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Progress Report 1
Charlie Gordon a 37 year old, craves to be smart. He starts writing journals on the request of Dr. Strauss: "Dr Strauss says I shud rite down what I think and evrey thing that happins to me from now on." (371) -
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Charlie Gordon
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Progress Report 3
After failing the raw shok test by not being able to identify the pictures within the ink blots on the cards, Charlie was very scared that he would not be used for the experiment to get smart. But he was consoled when Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur said that the ink blots didn't matter. Later on in the day, he was given more tests. Charlie, in many ways, a pure-hearted man, thought what was required of him was ridiculous. "I told her how can you tell storys about pepul you never met." (373) -
Progress Report 4
When Charlie heard that he was going to be used he was overjoyed: "I'm so excited I can hardly write" (374). So when Charlie heard Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss argue about it, he got very scared. His "good motor-vation" and craving to get smarter bought his way into getting "his intelijence trippled by surgicle means" (375). -
Progress Report 7
"Nothing is happining. I had lots of tests and different kinds of races with Algernon. I hate that mouse." (376). After the operation, the results did not arrive quickly enough for Charlie. He starts becoming impatient, but he does start having more oppinioned reactions, which is a slight change for Charlie. -
Progress Report 9
Some day after the operation, the changes are finally starting to sink in for Charlie. He was given a "TV" that he's supposed to play when he sleeps, to help him learn with his subconscious mind. Charlie also went back to work at the factory. "Im glad Im going back to work because I miss my job and all my frends and all the fun we have there" (376). His writing has also improved, and finally, he beat Algernon! -
Progress Report 10
Charlie is "learning fast" (381). His brain now grasps hard grammatical rules in seconds. At first, Charlie got mixed up with all the grammatical rules Miss Kinnian was trying to teach him, but after reading a grammar book, he quickly grasped the concepts and writes just like any other. "Miss Kinnian said that the TV working in my sleep helped out. She said I reached a plateau" (382). -
Progress Report 10
After being invited to a party by Joe Carp and Reilly, Charlie became aware of some of the dark secrets of his friends' personalities, with the help of his newly acquired intelligence. "Now I know what it means when they say 'to pull a Charlie Gordon.'" He said, "I'm ashamed" (383). -
Progress Report 11
Charlie once again took the rorshach test, but with new results. The test that was once impossible for Charlie is now one of the easiest that he has taken. "-could I have been that feeble-minded?" (385) Charlie asked himself. -
Progress Report 12
Charlie has quit his job with Donnegan's Plastic Box Company. But it's more like Charlie got fired when his friends and co-workers started getting frightened of the new Charlie. Charlie becomes ashamed of himself even though he is confused why everyone hates him now: "But how can you say that, Fanny? What's wrong with a man becoming intelligent and wanting to acquire knowledge and understanding of the world around him?" (388). Now Charlie is "more alone than ever before..." (389). -
Progress Report 12
As each day passes, Charlie Gordon becomes more and more intelligent. He becomes easily shocked when he comes to know of things others don't know about that seem so simple to him: "I was shocked to learn that the only ancient languages he [Dr. Strauss] could read were Latin, Greek and Hebrew" (390). So when he saw Miss Kinnian the night before, he "tried to avoid all discussions of intellectual concepts" but it was very hard for him and he even said that now he is "unable to communicate" (390). -
Progress Report 12
Charlie Gordon had almost become a completely new person, shunning the old Charlie away. When he saw a little boy who was just like the old Charlie Gordon, he was reminded of how he once was. "I had almost forgoten. I'd hidden the picture of the old Charlie Gordon from myself because now that I was intelligent it was something that had to be pushed out of my mind. But today in looking at that boy, for the first time I saw what I had been. I was just like him!" (392). -
Progress Report 13
As a genius trying to solve problems that have concerned him for much time, Charlie has been given a lab and permission to use it for the application of all the knowledge he has acquired. Charlie's intelligence has grown so much that now he spends day and night working to solve various issues. He has even gotten "a cot moved into the lab" (394). -
Progress Report 13
Charlie has been trying to find the reason for the "sharp regression in Algernon" (394). As he thinks that these affects may also happen to him. On June 4, Charlie writes a letter to Dr. Strauss about "The Algernon-Gordon Effect: A Study of Structure and Function of Increased Intelligence." In his study, Charlie has figured out what is going on with Algernon and what might be happening in his own body as well. -
Progress Report 13
Charlie's intelligence has rapidly decreased as fast as it had increased: "I was looking at some of my old progress reports and its very funny but I cant read what I wrote. I can make out some of the words but they dont make sense" (399). Charlie is changing very fast to a condition that is worse than what he once was before the operation. He lies around all day and refuses to see anyone, leaving many of the people around him very concerned. -
Progress Report 13
The down affects of the experiment that was conducted on Charlie have fully taken its' course on Charlie. He starts losing memory of simple things very quickly and starts doing some "dumb things." These all contribute to Charlie's decision to move away from Ney York. "Im going someplace where nobody knows that Charlie Gordon was once a genus and now he cant even reed a book or rite good" (401). He leaves with the final consolation that he must be the first dumb person who did something great.