丹尼爾•凱斯的《獻給阿爾吉儂的花束》曾榮獲雨果獎與星雲獎，在科幻小說中有著經典的地位。全書以日記的手法呈現，以智能障礙主角的日記為主體的方式進行故事的描繪。雖然男主角查理透過手術改善先天的缺陷使智能有所提升，但為了達到社會標準與他人的認可，使他深陷在自我認同的重重迷障中。隨著查理的文字敘述，本書除了提供讀者窺見智能障礙者的生活及他的思想，更成功地揭示了當時外界對於殘疾人士的真實看法。
本論文旨在分析《獻給阿爾吉儂的花束》中主角的焦慮和身分認同的形成。主要以佛洛伊德及拉岡的論點去解析男主角查理對於身分感到焦慮的原因。首先為導論，包含小說大綱、作者的經歷與寫作背景和理論介紹。第一章將運用佛洛伊德的論點去解析男主角查理在其自我身分認同過程中由夢境所喚起的焦慮。第二章以拉岡精神分析的鏡像理論去探究男主角在社會中尋求的真實自我。主要以分析男主角的鏡像期是如何發生與產生焦慮感，並探討男主角在鏡像期是否找到自我的身分認同。由於整部小說的敘述者為智能障礙者，這不經意讓讀者聯想訊息的可靠性，因此，第三章將探討並分析作者丹尼爾•凱斯如何將書信體融入科幻小說以營造查裡的真實感，以讓讀者更能感受到是一本自傳並身歷其境。最後為結論，本論文所探討的智能障礙者在社會中身分認同的問題有助於其他讀者了解身分認同過程中所產生的不同焦慮。

Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon (1966) gained its initial popularity in the America for using a diary style to explore the theme of man playing God, and thus, it had generally been categorized as a science fiction. Through the novel, as the mentally disabled protagonist’s voice spoke directly through an ongoing progress report, this work had successfully exposed both the benefits of giving voice to an under-represented group and an authentic view of the protagonist’s identity transformation.
This thesis intends to analyze the protagonist’s anxiety and identity formation in Flowers for Algernon. The first chapter will center on the protagonist’s anxiety during his self-recreating process. From Charlie’s portrait of his dreams, I will analyze how the dream imageries provided an opportunity for the dreamer to examine specific qualities of self and how it raised his anxiety and caused his uncertainty of identity. In chapter two, the discussion will move on to the protagonist’s identity reformation involving the present life experiences. I will explore how he was confused by his past and present self-identity by using Lacan’s mirror stage theory. The final chapter will end with an analysis of how Daniel Keyes made the novel more plausible by connecting the two genres, sci-fi and epistolary. In a sense, this thesis argues that Daniel Keyes had found a way of better crafting his novel by following and certainly improving upon the great sci-fi tradition since Frankenstein, which allowed him the luxury of mixing both genres to create the kind of anxiety often found in them.
To conclude, I hope this thesis can be useful for other readers in developing knowledge about the structure of identity formation which can be found in novel characters, and also help the other scholars in understanding how a disabled narrator’s voice can be delivered in sci-fi epistolary.

Table of Contents
Introduction 1
I. Significances of Flowers for Algernon 2
II. Author and text introduction 6
III. Literature Review 7
IV. Chapter Overview 12
Chapter One: Anxiety of Memory 18
I. Unconscious Memories in Dreams 18
II. Dreams in Disguise 26
Chapter Two: The Unfixed Identity 34
I. The Troubled Identity in Self-reflections 34
II. Rereading Writings as a Self-reflection 47
Chapter Three: Epistolarity in Science Fiction 52
I. The Creation of an Illusion of Verisimilitude from a First Person Narrative 52
II. The Creation of an Illusion of Authenticity from a Third Person Narrative 57
Conclusion 61
Works cited 63

