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Summary (Critical Survey of Literature for Students)
Charlie Gordon is a gentle, happy, thirty two year old with an intelligence quotient (IQ) of
- For seventeen years, he has worked at Donner’s Bakery, a job his Uncle Herman found for him. He also attends evening classes at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults to learn to read and write. His teacher, Alice Kinnian, recommends him for a research experiment on intelligence conducted by Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur. This experiment, funded by the Welberg Foundation, has already been successful on a white lab mouse named Algernon, so the researchers are ready for a human participant.
Professor Nemur tells Charlie to keep a journal in the form of progress reports for the experiment. The first such “progris riport,” dated in early March, documents Charlie’s illiteracy and strong hope to be selected for the “operashun.” Charlie worries that he will fail the personality and intelligence tests, especially after Algernon beats him when they compete in solving puzzles. He also describes, in a childlike manner, his desire to increase his intelligence to participate fully in discussions and make more friends.
Despite Professor Nemur’s reservations, Charlie is selected to undergo neurosurgery along with enzyme and hormone treatments intended to triple his intelligence. He is nervous about the operation and brings a rabbit’s foot and other superstitious objects with him to the hospital. After the successful operation, he is disappointed that he is not instantly smarter.
Charlie is allowed to return to his job at Donner’s Bakery. In the evenings, Miss Kinnian tutors him, and soon he is beating Algernon in maze races and has learned to read. His intelligence increases rapidly. He is promoted to dough mixer at work and slowly realizes that the people he thought of as friends have been making fun of him. They notice changes in him and become suspicious. Around the time he suggests a few improvements at the bakery, he also catches Gimpy stealing from Mr. Donner. After he confronts Gimpy, the employees band together to have Charlie fired. Only Fanny Birden stands on his side, but while saying good bye she suggests that something unnatural is happening to Charlie.
Charlie throws himself into reading and spends time at Beekman University pretending to be a student. He also begins remembering childhood events and meets regularly with Dr. Strauss for therapy sessions. In the middle of June, Charlie and Algernon are put on display at the annual psychological association convention in Chicago. His intelligence has surpassed that of both Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, and he realizes there is a flaw in their research. This, combined with Nemur’s continual references to Charlie as having been engineered into a human, so upsets Charlie that he releases Algernon, causing chaos. During the distraction, he and Algernon return to New York.
Flowers for Algernon Summary (Society and Self, Critical
Representations in Literature)
Charlie’s disillusionment leads to self reflection, and his memories lead him to understand his desire to become more intelligent and his struggle to develop a relationship with Alice Kinnian, to whom he is attracted. Both desires stem from his childhood, when his mother denied that Charlie’s intelligence was low and developed schemes to boost it. Once his sister Norma was born, his mother’s efforts shifted toward getting Charlie institutionalized. He works on finding his parents and sister to attempt reconnecting with them.
Charlie befriends a neighbor, Fay, who helps socialize him. They drink and go dancing. During this time, when memories surface, Charlie recognizes a sort of disassociation, as if a switch has been flipped: At such times, he seems either to watch his own behavior through the eyes of a frightened man with the intelligence of a six year old or to watch a developmentally disabled and confused young man through the eyes of a thirty two year old genius.
By late July, Charlie has reached his intellectual peak, and the decline that Algernon is exhibiting begins to show itself in Charlie’s behavior as well. A race begins, as he feverishly works to find the flaw in the experiment before he can no longer comprehend the science involved. By September, Algernon is dead. Charlie reacts violently to his progressive loss of knowledge and rejects Alice, with whom he had finally connected. By mid November, he asks for his old job back at Donner’s Bakery. He has come full circle. When he accidentally shows up at the Beekman Center and upsets Alice, he decides to leave for the Warren State Home, where he will not have to face anyone who remembers that he was a genius for almost eight months.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is one of the classic science fiction novels of the 1960’s. It conveys a moving story about a mentally retarded man gaining genius level intelligence, only to slowly and tragically regress to his former state. It is widely considered to be one of the most important novels ever written about the nature of human intelligence. The novel won the 1966 Nebula Award.
