3/5/65
 Charlie is hopeful to be “used” for something
 He is 37 years old
 His spelling and sentence structure show how low his mental abilities are
3/6
 Charlie is given the “raw shok” test (inkblots)
 He is turned off by tests because of past experiences
 Charlie lacks the ability to think abstractly
 Miss Kinnian is Charlie’s teacher in his class for slow adults
 Charlie could not “find” any pictures in the inkblots
3/7
 Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss are supervising Charlie and have asked him to write
his ideas
 Charlie takes the Thematic Apperception test and cannot make up stories about
the pictures because he doesn’t “lie”
 Charlie races Algernon in an “amazed”
 Algernon beat Charlie every time
3/8
 Charlie is selected for the surgery/experiment based on Miss Kinnian’s
recommendation
 Charlie was also selected because of his great motivation to become smart
 There is a disagreement between the doctors as to whether or not Charlie should
be used
 They claim the operation will triple Charlie’s intelligence
 Dr. Nemur is concerned that Charlie may not be intelligent enough, he would like
to start with someone with more ability
3/10
 Charlie has the operation
3/15
 Charlie wonders what he should be thinking about post surgery
3/19
 Charlie become frustrated because he not seeing a noticeable change in his
intelligence
 Charlie wants more help from the people around him
3/23
 Charlie works at a factory
 He cannot tell anyone about his operation
 He also goes to the hospital each night for tests

Algernon has had the same operation as Charlie and it gives Charlie hope
3/25
 We are introduced to Charlie’s “friends” from work
 They are making fun of Charlie and anyone that makes a mistake at work is called
pulling a “Charlie Gordon”
3/28
 Dr. Strauss brings a device for Charlie to listen to while he sleeps
 Miss Kinnian will visit Charlie at the hospital to teach him
 He is not going back to her class
3/29
 The device keeps Charlie up all night
4/3
 The device is used to teach Charlie’s subconscious
 Charlie’s “friends” bring him out and get him drunk
 They mistreat him and have him mop the floor, get them food and they ditch him
 Charlie is brought home by the police
4/6
 Charlie beats Algernon
 He befriends the mouse
4/9
 Miss Kinnian is worried about Charlie
 Charlie is reading Robinson Crusoe
 He is beginning to make inferences
4/10
 Miss Kinnian encourages Charlie and is teaching him spelling
4/14
 Charlie finished the book and shows abstract thought by wondering why and
wanting more
4/15
 Miss Kinnian reads Charlie’s Progress Reports and is upset by the way he is
treated by his “friends”
4/16
 Charlie learns what commas are, but not how to use them
4/17
 Miss Kinnian has Charlie using a dictionary to look up words and improve his
spelling
 Charlie learns about punctuation, but still not how to use it
4/18
 Charlie reads a grammar book in one night and learns how to use punctuation
 He is reading faster and reviews his previous reports
 Charlie and Algernon do not race anymore
4/20
 Charlie realizes his “friends” are not his friends
 Charlie stays home from work for the first time ever
 The guys took Charlie out and spiked his coke with alcohol
 They have him dancing around and they are tripping him
 Charlie also understands what it means “to pull a Charlie Gordon”
4/21
 Charlie is still missing work
 Mrs. Flynn, Charlie’s landlord, is scared of him because no one understand why
Charlie is suddenly smart
 Charlie is reading and remembering more
 The doctors are preventing him from studying psychology
 Charlie’s IQ should be over 200 soon
 IQ is not how smart you are, but your potential for intelligence
 Charlie does not realize the Rorshach test because of the spelling
4/22
 Charlie is nervous seeing the inkblots again
 Charlie feels as though he was misled during his first Rorshach test because he
did not understand the directions
4/25
 Charlie lines up the machines at Donnegan’s factory and saves them $10,000 plus
 He gets a $25 bonus
 He asks the guys if they want to go to lunch, but they refuse because Charlie is
not fun to hang out with if they can’t make fun of him
 People don’t talk to Charlie and they act as though they are afraid of him (this is
understandable because he has changed without reason)
4/27
 Charlie invites Miss Kinnian to go out and celebrate
