other characters someone whose inner life gave him a human dimension' (Keyes). He fiddled with different types of characters, but none fit just right. He then had a story line and a few passages written out, but was still missing the protagonist. He then had the idea of 'artificially increasing human intelligence' on the subway. He wanted to write, not be a pre-med student at NYU. His 'education driving a wedge between and the people loved' (Keyes). In 1945 he was having issues with his parents pushing him to fulfill a pre-medical education. Keyes developed the idea, story, character, and style for 'Flowers for Algernon' over a fourteen-year period. Daniel Keyes The Development of and Inspiration for Charlie Gordon With these three elements: the idea, the character, and the narrative strategy, I was well on my way.'

After a great many false starts, I discovered the technique of the Progress Reports. But Charlie Gordon is not real, nor is he based on a real person: he is imagined or invented, probably a composite of many people I know - including a little bit of me. 'What would happen if it were possible to increase human intelligence artificially?' The idea for the character came about four years later when I met and spoke to a retarded young man and thought how wonderful it would be if such a technique were available to help the mentally disadvantaged. 'The idea for Flowers for Algernon came to me many years before I wrote the story or the novel.

Flowers for daniel keyes novel