The novel was expanded from a novella of the same title, which itself won a Hugo Award in
- “Flowers for Algernon” (1959) told the story of Charlie Gordon, a thirty year old man with an IQ less than 70 but with an intense desire to learn. He is chosen to be the first human subject in an experiment aimed at surgically correcting his brian in a way that is hoped will triple his IQ. The same technique appeared successful on a laboratory mouse named Algernon. The entire story is told through journals written by Charlie, documenting his feelings and experiences as he increases his intelligence to genius level, then slowly and tragically returns to his former limited intellectual abilities. In 1992, science fiction readers and professionals voted it the best science fiction novella ever written.
procedure. Now the reason for the animal’s superior maze running is revealed: “Algernon beats me all the time because he had that operashun too. That makes me feel better.... Maybe someday I’ll beat Algernon. Boy that would be something.”
Charlie returns to his job as a janitor at Donnegan’s Plastic Box Company. He is happy to be back with his friends, oblivious to the mockery and practical jokes that his coworkers enjoy at his expense.
Dr. Strauss introduces a subliminal learning machine that teaches while Charlie sleeps. The breakthrough comes only a month after the journal entries begin, when Charlie beats Algernon. After that, his intellect expands at an ever increasing rate. He reads widely; masters grammar and punctuation; learns foreign languages, mathematics, and music; and even conquers the Rorschach inkblot test that so baffled him before his operation.
As knowledge enters Charlie’s world, so too does the recognition of evil. His most bitter lesson about people comes at a factory party. As he dances, his coworkers repeatedly trip him, laughing at his falls. The ridicule of those he once counted as friends devastates him: “I didn’t know what to do or where to turn. Everyone was looking at me and laughing and I felt naked. I wanted to hide myself. I ran out into the street and I threw up.... I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me...
. I’m ashamed.”
He suggests a highly profitable improvement in procedure at the factory and earns a meager bonus, but his coworkers fear the new Charlie so much they sign a petition demanding his dismissal. He realizes that he loves Miss Kinnian, but his superior intellect poses a new barrier between them. He now can no longer communicate with her.
A shift in Algernon’s behavior augurs Charlie’s fate. The mouse turns vicious, and his intelligence diminishes. Realizing that his own intellectual prowess is also temporary, Charlie throws himself into research, attempting to develop a calculus of intelligence. He concludes that artificially increased intelligence deteriorates at a speed proportional to the quantity of the increase.
After Algernon dies, Charlie puts the mouse’s body in a cheese box and buries it in his backyard. He places flowers on the grave regularly in the weeks that follow.
Charlie’s own intellectual decline accelerates, and he mourns his losses one by one as memories and skills disappear. Once again mentally handicapped, Charlie decides that his best hopes lie in a new beginning somewhere outside New York. He harbors no malice, bears no regrets: “dont be sorry for me Im glad I got a second chanse to be smart becaus I lerned a lot of things that I never new were in this world and Im grateful that I saw it all for a little bit.” Proud of his accomplishment, however transitory, Charlie congratulates himself for being “the first dumb person in the world who ever found out something importent for sience.” He asks nothing from his teacher, his doctors, or his readers but that flowers be placed on Algernon’s grave.
Flowers for Algernon One-Page Summary
Part I—Charlie Becomes a Genius Flowers for Algernon is told as a series of "Progress Reports" written by Charlie Gordon, a thirty two year old man with an IQ of 68. As Keyes's novel opens, Charlie has volunteered to be the subject of an experimental surgical procedure which would more than triple his IQ. Although Charlie is of subnormal intelligence, he is unusually motivated, taking night school classes at the Beekman University Center for Retarded Adults. At first, he is afraid he won't be chosen for the project. He doesn't understand what to do when he is asked to tell what he sees in inkblots, and when he traces through a diagram of a maze in competition with Algernon, a mouse who is running an actual maze, Algernon always wins. Nonetheless, Charlie is chosen by the scientists in charge of the project—Professor Nemur, the psychologist who developed the technique, and Dr. Strauss, the neurosurgeon who performs the actual operation.
After the surgery, Charlie returns to his job as a janitor at Donner's Bakery, where nobody is aware of his operation. The sad state of Charlie's life prior to the surgery is made clear when Joe Carp and Frank Reilly, whom Charlie regards as his friends, take him out to a bar, get him drunk, make fun of him, and leave him to find his way home.