 Dr. Nemur wants to publish the study and Dr. Strauss is cautious that they do not
have enough info yet
4/28
 Charlie is in love with Miss Kinnian
 His view of her has changed drastically
 They are both worried to start a relationship in case the effects of the surgery are
not permanent
4/30
 Charlie quits his job at the factory after the workers have signed a petition against
him
 He is looked at so differently that he ends up being isolated by all
 He lacks a peer group to make friends and develop relationships
5/15
 Charlie is so busy learning that his writing has slowed
 He now types his reports
 Charlie and Algernon are presented to the American Psychological Association
 Charlie now realizes that his doctors are not geniuses, but rather limited
 Charlie is now smarter than his doctor
 Charlie is sensitive to people laughing at him
 Charlie states, “No one I have ever known is what he appears to be on the
surface”
 Charlie is very concerned that Dr. Nemur and Dr. Strauss are not intelligent
enough to be responsible for what happens to him in the future
5/18
 Charlie has become so smart that he cannot hold a regular conversation with
someone
5/20
 Charlie sees a dishwasher drop and break dishes, the restaurant erupts with
laughter including Charlie
 Charlie then realizes that this is how people used to view him
 Charlie then stands up and yells at the patrons
 Charlie discusses how naïve and unintelligent he was and how it is a good
reflection for him
 He wants to now talk to Dr. Strauss about helping with their experiment, making
all smart and what would happen to normal people or geniuses if given this
surgery
5/23
 Algernon bit Charlie, he is disturbed lately
5/24
 Algernon is not eating, won’t run the mazes and has no motivation
 Everyone is afraid this may mean he is regressing
5/25
 Charlie is working to push the research forward and doing so quickly because of
the results Algernon is showing
5/29
 Charlie is working day and night
5/31
 Charlie is trying to find out if, when and why he will regress as quickly as
Algernon
6/4
 Charlie produces and sends Dr. Strauss his research titled, The Algernon-Gordon
Effect, which he would like published
 He discovers that he too will regress
6/5
 Algernon shows regression mentally and progressive amnesia
 Charlie feels like even this discovery is part of the necessary process
 He predicts a rapid regression for himself, he is already seeing signs
6/10
 Algernon died, Charlie buries him in the backyard
 Charlie does not want to regress
6/15
 Charlie cannot read books he once enjoyed and he prefers to be alone
6/19
 Charlie is becoming very forgetful, even forgetting where he lived
 He keeps writing because only he can describe what is happening to him
6/21
 Charlie dreads becoming the person everyone laughs at again
6/22
 He is forgetting things in reverse order in which he learned them
 He cannot understand his own research, it is as if someone else wrote it
 His motor activity is impaired
6/23
 Charlie stops using the typewriter, his coordination is failing
 He has lost all foreign languages
6/30
 Charlie is becoming increasingly frustrated
 Dr. Strauss visits out of guilt
7/7
 Charlie starts to think of his parents, his memories are not pleasant
7/10
 Mrs. Flynn calls Charlie a loafer
 He tries to read but it takes several attempts to understand things
 Charlie puts flowers on Algernon’s grave
7/14
 Mrs. Flynn feels bad for Charlie
 He is suffering terrible headaches
7/22
 Mrs. Flynn brings a doctor to see Charlie
 Charlie chases him away because he feels the doctor was making fun of him
7/24
 Charlie has no money and is behind on the rent
7/25
 Miss Kinnian came to visit
 Charlie would not see her, but she paid his rent
7/27
 Charlie goes back to work at the factory
 It is uncomfortable because many people there saw him smart
 Now Charlie’s “friends” do stick up for him
7/28
 Charlie forgets his is not longer in Miss Kinnian’s class and attends
 He feels the need to get away from everyone that has ever known him and decides
he must leave NY
 He doesn’t want people to continue to feel sorry for him
 Charlie is still glad that he went through with the surgery
 He vows to keep trying to be smart, and mentions his importance in science
 He ends by asking that flowers continue to be put on Algernon’s grave