64 pages • 2 hours read
Daniel KeyesFlowers For Algernon
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1966A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Progress Reports 11-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Progress Report 11 Summary
Charlie begins to take an interest in Alice. The two go to dinner and a movie, but he is confused by his romantic feelings and scared to act. He feels continued frustration that, even as his intelligence increases, he understands and remembers little about his past. Alice tries to console him and says he still needs time to develop. He becomes more frustrated, though he later realizes she was right. Memories of Charlie’s childhood continue to emerge. He recalls looking at his sister through the keyhole of her door, as well as his mother beating him for having an erection.
He wonders if there is a connection between these memories and his inability to act on his feelings for Alice. Alice and Charlie go on another outing to a concert in Central Park. They recline on the grass, listening to the music. Suddenly, Charlie thinks he sees a teenage boy spying on them from the bushes and exposing himself. He believes it to be a hallucination and is deeply troubled.
At the bakery, Charlie notices that Gimpy has been stealing money. He is troubled by what he learns, first imagining that there are innocent reasons. When he realizes that Gimpy is stealing, he is torn by the moral dilemma. On one hand, he feels Gimpy is his friend and does not want him to get in trouble, but on the other he does not understand how Gimpy could steal from Mr. Donner. Most of all, he is troubled that intelligence cannot tell him how to respond. Dr. Strauss suggests Charlie does not have to get involved in the situation, but Alice says it is entirely up to Charlie. Charlie approaches Gimpy about the theft, asking him to stop in exchange for not telling Mr. Donner. Gimpy resents Charlie’s interference. Soon after, Mr. Donner fires Charlie from the bakery. Charlie begs Mr. Donner to let him keep his job, but Donner explains he cannot because the other workers have complained.
Charlie’s knowledge continues to grow: He studies a variety of subjects, from languages to economics to science. He learns so quickly that he feels superior to students at Beekman and even to the professors. Distraught after being fired, he visits Alice at her apartment. He criticizes her as well, feeling her life appears inconsistent.
Progress Report 12 Summary
Charlie takes less interest in the work at the lab. He fails to turn in some of his progress reports and feels annoyed with Nemur and Strauss. He has nightmares and thoughts of a child-aged and teenaged version of himself watching him. More childhood memories filter in, including recollections of his sister expressing frustration that her brother was not “normal.” In one memory, Rose promises Norma a dog for doing well in school, while Matt accuses Rose of being unfair because she would not let Charlie get a dog.
Alice and Charlie have a disagreement after Charlie makes an unannounced visit to the Beekman Center. His former classmates are confused, and Alice is angry at Charlie’s attitude. Alice explains that Charlie talks down to other people, including her. Charlie counters that all his life before the operation, other people had treated him the same way.
Charlie spends time wandering the city. In Central Park, he meets a woman who wants to have sex with him. However, he is horrified when he discovers that she is pregnant. She screams that she is being attacked after he grabs her shoulder. Charlie hides in the bushes while passersby search for him.
Progress Report 13 Summary
The lab team and Charlie go to the conference in Chicago with the intention of sharing their research on Charlie, the operation, and his development. On the plane, Charlie remembers being taken to a specialist, Dr. Guarino, as a child. Guarino claimed to have the ability to eliminate Charlie’s intellectual disability. Though the treatment was ineffective, Charlie remembers Guarino with some fondness because he treated him as a full person. Charlie’s parents argued about Guarino’s treatments: Rose insisted she wanted Charlie to become “smart,” while Matt thought they should accept him as he was. Charlie realizes his own motivation to improve his intelligence is tied to Rose’s fear, guilt, and shame.
During the conference, Charlie becomes angry because Nemur and others speak about Charlie as though he were a specimen rather than a person. Charlie speaks up at a party held during the conference, questioning Nemur’s ideas and discussing new research that even Nemur is not aware of. Charlie finds the conference presentations boring for the most part. When Nemur, Strauss, and Burt present, Charlie becomes angry that they talk about him as though he were not a real person before the operation. Charlie suddenly gets the urge to let Algernon, who is being shown as part of the presentation, out of his cage. Amidst the panic, Charlie manages to pocket the mouse and escape with him, unnoticed. He flies back to New York with Algernon.
Progress Reports 11-13 Analysis
Charlie’s sexual development and struggles to understand his sexuality become a major theme. The reader sees this through his dates with Alice and his inability to act on his romantic feelings. Her caution also leaves Charlie frustrated and angry with her—a sign of his inability to handle emotions with a maturity proportional to his rapidly growing intellectual development. Yet he also expresses self-awareness: “It was wrong for me to express my feelings to Alice. I have no right to think of a woman that way—not yet” (85). He had echoed the words Alice used, “not yet.”
Despite his self-awareness, Charlie’s grappling with his sexual development and romantic feelings is anything but linear and easy. His feelings about sexuality are indicative of something beyond his relationship with Alice. The reader sees this when Charlie recalls how his mother had severely punished him for watching his sister through a keyhole. While Charlie’s increasing recollection of his past is in some ways a success, this particular memory feels foreboding. The reader also sees his troubled relationship to sexuality when he hallucinates a younger version of himself. This happens at times when he feels sexual or romantic. Charlie himself understands the connection between his memories and his burgeoning sexuality.
Elsewhere, Charlie struggles to grasp the nuances of social interaction even as his intellect increases exponentially. His handling of Gimpy’s dishonesty at the bakery shows that Charlie is still naïve when it comes to moral decisions: At first, he does not realize that he can make a moral choice about how to handle the situation. Like with sexuality, his reaction to ethical challenges is often one of frustration. He takes these frustrations out on Alice and the lab team. Everything comes to a head during the conference in Chicago. He contrasts the warmth from a childhood doctor to the way he perceives Strauss and Nemur as treating him like a lab specimen rather than a full person.
Keyes shows the complexity of intelligence and transformation. Though the operation may appear to be a success, Charlie still feels isolated and mistreated. His split-second decision to escape the conference with Algernon is a passionate response to his emotions. In that moment, Charlie acts not on the basis of his intellect, but on instinct. Intelligence does not necessarily lead to happiness, lack of impulse, or reasoned decision-making.
