One day, Charlie writes that the doctors have found his sister and gotten her permission to go through with the experiment. Strauss and Professor Nemur ask Charlie about his love of learning and he explains that his mother encouraged him to learn as much as he could from a young age. The doctors tell Charlie that they will need his mother's permission on his behalf to begin the procedure and Charlie confess that he has no idea where his family is or if they are still alive.Ĭharlie worries that the stress of the procedure and the progress reports are taking their toll on him at his bakery job where a coworker recently scolded him for dropping a tray of rolls.Ĭharlie is taken to the laboratory where the experiment has already been performed on several mice and meets a mouse named Algernon who has already undergone the procedure. Strauss, who is conducting the experiment along with a Professor Nemur, has instructed Charlie to keep the progress reports of his thoughts and emotions.ĭr. He has a job at Donner's Bakery and takes a literacy class with a woman named Miss Alice Kinnian three times a week.Ī man named Dr.

He details that he is thirty-two years old and has an IQ of sixty-eight. In the first 'progris riport', Charlie's spelling is very poor. The story of 'Flowers for Algernon' is told through the eyes of Charlie Gordon, a mentally retarded adult man who has been chosen to take part in an experimental procedure designed to incrementally increase his intelligence. Every section is formatted as a progress report on Charlie's part. He buries Algernon and requests that people leave flowers for him when they can.

However, a mouse named Algernon who had the same procedure before Charlie begins to grow sickly and die and Charlie fears that he, too will experience this degradation of his new found intelligence.Įventually, Charlie realizes that his mental handicap is coming back and takes himself to a state home to leave in peace.

After having an operation, Charlie does begin to grow more intelligent until he eventually becomes a genius. Through the reports, Charlie takes the reader on a journey in which he undergoes an experimental medical procedure designed to make him grow exponentially more intelligent.

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