As time passes, however, it becomes obvious that Charlie is getting smarter. At the bakery, he successfully operates a complicated machine that mixes baking dough. His performances on the psychological tests improve, and he finally beats Algernon at running the maze—a significant development, as the mouse has had its intelligence raised by the same surgical procedure that Charlie underwent. And his Progress Reports are more sophisticated and articulate than before.
As Charlie's IQ increases, so does his awareness of himself and others. Now, when his "friends" make fun of him, he understands their true motivations. He steadily advances at work, but takes no satisfaction from it because the other employees resent him. Eventually, his coworkers at the bakery are so unnerved by his unexplained changes that they sign a petition demanding that he be fired. The only one who doesn't, an old woman named Fanny Birden, nonetheless thinks Charlie's condition "ain't right" and wishes he could return to "the good simple man" he had been.
Charlie also realizes that he has fallen in love with Alice Kinnian, the night school teacher who originally recommended him for the operation. Despite the gentleness of her rejection, Charlie is terribly upset, as he is when he catches Gimpy, the one person at the bakery who had been kind to him, stealing. Charlie is becoming aware that factual knowledge and intellectual ability may not prepare a person to deal with all of life's problems.
When the owner came to see what the excitement was about, the boy cowered— threw up his arms as if to ward off a blow.
"All right! All right, you dope," shouted the man, "don't just stand there! Get the broom and sweep up that mess. A broom … a broom you idiot! It's in the kitchen. Sweep up all the pieces."
When the boy saw that he was not going to be punished, his frightened expression disappeared, and he smiled and hummed as he came back with the broom. A few of the rowdier customers kept up the remarks, amusing themselves at his expense.
"Here, sonny, over here. There's a nice piece behind you.…"
"C'mon, do it again.…"
"He's not so dumb. It's easier to break 'em than to wash 'em.…"
As the boy's vacant eyes moved across the crowd of amused onlookers, he slowly mirrored their smiles and finally broke into an uncertain grin at the joke which he did not understand.
I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile—the wide, bright eyes of a child, uncertain but eager to please, and I realized what I had recognized in him. They were laughing at him because he was retarded.
And at first I had been amused along with the rest.
Suddenly, I was furious at myself and all those who were smirking at him. I wanted to pick up the dishes and throw them. I wanted to smash their laughing faces. I jumped up and shouted, "Shut up! Leave him alone! He can't understand. He can't help what he is … but for God's sake, have some respect! He's a human being!"
The incident makes Charlie decide to return to Beekman University and work on his own to perfect Nemur and Strauss's procedure so that it might help others like himself.
After returning to the University, Charlie renews his relationship with Alice but is still unable to make love to her. He turns back to Fay, whom he does not truly love but with whom he is able, finally, to have a sexual relationship. Eventually, though, Charlie becomes so immersed in his research that he moves into the lab and breaks off with Fay, who resents the time he devotes to his work—and who also has never known the truth about Charlie. Time is of the essence, as Algernon is beginning to show signs of instability and decline. Charlie works feverishly to determine if the effects of his operation will last, driven both by
Flowers for Algernon Chapter Summaries
Progress Report 1 Summary
his fear of reverting to his former self and his desire to find any information at all that might help other mentally handicapped people. He also begins to achieve a more mature insight into his own nature and that of other people. In a confrontation with Nemur, Charlie declares that "intelligence and education that hasn't been tempered by human affection isn't worth a damn."
Part III—Charlie Loses His Genius Finally, Charlie's completes his research. In a letter to Nemur, he announces his discovery of the "Algernon Gordon Effect": "artificially induced intelligence deteriorates at a rate of time directly proportional to the quantity of the increase." Charlie will revert to his former IQ within a matter of months. Shortly after this discovery, Algernon dies.
Faced with the prospect of losing all he has gained, Charlie seeks to come to terms with himself and his memories. He visits his mother and sister, who still live in Brooklyn. Rose has sunk into senility and only momentarily recognizes her son. Norma, far from being the hateful rival Charlie remembers, is a kind and intelligent woman who sincerely regrets both Charlie's hardships and her own inability to help him through them.
