Flowers for Algernon 1-100

Charlie Gordon is a middle-aged guy who works at a bakery and attends a school for mentally challenged adults. He has an especially low IQ, so he is going to undergo a special procedure that is supposed to make him smarter. He goes into the lab to meet Professor Nemur and Doctor Strauss, the two doctors that are going to be performing the procedure. After he has the surgery, he thinks it didn’t work. Charlie doesn’t feel like he’s any smarter than before. He races through mazes against a mouse called Algernon, and Algernon beats him almost every time. He feels like if a mouse can beat him, he’s stupid. However, the doctors tell him that Algernon underwent the same procedure, and it made him smarter. This makes Charlie a little more optimistic. Charlie keeps getting gradually smarter without realizing it. He still thinks he’s stupid, but the reader can notice that his spelling and grammar are getting better. He develops a crush on his teacher from his old school, Mrs. Kinnian. They went out on a few dates, but Charlie still hasn’t developed very much emotionally, and it’s hard for him to connect with a woman on that level. Before the procedure, Charlie found it hard to recall his past, but now he’s finally starting to remember things. From the memories, you can tell that his mother and sister were abusive to him when he was a child, and his father was the only person who really cared for him.