Flowers For Algernon - Settings

I have been taking notes for the past few days, and this is an elaboration of some notes that I took 1 or 2 weeks ago.
So how is the setting reality important? According to what Mr. Teo had taught us and the notes that I have taken, it is so that the readers can relate to Charlie Gordon's experiences to his own life and feel the feelings felt by Charlie Gordon. Readers can also step into Charlie Gordon's shoes, so its almost as if the reader himself is Charlie Gordon. The author can also convey his themes (e.g. friendship) to the reader. Another reason is that the reader can easily understand, or actually understand more, about Charlie Gordon and his experiences.
This story was based in New York. When many people hear of New York, they think it as a place of hope, a place to be successful, and a place to have a new and potentially fruitful beginning. This is realistic because although this story is 'Science Fiction', it is not based in some non-existing place or planet, for example, the story (series, actually) 'Star Wars' is based in space, in some alien planet.
The characters in the story is realistic. They are not super-heroes, aliens or monsters, etc. Charlie Gordon was just a typical mentally-retarded person (but special), and Algernon was, literally, a typical lab reat (but also special). Even the other characters whose lives becomes intertwined with Charlie Gordon. Mrs. Kinnian is a night school (for the mentally-challenged), Dr. Strauss is a neurosurgeon, Dr. Nemur is a psychologist. These are not preternatural jobs or something that we do not already know.
The time when this story took place was also realistic. It was in the present, as in the story there were neurosurgeons and psychologists. This helps the reader understand better, because the reader himself is familiar with these subjects. Unlike 'Star Wars', where technology was so advanced we know almost nothing about it until we watch the movie (s).

- Uncle HM