Charlie, a mentally handicapped human, and Algernon, a mouse, are both "lab rats" used for an experiment. They are forced to compete with each to solve mazes meant to test their intelligence.
Charlie identifies with and develops feelings of compassion for the mouse. However, at first, Charlie dislikes the mouse because it beats him all the time. He also has competitive feelings towards it. Charlie records the following:
He says it took a long time...
Charlie, a mentally handicapped human, and Algernon, a mouse, are both "lab rats" used for an experiment. They are forced to compete with each to solve mazes meant to test their intelligence.
Charlie identifies with and develops feelings of compassion for the mouse. However, at first, Charlie dislikes the mouse because it beats him all the time. He also has competitive feelings towards it. Charlie records the following:
He says it took a long time with Algernon before he got 3 times smarter then he was before. Thats why Algernon beats me all the time because he had that opera· shun too. That makes me feel better. I coud probly do that amazed faster than a reglar mouse. Maybe some day III beat Algernon. Boy that would be something.
As Charlie's intelligence increases and he beats the mouse, he develops compassion and sympathy for the creature.
They let me hold him for a minit. Hes not so bad. Hes soft like a ball of cotton. He blinks and when he opens his eyes their black and pink on the eges. I said can I feed him because I felt bad to beat him.
Charlie's emotions gain more sophistication. Through his feeling that Algernon is being treated poorly, he expresses his sense that his own treatment by the scientists is wrong. He decides he will befriend Algernon.
I dont think its right to make you pass a test to eat. How woud Dr Nemur like it to have to pass a test every time he wants to eat. I think I'II be frends with Algernon.
Because of his identification with Algernon, Charlie can see ahead of time what his own deterioration will be like. Algernon bites him one day and Charlie records the following:
He was unusually disturbed and vicious.
When Algernon dies, Charlie mourns for the mouse, who was so much like him.
I put Algernon's body in a cheese box and buried him in the back yard. I cried.
Through his unfolding relationship with the mouse, we track Charlie's growth in both intellectual and moral awareness and his sad decline. We understand more clearly, too, the way Charlie has been used as nothing more than a lab animal.
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