Charlie also comes to terms with Alice Kinnian, who is determined to stick by him as long as possible. Having put the ghosts of his past to rest, he is finally able to make love to her, and they are fully together for a brief time. But Charlie's decline is rapid, and he pushes Alice away before he completely reverts to his former self.
Charlie's final Progress Reports reflect his rapid deterioration as his writing reverts to its earlier semi literacy. However, he has retained some memory of his experiences, and perhaps some insight as well. When he goes back to his old job at the bakery, he notes, "If they make fun of you dont get sore because you remember their not so smart like you once thot they were." The bakery workers accept him back; Carp and Reilly, who formerly had tormented Charlie, defend him when a new worker makes fun of him. However, Charlie finally decides to leave New York for good and check himself into the Warren State Home and Training School. His final Progress Report, dated only eight months after the first, asks that someone "put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard."
Charlie Gordon begins the book on March 3 with a short introduction, the first of many “Progress Reports” that he writes for Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur. Charlie states that he is thirty two years old, will turn thirty three next month, and is currently employed at Donner’s Bakery where he earns eleven dollars a week as a janitor. Although he has an IQ of only 68, he is functional enough to live independently and to attend classes three times a week at the Beekman University Center for Retarded Adults. As a student there, he attracts the attention of Strauss and Nemur, who are interested in the field of neuroscience. His
Progress Report 3 Summary
Progress Report 4 Summary
anything other than inkblots. When Burt tells him to imagine that there is something on the card, Charlie tells him that he imagines an inkblot. In frustration, Burt breaks his pencil point.
On March 5, Charlie meets with Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur to discuss the Rorschach test. Charlie defensively tells them that he did not spill the ink on the cards, nor could he see anything in the blots as Burt wanted him to. Strauss and Nemur assure Charlie that they may still be able to use him. When Charlie says that Miss Kinnian never gave him any tests except reading and writing, Dr. Strauss mentions that his teacher said he was the best pupil as far as effort and motivation. Charlie explains that he went to Beekman University Center because he wanted to be smart. His mother always told him to “try harder” to be smart, but he never was able to make much progress in school. Even in Miss Kinnian’s class, Charlie confesses that he has no long term memory.
Strauss and Nemur explain to Charlie that the experiment they want to do has worked only with animals so far. They are not even sure that it will work on humans, but Charlie says he does not care, even if it hurts. He promises that he will work hard and get smart if they will use him for the experiment.
The doctors explain that before they can perform the surgery, they will have to get permission from his family. As a handicapped person, he is not deemed competent to give them legal permission. Charlie says that his uncle Herman, who used to take care of him, is dead. He has not been in contact with his parents or his younger sister, Norma, for some time, but he thinks they live in Brooklyn. Strauss promises that he will try to get in touch with them for permission.
Charlie confesses that writing the progress reports had caused him to lose sleep. He is clumsy at work, dropping things and making his supervisor, Gimpy, angry. Charlie counts him as a friend, even though Gimpy yells and laughs at him. At this point in the novel, Charlie cannot tell the true nature of the relationships that he has with others. Charlie looks forward to Gimpy’s reaction when Charlie becomes smart after the operation.
On March 6, Charlie reports that he returned to the lab for more tests. The lab tester tells Charlie that he is going to take a “Thematic Apperception Test.” Charlie asks her how to spell it for his report, which shows that even before the operation, Charlie is “trying hard” to be smart. His focus is now on doing the “right” things in order to be viewed as a fitting candidate.
Progress Report 5 Summary
In the Thematic Apperception Test, Charlie is shown pictures of people. Initially, Charlie thinks this test will be easier than the Rorschach Test because he can actually see what is in the picture, unlike in the inkblots. The tester tells him that he must make up a story about the people in the picture, but Charlie refuses, believing that “telling stories” is the same as lying. He offers to tell her stories of his family, since he knows they are real, but the tester wants him to tell stories about the people in the pictures. When Charlie refuses, she angrily puts the pictures away. Charlie declares his indifference, hiding the fact that he too is becoming frustrated with his failure.
