Written in epistolary style, the story represents a first person narrative consists of a so-called series of “Progress Reports” from a person, who can barely be suggested literate not to mention his any outstanding intellectual faculties. Charlie Gordon, the main protagonist, a mentally retarded thirty-two-year-old man, was chosen by a team of scientists to undergo an experimental surgery designed to increase his intelligence and expand his potential. Alice Kinnian, Charlie’s teacher at the Beekman College Center for Retarded Adults, has recommended him for the experiment because of his exceptional eagerness to learn. The directors of the experiment, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur, ask Charlie to keep a journal. The entire narrative of Flowers for Algernon is composed of the “progress reports” that Charlie writes.
Charlie works at Donner’s Bakery in New York City as a janitor and delivery boy. The other employees often taunt him and pick on him, but Charlie is unable to understand that he is the subject of mockery. He believes that his coworkers are good friends. After a battery of tests—including a maze-solving competition with a mouse named Algernon, who has already had the experimental surgery performed on him—Charlie undergoes the operation. He is initially disappointed that there is no immediate change in his intellect, but with work and help from Alice, he gradually improves his spelling and grammar. Charlie begins to read adult books, slowly at first, then