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Progress Report #1
Charlie Gordon, the main character, begins to write in a journal telling what has happened to him in the day. He says, "My name is Charlie Gordon. I am 37 years old and 2 weeks ago was my birthday." (371). Charlie is asked to write in the journal by a doctor. The doctors want to see if they will use Charlie for their experiment. -
Progress Report #4
Charlie gets chosen to be used in the dcotors' study: "Their going to use me! Im so excited I can hardly write." (374). Being chosen for this project means a lot to Charlie. After the doctors decided they were going to use Charlie he "jumped up and shook his hand," telling him "thank you doc you wont be sorry for giving me a second chance. And I mean it like I told him. After the operashun Im gonna try to be smart. Im gonna try awful hard." (375). -
Progress Report #6
Charlie gets the operation: "The operashun dint hurt. He did it while I was sleeping." (376). Charlie is very excited to become smarter, and he tries to remember the little things, like how to spell progress report. -
Preogress Report #8
Charlie returns to work at the factory: "They said it was better I shud go back to work but I cant tell anyone what the operashun was for and I have to come to the hospitil for an hour each night after work." (376). Charlie sees no apparent differences in his brain development. -
April 6
Charlie beats Algernon at the maze game! Charlie writes that, "I dint even know I beat him until the tester told me...I beat him 8 more times. I must be getting smart to beat as smart mouse like Algernon. But I dont feel smarter." (380). -
April 15
Miss Kinnian tries to hint at the fact that Charlie's friends arent as nice to him as they may seem. Miss Kinnian truly recognizes Charlie's motivation and drive. Charlie writes, "She said for a person who god gave so little to you done more then a lot of people with brains they never used...[My friends] likes me and thety never did anything that wasn't nice." (381). After this, Miss Kinnian runs out because she begins to cry. -
April 20, 1965
Charlie stays home from work. After Joe and Frank, (his "friends" from work), invited Charlie to a party the night before Charlie realized that they only liked to have him around to mock him: "It's a funny thing I never knew that Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me. Now I know what it means when they say 'to pull a Charlie Gordon.' I'm ashamed." (383). Charlie has gained enough knowledge to comprehend social changes and relationships. -
April 28, 1965
Charlie and Miss Kinnian have dinner together. They have a long talk about how far Charlie has come. Miss Kinnian said to Charlie, "You're accomplishing in days and weeks what it takes it takes normal people to do in half a lifetime. That's what makes it so amazing. You're like a giant sponge, soaking things in." (387). -
April 30, 1965
Charlie Gordon quits his job at Donnegan's Plastic Box Company. The other people working in the factory had asked that he be fired: "Eight hundred and forty names, everyone connected with the factory, except Fanny Girden." (388). -
May 20, 1965
Charlie decides that he will use his knowledge to help further the human intelligence levels. He has decided that after living in both world there is no one better for the job: "Who is better equipped for te job? Who else has lived in both worlds?" (393). -
May 20, 1965
A new dish boy, who is mentally retarded, drops some plates in the hospital. Charlie becomes disgusted that he too was laughing at this poor boy: "It infuriated me to think that not too long ago I, like this boy, had foolishly played the clown. And I had almost forgotten. 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." (392). -
June 5, 1965
Charlie has completed his research on incresing intelligence. His results have shown that he will follow the same path as Algernon did, a peak and then a decline. Right now, Charlie is at his peak. Charlie tries to prepare himself for his imminent downfall: "As I review the records and data on Algernon, I see that although he is still in physical infancy, he has regressed mentally." (395). -
June 10, 1965
Algernon dies and Charlie's "deterioration [is] progressing." (396). -
June 22, 1965
Charlie's mental ability continues to decrease: "I'm forgetting things that I learned recently." (397). -
July 22-24, 1965
Charlie is styaing in his bed with Mrs. Flynn. She called a weird doctor to come and see him but Charlie chased out the doctor because he was mocking him. Mrs. Flynn insists that Charlie goes back to work to help pay his rent: "I have no more money and Mrs. Flynn says I got to go to work somewhere and pay the rent because I havennt paid for over two months." (399). -
July 28, 1965- Charlie's final Progress Report
"I bet Im the first dumb person in the world who ever found out somthing for sience," Charlie says becuase he is proud that maybe he heped someone somewhere. (401). Charlie has learned a lot from this experience, and even though he might forget it all, at lesat someone will be touched by his experiences. Charlie closes his progress reports with, "P.P.S. Please if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in the bak yard..." (401). -
July 28, 1965
Charlie accidently goes into Miss Kinnian's class and asks her to teach him a lesson. She runs out crying and when Charlie realizes what he has done he feels awfully. He decides to move away from New York for good. He wants to make a new start somewhere "where nobody knows the Charlie Gordon was once a genus..." (401). Charlie remarks that maybe if he continues to try really hard he will be smart again.