Charlie then meets with "Burt Seldon," making note of the name that he could not remember the day before. Burt gives Charlie a sheet of paper containing a maze (or as Charlie thinks, “amazed”), telling him to draw a line from start to finish. Charlie is unable to accomplish this, so after numerous tries, Burt takes him to the animal testing center. He shows Charlie a maze on a wooden table and introduces Charlie to Algernon, a mouse who has had the operation that increases intelligence. Burt shows Charlie how Algernon can run through the maze, testing false leads, until he successfully reaches the end and emits a squeak of satisfaction. Burt then has Charlie use a similar maze equipped with an electric stylus that will give a small electric shock when he goes down the wrong path. Algernon’s maze is set up to replicate the one used by Charlie, and the man and the mouse race against each other. Charlie is amazed that Algernon beats him every time, but eventually Charlie learns to complete the maze, although not as fast as Algernon. Charlie is astonished that “mice are so smart.” Even though he is beaten by Algernon, the tests show that Charlie is able to learn at some level, making him a more fitting candidate for the intelligence enhancement surgery.
On the same day, March 6, Charlie is present during a discussion among Strauss, Nemur, and Burt Seldon. Charlie’s sister, Norma, has been found and has granted permission for the operation. Professor Nemur, however, is hesitant about using Charlie. Strauss states that Charlie is the best candidate of all those tested. Burt adds that Miss Kinnian recommends him as the best of all her pupils at Beekman University, the source for the test subjects. Strauss emphasizes that Charlie has a high level of motivation for a person with a 68 IQ. He explains to Charlie that "motivation" is something that Algernon has as well; for the mouse, the motivation is cheese. Charlie is confused, since he says he did not have cheese that week.
Professor Nemur is worried that raising Charlie’s IQ from such a low level to an extremely high one could seriously harm Charlie. The conversation gets technical, so Charlie tries to dictate the words as he hears them. Using asterisks for words he does not completely catch, Charlie demonstrates that he has some measure of self monitoring, another key factor in the possible success of the experiment. It is evident from the conversation that Professor Nemur is intent on creating a race of “intellectual supermen,” of which Charlie will be only the
Progress Report 7 Summary
Progress Report 8 Summary
Following the operation, Charlie’s eyes are bandaged for three days. It is not until March 11 that he can write another "progress report" (which Hilda, the nurse, shows him how to spell correctly). He tells of his fear prior to the procedure, of being wheeled into an operating room with tiers of doctors waiting to view the historic surgery. Dr. Strauss tries to calm Charlie, but when his arms and legs are strapped down, his fear increases significantly. After the anesthesia mask is lowered, Charlie calmly goes to sleep.
When Charlie awakens, he finds that his eyes are bandaged and he cannot remember the surgery at all. Burt monitors Charlie, taking his vital statistics, recording them for “science,” as Charlie says. Burt further explains the importance of the progress reports, which will record what Charlie thinks and feels as the experiment progresses. As Charlie rereads his reports, he cannot understand how they will tell anyone anything. He is looking forward to being able to carry on a conversation with his fellow workers at Donner’s Bakery. He has been watching and listening as they discuss religion, politics, and current events. He hopes that soon he will be able to take part.
Hilda, Charlie’s first nurse, says he is brave to have an operation on his brain, something that she would never allow. She questions the morality of the operation, telling Charlie that if God had wanted him to be smart, He would have made him so. She urges Charlie to pray for forgiveness for letting the doctors operate. Charlie, however, cannot see why it is sinful, but he becomes scared once again. The next day, Charlie has a new nurse, Lucille, to replace Hilda, who has been moved to the maternity ward because of her conversation with Charlie. Charlie asks Lucille where the babies in the maternity ward come from; she becomes embarrassed and leaves without answering his question. This is one of the things that Charlie hopes to learn when he becomes smart.
Charlie is frustrated to find out that he is not immediately smart after the operation, as he had hoped. Miss Kinnian tells him that he will become smart slowly and must work hard. This makes no sense to Charlie, who was working hard at being smart before the operation. Miss Kinnian explains that the surgery will allow Charlie to remember more of what he learns. He promises that he will try hard; Miss Kinnian expresses her faith in him.
