Novelist use a variety of techniques in constructing stories to communicate themes and even their attitude towards a certain subject. The short story "Flowers for Algernon," written by Daniel Keyes is told as a series of progress reports written by Charlie Gordon a thirty-two year old man whos Intelligence Quotient of 68 is tripled by an experimental surgical procedure. Unfortunately the effects of the operation wear off after a couple of months, and Charlie is once again of subnormal intelligence. Much of the stories power comes from Keye's clever use of point of view, structure, characters, and language. All these techniques help to convey the themes. Perhaps the most important of these is the use and abuse of science and technology, but you must also notice the alienation of Charlie who is at odds with society and who struggles to have relationships with others because of his disabilities.
Keye's remarkable use of first person point of view is perhaps the most important source of the stories narrative power. Charlies journey from an IQ of 68 to one almost three times as high, and his fall back into subnormal intelligence is told in progress reports written by Charlie for the scientists conducting the experiment that raised his IQ. The reports are written with poor English, full off mistakes one would expect from writing by a mentally handicapped adult. In the first paragraph you can see the mistakes that are made by Charlie:.
Dr Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on. I don't know why but he says its importint so they will see if they will use me.
As Charlies intelligence grows, his reports become more literate and sophisticated and you can see how proud he is of his progress. When he becomes smart he realises that he has been treated unjustly as a mentally challenged person.