A dream last night triggered off a sequence of memories, lit up a whole slice of the past and the important thing is to get it down on paper quickly before I forget it because I seem to forget things sooner now. It has to do with my mother, and now—more than ever—I want to understand her, to know what she was like and why she acted the way she did. I mustn’t hate her. I’ve got to come to terms with her before I see her so that I won’t act harshly or foolishly.

— Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon, Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966