In the days following the operation, Charlie becomes increasingly frustrated. He thinks the puzzles, the games, and especially the progress reports are “stupid.” He gets headaches from trying to remember as Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur want him to. Miss Kinnian assures him that he will get smarter, but it will happen without his realizing it.
Progress Report 9 Summary
Charlie eats lunch with Burt in the college cafeteria. He listens to the students around them and hopes that he will soon be able to have similar conversations about serious topics. Burt promises him that eventually he will be smarter than the students. Charlie almost tells the students that he will be very smart like them, but Burt interrupts him, as the experiment is still secret. He explains that Professor Nemur does not want his colleagues to laugh at his theories of intellectual enhancement.
Almost two weeks after the operation, Charlie is given permission to go back to the bakery. When he shows up for work, the other men poke fun of his bandages, asking if he had "brains put in." Charlie discovers that Mr. Donner has hired a boy to take over the deliveries that Charlie used to make. When Charlie is concerned that he will lose his job, Mr. Donner explains that he had promised Charlie’s uncle that he would take care of Charlie and give him a job for the rest of his life. Charlie is relieved and enjoys the joking around of the other men, though it is actually mean spirited name calling directed at Charlie. Whenever someone makes a mistake, they call it making a “Charlie Gordon.”
At night, Charlie is connected to a subliminal teaching machine. Dr. Strauss explains that it will help Charlie get smarter even as he sleeps. Charlie, however, is upset that he cannot sleep because of the noise. Eventually Dr. Strauss lowers the volume. The machine is also intended to help Charlie’s long term memory. Charlie eventually remembers how he came to Beekman University to learn with Miss Kinnian. A coworker at the bakery had a cousin who was a student there. Through this connection, Charlie was registered as a student too.
At a work party, the other men make fun of Charlie and trick him into getting drunk. They leave him alone on the streets. Charlie is lost and frightened until a policeman takes him home. Charlie vows never to drink whiskey again.
On March 29, twenty days after the operation, Charlie finally beats Algernon at the maze. Charlie recognizes the significance of this in terms of his operation, but he confesses that he does not feel any smarter. Charlie is also remembering his past in his dreams, recalling incidents of being punished and his sister making fun of him.
Miss Kinnian begins to give Charlie private lessons. She has him read Robinson Crusoe (/topics/robinson crusoe). Charlie confesses there are many words he does not know, but he has a basic understanding of the story. His spelling begins to improve as he continues writing progress reports.
On April Fools' Day, Charlie’s coworkers plan to play a trick by getting Charlie to run the bread making machine, a task that usually takes a year in baking school to accomplish. When Charlie is able to do this, and to do it better than the previous worker, the crowd is silenced and eventually becomes sullen.
Progress Report 11 Summary
As Charlie matures, so do his emotions. Because his fellow workers at the bakery do not want to celebrate his raise with him, he decides he will ask Miss Kinnian. He decides he had better ask Dr. Strauss or Professor Nemur their thoughts on this plan. Dr. Strauss has agreed that Charlie has reached the point where not all of his thoughts should be read. He allows Charlie to keep some of the progress reports private, to be examined only when the final report to the Welberg Foundation, which had funded the grant for the experiment, was due.
Charlie drops by the office to ask the advice of the scientists and overhears them arguing. Used to being treated as invisible, Charlie listens to their conversation. Professor Nemur plans to reveal the results of Charlie’s operation to a convention in Chicago in six weeks. Dr. Strauss believes strongly that this is still too soon, as Charlie is still progressing. Professor Nemur feels that the concern over regression is past, that nothing can go wrong now. Professor Nemur pulls rank as the senior member of the team, and there is quite a bit of name calling. Charlie decides to wait until the next day to ask about his date with Miss Kinnian.
Charlie hangs around the college cafeteria more, listening in on the conversations of the students. He feels he can so easily join in, but he does not, feeling still like an outsider. In a dream, he remembers an argument between his parents. His mother wanted him to return to school, believing that with effort he will eventually become “normal.” His father tries to convince her that this is impossible and that they should accept him the way he is. Charlie looks back at himself in the third person, as if that child were a totally different identity. The boy listens to the argument, becoming frightened and needing to go to the bathroom, but he is too scared. He defecates his pants. At that moment, Charlie remembers that his mother’s name was Rose and his father's name was Matt.
