Flowers for Algernon characters
Charlie Gordon is the protagonist of the story. He presents everything in the form of a dairy. Charlie is 32 years old and he has a mental disorder which makes him act and think like a 10-year-old boy. He has a dream to become smart and understand everything. When doctors decide to conduct an...
Alice is a teacher at the college for retarded adults. She works with people like Charlie helping them to learn the basics. When she finds out about the experiment, she encourages Gordon because he is eager to become clever. After the experiment, Alice finds lots of interest in the man’s...
Algernon is a small mouse which is used by scientists and doctors for experiments. It is the first mouse who shows positive results after the surgery. It starts finding the correct path through the maze. This progress allows doctors to expect the same result after the human surgery with Charlie...
Burt Selden is involved in the experiment with the mouse Algernon and the man Charlie. Burt is writing his thesis which explains why he is so interested in the process. For him, the experiment is just a scientific breakthrough and not the crucial intrusion into one’s life. Burt is working...
Mr. Donner owns a bakery where Gordon works at the beginning of the story. He decides to hire this poor man because he is kind and willing to help. Another reason is that if working on a bakery Gordon will not have to go to another place when his uncle Herman dies. Mr. Donner treats the man like a...
Fay meets with Charlie when he is already a normal intelligent 32-year-old man. When the man runs away from the scientists, he settles in a new house. It is where he meets Fay because she appears to be his neighbour. They have some spiritual connection with each other. Fay is free-spirited...
These two men are working on Mr Donner’s bakery where Charlie works too. They are ordinary people who don’t take Gordon seriously. When it is possible, they laugh at Charlie, have fun, but he cannot understand that they use him as the butt of all jokes. He thinks that it is how...
Gimpy is another worker at Mr Donner’s bakery where Charlie Gordon, Frank and Joy work as well. However, this character is a dishonest one. He steals money in secret from Mr Donner. When Gordon becomes clever, he understands this and wants to reveal his secret. The relationship between Gimpy...
Matt Gordon is Charlie’s father. He is not a happy man because of his emotional traumas and disability to be a leader in a family. He has a dream to become an owner of a barbershop but when he reaches this goal, he doesn’t feel that expected satisfaction. His attitude to the son is not...
This scientist leads the experiment with the mental improvement for Algernon and Charlie. He is arrogant and pig-headed. He is a great scientist because he manages to conduct such an operation which gives the man ability to learn for some period of time. However, professor Nemur doesn’t take...
Norma Gordon is Charlie’s younger sister. She has to live a sad and stressful childhood life because both her mother and the older brother are mentally unstable. Norma has to care after the ill brother, and this responsibility deprives her from normal teenage life. When her parents lie that...
Rose Gordon is Charlie’s mother. She is a real leader in the family who is eager to take control over everybody’s life. It is difficult for her to accept her fate of being a mother of a mentally ill boy. This depression makes her an angry, aggressive woman. The most difficult aspect...
Dr. Straus is another person who is involved in the Charlie’s surgery. He asks the man to keep a diary to monitor the changes in mind. Although he is one of those who encourage Gordon to take the surgery, Dr. Straus shows signs of real humane worries about Charlie’s emotions. It can be...