Charlie is in a bleak mood during his visit to the Warren State Home and Training School. It is a sprawling gray estate, discreetly set on a narrow side road. The head psychologist is unexpectedly young and very earnest. He explains that there is no high security system at Warren. Some "high-moron" types wander off. If they can't adapt to outside life, they return. Charlie learns that, the institute has a waiting list of fourteen hundred and can barely take twenty-five new people each year, as their members are there for a lifetime. Charlie meets Thelma who looks after the adolescent boys. She seems robust and kindly and tells him that, she feels her work is hard but "rewarding when you think how much they need you." He also sees some deaf and mute boys who are also mentally retarded, working on their carpentry. He is moved by the injustice that life has done to them. He observes an older boy caring for a younger one and Thelma comments, "They know enough to seek human contact and affection from each other."
The staff consider Charlie as just another normal' academic from Beekman, doing some sort of observation. This is a contrast to the poignancy of his actual feelings and doubts about his future. He watches the boys there, their behavior, and their work, with exaggerated sensitivity, as he identifies with every one of them. When a boy touches him to signal goodbye he almost breaks down. His resentment is stirred when the motherly school principal calls the inmates her children, and says they are "beyond help." Yet, he is moved by the dedication of all the staff he has met. But, he is chilled by the fact there "had been no talk of rehabilitation, of cure, of someday sending these people out into the world again. No one had spoken of hope. The feeling was of living death..."
His visit leaves him with a hopeless feeling that "I may soon be
coming to Warren, to spend the rest of my life wit h the others ---waiting."
Charlie is eager, but at the same time apprehensive, about visiting his mother. His uncertainty about his future also adds pressure.
Algernon is getting worse. He refuses to run the maze and won't even
eat. Watching Burt force-feed him, Charlie gags and has to run out of
the lab for fresh air. He starts drinking in order to escape from the
situation and his relationship with Fay sours. He feels there's just dancing,
painting and sex in her life, of which they share only sex. Fay is also
becoming possessive about him. Eventually, Charlie decides to cut down
on his drinking.
Something that Charlie has always avoided happens. Fay and Alice meet
- without any fireworks! Alice worries about Algernon's regression and
therefore comes to comfort Charlie. As they sit talking late, Fay appears
via the fire escape. The two women size up each other, then get absorbed
in talking, until Charlie feels unwanted. Later, Alice tells Charlie that
Fay loves him. Charlie denies it but he does not deny their sexual relationship.
He insists that he loves only Alice, which is why he can't make love to
her. Alice goes home.
Charlie concentrates on his work with desperate urgency. To Fay's disgust,
he even moves a cot into the lab. He busily makes notes on "the calculus
of intelligence" and only the cages and mice and lab seem real to
him. Fay withdraws, jealous of his obsession with work. Alice helps him
now, with food and coffee, making no demands. Charlie is aware of a heightened
perception, where concentration and judgement are hypersensitive and acute.
Algernon lies almost unmoving in the lab, and his condition worsens all
the time.
Fay has a new lover. Charlie says, "It's almost a relief."
He moves back to the lab and to Algernon. The white mouse greets him and
seems eager to work. He solves the maze twice, but fails the third time.
Then he goes into a wild frenzy, until, exhausted, he curls up into a
tight ball. Charlie is desperate to understand why, not only to help himself,
but in order to add even a scrap of knowledge to the work that has already
been done. If he can do this and help others like myself,' he feels he
will have lived a thousand normal lives.'
Charlie is filled with a joyful, bubbling energy and a zest for work.
This disturbs the others who think he's, "killing himself at that
pace." He hopes that he will be able to get the knowledge he needs
in order to make a breakthrough. He finds out that, Fay's lover is a dance
instructor at her favorite dance hall. However, it doesn't bother him.
Charlie reaches a blind alley in his reasoning. He can't answer the question about how Algernon's regression affects the basis of the experiment. He decides to leave it for now, as pushing too hard makes his mind go blank. He goes to Mrs. Nemur's cocktail party. Fay refuses his invitation to accompany him. Charlie feels isolated among the academicians and their financiers. Mrs. Nemur baits him about working on the ideas of others, like her husband. Charlie is annoyed with the discussion between Strauss and a sponsor, and is steered away by Strauss, just when he is about to interrupt the discussion. Charlie decides to sit quietly in a corner, but he's had too many drinks. He begins muttering to himself, quite unaware of others' reactions. The guests trickle away, and Nemur confronts Charlie, furious at his behavior. The two argue and Nemur calls him an arrogant, self-centered, antisocial bastard.' Charlie accuses Nemur of treating him as an experimental animal, "to be kept in a cage and displayed when necessary to reap the honors you seek." He says that he was better off before the operation as he then had friends. He feels that intelligence without the capacity to give and receive affection is sterile. He speaks of "Charlie Gordon" as another person waiting patiently inside himself.
In the middle of his "sermon," Charlie's speech becomes slurred,
his language becomes limited, and the old Charlie is back. He makes it
to the bathroom just on time, and manages to get control of himself. Finally,
he insists on walking home alone. While in the bathroom he looks into
the mirror, to find the other Charlie looking questioningly at him. Charlie
raves at his other self, asserting that he won't give up his intelligence
without a struggle, "I'm going to keep what they've given me and
do great things for the world and for other people like you." He
then leaves for home. Alone, he admits to himself that he has become what
Nemur has called him, and is therefore ashamed of himself. He seeks Fay's
company but she is with her new lover. Charlie goes to bed and dozes off.
Suddenly at 4.30 a.m, the answer to all his queries comes to him, and
he is wide-awake!
Charlie discovers that, "artificially-induced intelligence deteriorates
at a rate of time directly proportional to the quantity of the increase."
He writes a letter to Prof. Nemur stating this and encloses all his notes
and mathematical analyses of data. He also christens his discovery as
the Algernon-Gordon Effect. Charlie also apologizes for the fact that,
through his discovery, he is negating the work done by the researchers.
After sending it, he turns to his immediate problem-what is to become
of himself? For the purpose of verification, Nemur sends Charlie's report
to the top men in the field, but Charlie is confident about his findings.
He tells Alice about his discovery and she breaks down. Charlie is concerned
that, she should not feel guilty about his fate.
Charlie is in a state of suspense. All he can do is wait. He once again says
that he does not blame anyone, as the researchers had taken every precaution
in order to make sure that there is no physical danger. However, they
had failed to foresee the psychological pitfalls. Charlie's main concern
now is, how much he can retain in the future.
Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone".
TheBestNotes.com.
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