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Progress Report #1
A man named Charlie Gordon eagerly begins a journal after Dr. Strauss suggests it. Charlie hopes the doctors will let him be a part of some big plan: "I hope they use me. Miss Kinnian says maybe they can make me smart" (371) -
Progress Report #3
Charlie begins to paticipate in many tests, including one where she races against a mouse named Algernon to find the right path for a maze. The maze test in repeated many times, but Algernon always wins: "That test made me feel worser than all the others because they did it over 10 times with difernt amazeds and Algernon won every time" (374) -
Progress Report #4
Charlie Gordon is chosen to participate in the experiment because the doctors think he had motivation. Charlie is extremely excited and wants to work very hard. He writes in his journal, "After the operashun Im gonna try to be smart. Im gonna try awful hard" (375) -
Progress Report #8
After the orperation, Charlie is very frustrated because nothing seems to be happening. However, he is hopeful that he will still become smarter: "I could probly do that amazed faster than a regular mouse. Maybe someday Ill beat Algernon" (377). Everyone decides that Charlie should return to the factory where he works, but has to come to the hospital for an hour every night after work.Charlie is -
March 25:
Even though Charlie believes he has many friends at the factor, and that they all have fun together, it is obvious to the reader that his "friends" just make fun of him all the time: "This morning Amos Borg. . . used my name when he shouted at Ernie the office boy. Ernie lost a packige. He saud Ernie for godsake what are you trying to be a Charlie Gordon" (377) The sad part is that Charlie has no idea how mean his friends are. He writes, "I dont understand why he said that" (377). -
April 6:
Finally, Charlie beat Algernon in the maze race! He is excited and joyous that he is finally "getting smarter." This part of the story shows how kind-heated Charlie is because when he learns that the mouse is only fed when he completes the maze quickly, he feels bad for the littly animal and says, "I dont think its right to make you pass a test to eat. . . I think Ill be friends with Algernon" (380) -
April 20th
With his new intelligence, Charlie finally relizes that his "friends" are really all very mean to him, and for years that have made fun of him without his knowledge. Charlie writes, "It's a funny thing I never knew Joe and Frank and the others liked to have me around all the time to make fun of me. . . I'm ashamed" (383) -
April 25th
Charlie becomes more and more lonely at work; "Everyone seems to be frightened of me" (386). Charlie comes up with a new way to make production at the factory much better, but none of Charlie's co-workers talk or joke around with him anymore. -
April 28th
Charlie is in love. As time passes, he becomes more and more fond of Miss Kinnian; "I don't understand why I never noticed how beautiful Miss Kinnian realIy is" (387). However, there is a sense of foreboding in what Miss Kinnian says at dinner one night; "I just hope I wasn't wrong to advise you to go into this in the first place" (387). -
April 30th
Charlie is more alone in the world than ever. He is forced to quit his job at the factory because the workers all signed a petition to fire him. No one would speak to him about the matter except for Franny, an independent woman, who said, "There's something mighty strange about you, Charlie. Them changes. . . who knows what you done to yourself to get so smart all of a sudden" (388). -
May 20th
Charlie never seems to fit in; "This intelligence has driven a wedge between me and all the people I once knew and loved. Before, they laughed at me and despised me for my ignorance and dullness; now, they hate me for my knowledge and understanding" (389). When Charlie meets up with Miss. Kinnian again, it is a disaster; they are unable to carry on a conversation because of the gap in their knowledge . -
May 20th
Charlie is eating in a restaurant when an ignorant young boy drops a tray of dishes and stands there while he is laughed at. Chrlie feels, "sick inside" as he realizes "they were laughing at him because he was mentally retarded" (391). Charlie becomes very angery, and yells at the people in the restaurant. He feels ashamed for both himself and the boy and he knows that he too, "played to clown. And he had almost forgotten" (392). -
May 23rd
Algernon the mouse bit Charlie and he was "unusually disturbed and vicious" (393). -
May 29th
Charlie begins to understand what will become of him, and after he gets a lab of his own, Charlie writes his own book, "The Algernon-Gordon Effect: A Study of Structure and Function of Increased Intelligence" (394) It focuses on the reasons for "the sharp regression on Algernon" (394), and Charlie preformed many experiments to prove his theory. -
June 10th
Charlie's own deterioration continues, and Algernon died on June 8th. Charlie does not want to become emotional, but he cried while burying th mouse. Charlie has become "touchy and irritable" (396). -
June 22nd
Charlie's forgetfulness is worsening, and when he rereads his paper of the Algernon-Gordon Effect, he "gets the strangest feeking it was written by someone else. There are even parts he doesn't understand" (397). -
June 28th
After weeks of forgetting everything he has learned, Charlie finally writes a letter to Miss Kinnian, Dr Strauss and "evrybody." In the last few weeks of his life, Charlie forgot all the grammar and ideas he once thought so highly of. Mr Gordon's last words are saddening; "Its easy to make frends if you let pepul laff at you. Im going to have lots of frends where I go" (401).