Works cited
Aldiss, Brian W. Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction. London: Paladin Books, 1988. Print.
Allan, Kathryn, editor. Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure. Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Print.
Altman, Janet Gurkin. Epistolarity: Approaches to a Form. Ohio State University Press, 1982. Print.
Austin, Michael. Useful Fictions: Evolution, Anxiety, and the Origins of Literature. U of Nebraska Press, 2010. Print.
Boak, Denis. “Terry Eagleton, “ Literary Theory: An Introduction”.” AUMLA: Journal of the Australasian Universities Modern Language Association 64 (1985): 269. Print.
Bourguignon, Erika. “Dreams that speak: Experience and interpretation” Dreaming and the self: New perspectives on subjectivity, identity, and emotion (2003): 133-153. Print.
Clements, Jennifer. “How Science Fiction Helps Us Reimagine Our Moral Relations with Animals.” Journal of Animal Ethics, vol. 5, no. 2, 2015, pp. 181–187. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/janimalethics.5.2.0181.
Cline, Brent Walter. ““You’re Not the Same Kind of Human Being”: The Evolution of Pity to Horror in Daniel Keyes' Flowers for Algernon.” Disability Studies Quarterly 32.4 (2012). Print.
―. “Tongueless: Representation of the Mentally Disabled and the Novel.” (2010).
Crow, Charles L., ed. A companion to American gothic. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
Ewing, Katherine Pratt. “Diasporic dreaming, identity, and self-constitution.” Dreaming and the self: new perspectives on subjectivity, identity, and emotion (2003): 43-60. Print.
Freud, Sigmund. Vol.2: New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis. Translated by James Strachey, Penguin Books, 1991. Print.
Gallop, Jane. “Lacan's ‘Mirror Stage’: Where to Begin.” SubStance, 11/12, 1982, pp. 118–128. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3684185.
Gavrish, Irina. “Social position of persons with mental disorder in Daniel Keyes’ novel and short story Flowers for Algernon.” (2014). Print.
Glucksman, Myron L. Dreaming: An Opportunity for Change. Jason Aronson, 2007.
Grinstein, Alexander. Freuds Rules of Dream Interpretation. International Universities Press, 1986. Print.
Jain, Devanshi. “The Epistolary Nature Of Bram Stoker's Dracula: TCR.” The Curious Reader, 26 May 2018, https://www.thecuriousreader.in/features/dracula-epistolary-novel/.
Keyes, Daniel. Algernon, Charlie, and I: A Writers Journey. Harcourt, 2004. Print.
―. Flowers for Algernon. Harcourt, 2004. Print.
Lacan, Jacques. “Some reflections on the ego.” International Journal of Psycho-Analysis 34 (1953): 11-17.
―. “The Mirror-Phase as Formative of the Function of the I.” New Left Review 51 (1968): 71. Print.
―. Anxiety: the Seminar of Jacques Lacan. Cambridge: Polity, 2014. Print.
Leahy, Richard. “Superintelligence and Mental Anxiety from Mary Shelley to Ted Chiang.” Foundation: Science Fiction Studies, 130 (47.2), 2018. Print.
Mageo, Jeannette Marie. “Theorizing dreaming and the self.” Dreaming and the self: New perspectives on subjectivity, identity, and emotion (2003): 3-22. Print.
Martin, Wallace. Recent Theories of Narrative. Cornell University Press, 1986. Print.
Palumbo, Donald. “The Monomyth in Daniel Keyes's ‘Flowers for Algernon’: Keyes, Campbell and Plato.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 14, no. 4 (56), 2004, pp. 427–446. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43308664.
Penney, Alexander M., Victoria C. Miedema, and Dwight Mazmanian. “Intelligence and emotional disorders: Is the worrying and ruminating mind a more intelligent mind?” Personality and Individual Differences 74 (2015): 90-93. Print.
Pluth, Ed. Signifiers and Acts: Freedom in Lacan's Theory of the Subject. State University of New York Press, 2007. Print.
Porter, Laurence M. The Interpretation of Dreams: Freud's Theories Revisited. Twayne Publishers, 1987. Print.
Rivkin, Julie, and Michael Ryan, editors. Literary Theory: An Anthology. Blackwell Publishing, 2013. Print.
Sarup, Madan, and Raja Tasneem. Identity, Culture and Postmodern World. Edinburgh University Press, 1996. Print.
Sawyer, Andy. “The science fiction short story.” Teaching the Short Story. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2011. 96-116. Print.
Semple, Tristan. “The semiotics of slow adventure: Narrative and identity.” Adventure Tourism. Routledge, 2013. 77-90. Print.
Sklar, Howard. “The Many Voices of Charlie Gordon.” Disability in Science Fiction: Representations of Technology as Cure. edited by Kathryn Allan, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2013, pp. 47–49. Print.
Slonczewski, Joan, and Michael Levy. “Science Fiction and the Life Sciences.” The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, edited by Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2003, pp. 174–185. Cambridge Companions to Literature. Print.
Smith, Curtis C. Twentieth Century Science-Fiction Writers. 2nd ed., St. James Press, 1986. Print.
Stephen, Michele. “Memory, emotion and the imaginal mind.” Dreaming and the self: New perspectives on subjectivity, identity, and emotion (2003): 97-129. Print.
Wheelis, Allen. The Quest for Identity. Norton, 1958. Print.
Wolk, Anthony. “Challenge the Boundaries: An Overview of Science Fiction and Fantasy.” English Journal, vol. 79, no. 3, 1990, pp. 26. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/docview/237287994?accountid=14427.