Flowers for Algernon: Progress Report 10 Summary & Analysis

April 21. At work, Charlie figures out a more efficient mixing process, saving the bakery a lot of money. Mr. Donner rewards Charlie with a large bonus, but when Charlie offers to take Joe Carp and Frank Reilly out to celebrate, they say they’re busy. Charlie realizes that everyone is frightened of him now.

Charlie returns to the memory he’s been trying to reconstruct. In the memory, Frank Reilly pulls Charlie’s legs out from under him, and Gimpy yells at Frank for picking on Charlie. Gimpy tries to teach Charlie how to make rolls, offering him a shiny brass disk as a reward. Charlie is frightened of failing at this task, but he tries his best to follow Gimpy’s instructions. Although he makes a few rolls, he forgets his instructions almost immediately. Gimpy sighs with disappointment—he hasn’t taught Charlie anything. Afterwards, Charlie sits in a corner, reading a comic book, and Gimpy gives Charlie the brass disc, even though Charlie hasn’t learned anything.

April 22. At the bakery, Charlie notices people ignoring and resenting him. He’s disappointed that his coworkers aren’t prouder of him. He also plans to ask Miss Kinnian to go to a movie with him—though he’s nervous about doing so.

April 24. Charlie convinces Professor Nemur—with Doctor Strauss’s help—that he shouldn’t have to send in everything he writes, since some of it will be too personal.

Charlie thinks back on his visit with Nemur and Strauss—it was “very upsetting,” he reports. He walks in on an argument between Strauss and Nemur. Nemur wants to present a paper on his findings in Chicago, but Strauss insists that it’s too soon: Charlie is still changing, and they need to run more tests before they reach any conclusion. Strauss raises the possibility of “regression,” but Nemur insists that this isn’t going to happen. Nemur implies that Strauss is a cynical opportunist, riding his coattails, and Strauss shoots back that the same is true of Nemur. Charlie realizes that millions of people are depending on the results of Strauss and Nemur’s research. He decides to wait before asking Miss Kinnian out to the movie.

April 26. Charlie educates himself in the university library. He’s fascinated by poetry and science, and buries himself in books.

April 27. Charlie makes friends with some college students. Some of the college students raise the possibility that there is no God. This frightens Charlie, since he’s always assumed there is a God. He realizes that one of the great things about education is that it makes you question the things you’ve believed your whole life.

Charlie educates himself by reading in the library. He reads mostly fiction, “feeding a hunger that can’t be satisfied.”

April 28. Charlie has a dream in which his parents argue with a schoolteacher about his future. Charlie’s mother insists that Charlie will go to college and be “normal” one day, but the schoolteacher curtly disagrees, saying that Charlie will need to go to a special school. Charlie’s mother begins to cry.

The next morning, Charlie remembers his dream. He also remembers being six years old, before his sister, Norma, was born. Charlie’s mother, whose name is Rose, insists that Charlie was normal, though Charlie’s father, whose name is Matt, says otherwise. Rose yells at Charlie to play with his alphabet blocks. She weeps that she just wants her son to be like everyone else.

In the memory, Charlie tells his mother that he needs help going to the bathroom, and his mother angrily says that he’s old enough to go by himself. Then she spanks Charlie for being bad. In the present day, Charlie thinks sadly that he can’t remember what his family members look like.