It is May 1, and Charlie asks Miss Kinnian (Alice) out for dinner and a movie. He is obsessed with her closeness, the times when they accidentally touch. He is unsure of himself and how he is supposed to react. He is bothered by the unreality of the movie, that all its conflicts were wrapped up nicely but artificially. He is at the point of being angry, but Miss Kinnian calms him down, pointing out that he is rapidly becoming more analytical. At the end of the evening, Charlie is not sure how he is supposed to act. His awkwardness reveals that he is still emotionally immature despite his now genius level IQ. They agree that it was probably not a good idea for them to have gone out, and Miss Kinnian prevents Charlie from moving too far physically.
Charlie’s dreams give him material for introspection, especially in regard to women. He remembers seeing his sister naked in the bathroom, confused by their physical differences. Her menstrual blood confused him even more, thinking that she was hurt and terrified that he would be blamed.
Progress Report 12 Summary
At the bakery, he notices that Gimpy is undercharging customers and splitting the difference with them. Knowing this is dishonest, he is unsure what he should do. If he does nothing, he will be complicit in the stealing. If he says something, Gimpy will be fired and it is unlikely that he will easily get another job due to his club foot. He asks Professor Nemur for advice. The scientist tells him it is none of his business and that he should ignore it. Dr. Strauss says that he has a moral obligation to report it. Wanting Alice Kinnian to break the tie, he asks her advice. She tells him that he must decide for himself. He is surprised to realize that he can trust himself. He approaches Gimpy, telling him the situation as if it happened to a friend of his, though Gimpy is aware of what Charlie is saying. Charlie warns him that if he does not stop stealing, he will report it to Mr. Donner. If he stops, then he will say nothing.
Charlie and Alice go to an outdoor concert. When the two get physically close, Charlie hallucinates that he sees himself as a teenage boy exposing himself. He remembers his mother beating him for getting an erection. Charlie is bothered by the hallucination, which prevents him from kissing Alice good night as he had planned.
Charlie is fired from his job at the bakery. His coworkers once made fun of him for being “dumber” than they were, but now that he has clearly surpassed them intellectually, they are afraid of him. Mr. Donner, despite his promise to Charlie’s Uncle Herman, lets him go. Charlie is upset because the bakery is the only home he has known for a long time. He talks about this with Alice, noticing the conflicting decorations in her home. That night, his dreams center on that dichotomy and his conflicting emotions concerning women’s sexuality.
It is June 5, one week until the convention in Chicago, and Charlie has not filed any progress reports for two weeks. Professor Nemur is upset because he feels Charlie is jeopardizing the presentation. Charlie understands this, especially now that the Welberg Foundation is paying him a salary. But he is irritated that Nemur keeps referring to him as a "lab specimen." Charlie reminds him that he is a person.
Dr. Strauss suggests that Charlie learn how to type, since Charlie is frustrated that his thoughts now come much faster than he can write them down. He does not pursue a romantic relationship with Alice Kinnian, but he is still tormented by dreams of the teenage Charlie. He remembers when his sister Norma came home with an A on a test, which meant that she could have the dog her mother promised. When Charlie offered to help Norma take care of her dog, his sister became upset, either wanting the dog all to herself or not having it at all. Charlie later overheard her tell friends that Charlie was not really her brother, just someone they took in because they felt sorry for him. Charlie regrets all that Norma lost by having him as a brother.
Progress Report 14 Summary
interest. Charlie realizes that Nemur has not read the latest research on neuropsychiatry, especially that which relates to Charlie’s case. Charlie realizes that Nemur knows less about the brain than Charlie does.
As the presentation gets underway, Charlie’s resentment grows. He considers releasing Algernon from his cage. As Nemur presents his research, Charlie realizes that Nemur did not take into consideration the rate of increase when he predicted that Charlie’s increase in intelligence was permanent. Charlie realizes that, after all, he may slide back to his previous condition, perhaps into an even lower level IQ. He realizes that the scientists did not understand what they had done. Charlie releases Algernon from his cage, causing mass panic. As everyone scrambles, trying to catch Algernon, Charlie finds him in the women’s restroom, takes him, and sneaks back to the hotel. He grabs his bags, uses his return ticket to go back to New York, where he takes lodgings in a hotel until he can make other arrangements.
