In Progress Report 9, Charlie is ashamed because he realizes the people he thought were his friends, Frank and Joe, have really only wanted to have him around in order to make fun of him. He wasn't ashamed earlier because he didn't have the mental ability to analyze how they were treating him. His sense of shame shows his growing intelligence and ability to see himself as others see him. He becomes conscious of himself in a more sophisticated way.

In Progress Report 10, Charlie asks Miss Kinnian out on a dinner date. We see Charlie developing new aspects of his personality as he begins to see Miss Kinnian as a sexual being and a peer. When she was his night school teacher, Charlie felt she was infinitely superior to him, as a young child might feel with an adult. Now he realizes she is only thirty-four, and they converse as equals. He even lights her cigarette. With his growing intelligence, he is becoming more socially adept.