Flowers for Algernon Summary and Analysis

Progress Report 1

Summary

Charlie Gordon is a 32-year-old man who is making diary entries of his life. He works in a bakery and hopes to become smarter with surgery. His teacher is Miss Kinnian at a school for the mentally disabled. He tells Dr Strauss and Professor Nemur that he is not a good writer but is encouraged, nevertheless, to write his thoughts down.

Analysis

In a short introduction, the protagonist Charlie Gordon gives a brief summary of his life as a mentally disabled man who hopes to become smarter with surgery. His diary entry is replete with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors which will continue throughout the novel—in keeping with his character’s description as a “retard.”