Charlie sees a newspaper picture of his mother and sister, who were questioned by a reporter following Charlie’s escape with Algernon from the convention. From the article, Charlie learns the address of his mother, as well as the fact that his father and mother have separated and his father owns a barbershop in the Bronx. The sight of his mother’s face reminds him of the final showdown between his parents: his mother wanted Charlie to be placed in the Warren home, but his father instead takes him to his brother Herman’s.
Charlie finds an apartment in midtown New York City. He continues his studies and builds a new maze for Algernon. Across the hall is a free spirited painter named Fay. Sexually attracted to her, Charlie keeps his distance, fearing the re emergence of the shadow Charlie.
Deciding to visit his father, Charlie shows up at the barbershop. His father does not recognize him, so Charlie asks for a shave and haircut. He asks his father if he knows who he is. Matt Gordon is fearful, so Charlie leaves without revealing his identity.
Fay brings Algernon a female mouse for companionship. When she later comes to Charlie's apartment following an altercation with another man, she almost succeeds in convincing Charlie to go to bed with her. Charlie gets drunk, and during his drunken episode he reverts to the old Charlie, which startles Fay. Charlie goes on an “anti intellectual binge,” going to the movies and afterward to a bar. One of the busboys is mentally handicapped. The other customers are making fun of him, and Charlie is laughing along when he realizes what he is doing. He shouts out for everyone to leave the boy alone—he is a human being.
The next day he calls Alice Kinnian and tells her that he will return to the lab after he has finished a few projects of his own. He goes to visit her and comes close to making love to her, but the shadow Charlie shows up and prevents it once again. He goes back to his
Progress Report 15 Summary
Progress Report 16 Summary
apartment, visits Fay, and eventually manages to make love to her, no longer caring if the shadow Charlie watches.
One day in July, Algernon bites Fay. He also attacks Charlie, who sees that the female mouse that Fay brought has been bitten and gashed by Algernon. It is clear that Algernon is becoming aggressive and antisocial. Charlie knows he has to get the mouse back to the lab to determine if what is happening to Algernon is happening to himself.
Charlie returns to the lab with Algernon. He has gone over Nemur’s head and received authorization by the Welberg Foundation to head the investigation into Algernon’s reversion. Nemur is furious but has no other option but to aid Charlie in any way he can. If Charlie cannot come up with an explanation, then Nemur’s entire life’s work will have been proved valueless. If Charlie does determine the cause and can correct it, not only Charlie but Nemur and the rest of the crew will benefit.
After examining Algernon, Burt determines that the mouse has lost much of his ability to problem solve. Charlie wonders if the regression is the result of Algernon being away from the lab for so long. Burt works with Algernon to see exactly at what level the mouse is functioning now. Looking around the lab, Charlie notices one door. Asking Burt what it is, he is told that it is the place where “test subjects” (animals) are frozen and then incinerated. Charlie makes Burt promise that if Algernon should die, the mouse will be given to Charlie rather than be put in the incinerator.
The incinerator makes Charlie wonder what the contingencies are if his own intellectual enhancement proves to be temporary. Nemur reluctantly tells him that if the surgery proves unsuccessful, Charlie will be sent to the Warren state home, with all financial obligations and future living expenses paid for by the Welberg Foundation. Norma, Charlie's sister, insisted on that condition before she granted permission for the surgery. Charlie is furious that he will be sent back to the place from which Mr. Donner had rescued him. Eventually, he sees that it is the most acceptable solution (better than the incinerator, he thinks). He announces to Nemur that he wants to visit the Warren home to see what it is like while he is still able to make some kind of judgment about his future life.
Charlie continues his work at the lab. He refuses Fay permission to visit his workplace, fearing the consequences should Fay and Alice meet each other. He dives deeper into the study of psychology but finds that much of the research is based on “wishful thinking.” This does not give him hope of finding a way to reverse Algernon’s (and perhaps his own) intellectual regression.
