Progress Report 14

Summary

Charlie wakes up to newspaper articles of Algernon and his escape and accidentally discovers an interview of his sister Norma, in the papers. It also mentions his mother and sister’s residential address. Charlie has two personalities of his mother Rose in his mind—one of a nurturing and warm mother and another of an angry, anxious woman.

He remembers his mother giving birth to Norma and once she was sure that Norma was a normal child, she began to change toward Charlie, almost rejecting him. In a poignant way, Charlie describes that while Norma blossomed as a flower, he was only allowed to grow like a weed in corners and dark places.

He also remembers the time when his mother wanted Charlie to be institutionalized and how much that had hurt him, even though he could not fully understand it at the time.

Charlie moves into a hotel, with his meagre savings, near Times Square and resists the urge to call Alice.

Analysis

Charlie begins a new chapter as an independent man and controls the urge to see his mother until he is able to process his own emotions and thoughts about her. He shows signs of maturity and being completely in-charge of his own life in a way that he has never been before.

June 16

Summary

Charlie finds a large apartment and moves in with Algernon. He wants to take the time to process and find out who he is and what he is before it is too late.

Analysis

Charlie shows signs of being a responsible adult in the way he looks after Algernon. He also keeps hinting that he might be short on time which refers to his fear that he might lose his intelligence and become mentally disabled again.

June 19

Summary

Charlie meets his neighbor Fay Lilliman, who is an artist. She offers Charlie a drink and he has a difficult time keeping his eyes off her semi-naked body. Charlie describes her in great physical detail but is eager to return to his own apartment.

Fay invites herself to his home and compliments him on his orderliness. She asks if he can dance and seems to jump between different conversations and topics, all at once.

She finds Algernon’s room and his maze (made by Charlie) a curiosity. Charlie is attracted to Fay for her exuberant ways and excitement.

Analysis

Charlie meets a woman who is the opposite of everything he seems to stand for—she is impulsive, excitable, unconventional and very open-minded. Charlie is attracted to her and finds himself responding to her, without thinking too much about logic or consequences—he seems comfortable and natural, for the first time.

June 20

Summary

Charlie reaches out to his father Matt, who now owns a barbershop in the Bronx. Charlie remembers his parents fighting over Matt’s desire to open a barbershop and Rose’s adamant refusal to be a barber’s wife. He admires that when his father walked away from Rose, he also walked away from being a salesman to becoming his own boss.

Matt is unable to recognize his own son, who sits down for a haircut and a shave. As Matt gives him a shave, Charlie is struck by a memory of the last time his father took him out. Charlie had woken up to his parents fighting in the night, with his mother Rose wanting to kill her own son.

Charlie feels ill at the thought of revealing himself to his father and decides against it.

Analysis

In a deeply significant moment, Charlie reaches out to the only person who loved him for who he was as a child—his father Matt. But he lacks the courage to reveal himself to Matt. Charlie shows admirable self-restraint in protecting Matt, even though being a stranger to his father hurts him.

June 21

Summary

Charlie makes Algernon do complex mazes but notices that the mouse’s behavior is erratic – he sometimes displays anger and frustration and a complete lack of motivation. It makes Charlie wonder if it is merely his moods or something deeper.

Fay brings a female mouse to keep Algernon company and Charlie finds himself helpless before her.

Analysis

Slowly but surely Charlie is able to recognize that Algernon is unpredictable and this might have something to do with his surgery for enhanced intelligence. In the long run, this will apply to Charlie as well.

June 23

Charlie meets Fay and a new lover of hers and finds himself wishing he was with her instead of the new man. He hears shouting and noise from her apartment and soon finds her in his apartment, asking for a cigarette.

She admits to liking him while Charlie tries to fend off her sexual advances. Interestingly, he can imagine her perfectly well but Alice is “wrapped in mist” in his mind. Charlie suddenly loses all desire but is coaxed into having a drink by Fay, to help him feel better.

Charlie wakes up with a hangover and has no remembrance of the previous night. Fay tells him that he behaved like a child, like a dim-witted man who did not know what to do. She thinks he put on an act to release all the tensions of having a neatly structured life. Charlie knows that his old self had not disappeared but was only hidden by a veneer of education, but was very much present emotionally.

Analysis

Charlie nearly has sex with Fay but his old self reveals himself, with the help of alcohol. He is acutely self-aware now and realizes that he cannot sleep with a woman as long as his old, dim-witted self is emotionally present and always fearful of women.

June 23

Summary

Charlie decides to amuse himself with senseless entertainment and watches a lot of movies. He knows that he enjoys being with the audiences in closed, dark spaces. He goes to a diner and observes a mentally disabled boy being made fun of.

Charlie loses his temper at the diner’s customers for making fun of the boy and is later ashamed for lashing out. He is perplexed by the human tendency to make fun of a mentally disabled human being while being sympathetic to anyone with physical disabilities.

Charlie decides to write to the Welberg Foundation and get their approval to let him work independently on enhanced intelligence. He now wishes to help others, instead of chasing selfish goals and desires. And he decides that he cannot be alone anymore and must contact Alice.

Analysis

Charlie, on a day of entertainment, has the realization that he has been living entirely for his own needs and desires and must use his newfound intelligence to help others. He vows to find ways to help mentally disabled people and also influence behavioral changes in normal people.

For the first time, there is a finality and conviction in Charlie’s thoughts which was lacking previously. He seems to have attained clarity after months of confusion.

June 25

Summary

Charlie meets Alice and tells her of his emotional realizations and awakenings. He admits that he has not been able to make love to her because emotionally, he is still the old Charlie.

Charlie shares all his life’s doubts and fears with Alice and finds himself wanting to make love to her but is afraid of the old Charlie in himself. He decides to fool his retarded self by turning off the lights and pretending that he is with Fay.

Unfortunately, he is unable to make love to Alice but she is understanding of his situation.

Charlie returns home and makes love to a woman for the first time—to Fay. He decides to let his childish, retarded self watch in wide-eyed amazement but he knows that he will not be affected by his emotional self which has no connect with Fay from the past.

Analysis

Charlie is now trying to achieve a balance between his intellectual superiority and emotional childishness. He sees the old Charlie still in-charge of emotions while his intellectual self is a new being. Charlie is finally able to sleep with a woman by fooling his emotional self—a big victory for him.

June 29

Summary & Analysis

Charlie is now making inroads into the scientific community and wonders how much more time he has, depending on the psychophysical effects of his brain surgery.

June 30

Summary & Analysis

Charlie is enjoying a romantic relationship with Fay and he enjoys her free spirit and independent ways. He also notices that his emotional self has stopped “watching” him with a woman.

July 5

Summary & Analysis

Charlie writes a piano concerto for Fay and is very content in being with an honest and simple woman. Fay is duped by someone she helped in the past but she holds no grudges. Charlie recognizes his own need for “simple human contact” and is enjoying a life of domesticity with his girlfriend.

July 5

Summary & Analysis

Charlie is getting tired of going out dancing and drinking with Fay every night. He is also writing a paper on linguistics and is working diligently on becoming an academic, in varying fields. He seems to have his life in order and is less agitated. He notices that Algernon’s behavior is erratic and the female mouse Minnie is afraid of him.

July 9

Summary & Analysis

Algernon’s erratic behavior continues and he bites Fay and injures Minnie. Charlie notices strange, rushed and out of control movements from Algernon and decides to visit Nemur in the lab.

Charlie is beginning to draw a parallel between Algernon and his own behavior since they both underwent the same surgery. He is rightfully concerned and wishes to discuss it with his doctors.