Alice Kinnian recommends Charlie for an experimental surgery, and the Beekman lab team selects him as their first human subject.

During preliminary tests, Charlie races Algernon through a maze multiple times and loses every single race.

Charlie undergoes the experimental brain surgery at the Beekman lab, and the operation concludes without complications.

Joe and Frank take Charlie to a party, get him drunk, make fun of him, and abandon him.

Charlie beats Algernon in the maze for the first time, signaling that his intelligence has genuinely begun to grow.

Charlie stuns his bakery coworkers by quickly mastering the complicated dough-mixing machine and earns a raise and new role.

Mr. Donner fires Charlie from the bakery after his coworkers formally complain that his transformation makes them uncomfortable.

Charlie publicly challenges Professor Nemur's ideas at a conference party, embarrassing him in front of colleagues and donors.

Charlie releases Algernon from his cage during the research team's conference presentation, throwing the event into chaos.

Charlie escapes the Chicago conference with Algernon hidden in his pocket and flies back to New York.

Charlie watches a young man with an intellectual disability being mocked in a diner and shouts at the crowd to show respect.

Algernon begins behaving erratically and gradually loses all the intellectual gains he made from the experimental procedure.

Algernon dies, and Charlie buries the mouse in his backyard and places flowers on the grave.

Alice moves into Charlie's apartment and the two finally share a full, loving relationship together.

Charlie's final progress report ends with a heartfelt plea asking someone to place flowers on Algernon's grave.

Charlie Gordon is selected for an experimental surgery designed to dramatically increase his intelligence, launching a remarkable intellectual transformation. His rapid growth earns him new respect at the bakery but also alienates his coworkers, who ultimately pressure Mr. Donner to fire him. Charlie's fury at being treated as a specimen rather than a person drives him to a dramatic escape from a scientific conference, taking Algernon the mouse with him. After witnessing others with intellectual disabilities being mocked in a diner, Charlie returns to the lab to devote himself to research, but watches helplessly as Algernon's gains begin to reverse. The novel ends with Charlie accepting his decline, briefly finding love with Alice, and asking only that someone place flowers on Algernon's grave.

The headline events of Charlie's rise and fall.

Before the operation, Charlie begins keeping journal-like progress reports full of spelling errors to track his thoughts and feelings.

Charlie is confused by the Rorschach inkblot test, able only to interpret the images as literally spilled ink.

Charlie's sister Norma grants permission for his experimental operation on his behalf, though Charlie is not allowed to see her.

Strauss and Nemur bring Charlie a television-like device that plays educational sounds and images while he sleeps each night.

Charlie begins experiencing childhood memories for the first time, as the sleep-learning device triggers recollections from his past.

Charlie improves the bakery's dough-mixing procedure and earns further resentment from coworkers who feel threatened by his growing abilities.

Charlie discovers that his coworker Gimpy has been secretly stealing money from Mr. Donner's bakery.

Charlie and Alice go on a dinner-and-movie date, but Charlie is confused and frightened by his emerging romantic feelings.

Charlie wanders Central Park alone and a pregnant woman screams he is attacking her after he touches her shoulder.

Charlie rents an apartment while hiding from the lab team and meets his free-spirited artist neighbor, Fay Lillman.

Charlie visits his father Matt's barbershop in the Bronx, receives a shave, and leaves without ever revealing his identity.

Charlie tours the Warren State Home and is deeply moved by the compassionate care the staff shows to residents.

Alice and Fay unexpectedly meet at Charlie's apartment one evening and get along surprisingly well.

Charlie and Professor Nemur argue at a party at Nemur's home, with Nemur accusing Charlie of being ungrateful and unfair.

Charlie returns to Mr. Donner's bakery and asks for his old job back, and a new worker immediately bullies him.

Charlie's story begins long before the surgery, with simple progress reports and confounding psychological tests that reveal the limits of his initial intelligence. After the operation, key secondary events—his discovery of Gimpy's theft, an awkward first date with Alice, and a frightening encounter in Central Park—show how unevenly intelligence and emotional maturity develop together. During his time hiding from the lab team, Charlie rents an apartment, meets the free-spirited Fay Lillman, and silently visits his estranged father without revealing who he is. As his decline approaches, a sobering tour of the Warren State Home and a tense meeting between Alice and Fay mark the closing chapters of his extraordinary journey. He ends his transformation where he began—returning to the bakery to ask for his old job back.

The supporting moments and relationships that shaped Charlie's path.

A nurse caring for Charlie after his surgery tells him she does not believe human intelligence was meant to be artificially altered.

Charlie recalls a specific memory of bakery coworker Fanny Birden encouraging him to attend reading classes at Beekman College Center.

Charlie confronts Gimpy about stealing from Mr. Donner, offering to stay silent in exchange for Gimpy stopping the theft.

Charlie hallucinates a teenage boy watching him and Alice from the bushes in Central Park and is deeply disturbed.

Alice confronts Charlie about talking down to people around him, including her, and Charlie initially reacts with anger.

On the flight to Chicago, Charlie realizes his lifelong desire to become intelligent is rooted in his mother Rose's shame and guilt.

Newspaper reports of Charlie's escape lead him to discover his family's address for the first time as an adult.

Fay comes to Charlie's apartment and the two nearly have sex, but Charlie stops after hallucinating his younger self watching.

Charlie returns to the Beekman lab and commits to researching how to permanently improve intelligence in people with intellectual disabilities.

Charlie tries to be intimate with Alice while imagining Fay to bypass his hallucinations, but the attempt completely fails.

Charlie discovers that the research team has already arranged for him to return to the Warren State Home if the operation fails.

Charlie formulates the Algernon-Gordon Effect, a theory proving that artificially gained intelligence declines at the rate it was introduced.

Charlie visits his mother Rose and sister Norma, finding that Rose shows clear signs of dementia and barely recognizes him.

Norma tells Charlie she believed him to be dead, apologizes for her childhood cruelty, and the two embrace in reconciliation.

Charlie returns to Alice's class at the Beekman College Center, momentarily forgetting he is no longer a student there.

Charlie's journey is shaped as much by what he realizes as by what he does, with each revelation reshaping his understanding of himself and others. Early turning points include a nurse questioning the ethics of the surgery, Charlie's first resurfaced childhood memories, and the troubling hallucinations that block his ability to connect with Alice. The pivotal realization on the flight to Chicago—that his drive for intelligence is rooted in his mother's shame—unlocks a new understanding of his own psychology. His return to the lab, the formulation of the Algernon-Gordon Effect, and his emotionally charged visit to Rose and Norma mark the beginning of his acceptance of his fate. The pool ends with Charlie sitting back in Alice's classroom, no longer the brilliant researcher but a man quietly returning to who he once was.

The discoveries and emotional breakthroughs that define Charlie's transformation.

Daniel Keyes

Novel

Fiction

Guide