Case study

CHARACTER ANALYSIS Charlie Gordon The character of Charlie Gordon, a young retarded adult, and the changes in him as a result of a daring experimental operation, is the nucleus of the novel. When the book opens, Charlie is thirty- two, lives alone, and works as a lowly cleaner in a bakery. He owes his job only to his uncle's lifelong friendship with the kind owner. Charlie is the butt of crude jokes by the worst …

…last thought in the book is that his friends place flowers on the grave of Algernon. The treatment of the white mouse, as in the case of any other laboratory animal, is exploitative and uncaring. Charlie, being considered sub-human is treated very much the same, hence he considers the mouse as an extension of himself. Thus, the author, while using symbols common to modern psychology, makes them an organic and essential part of his theme.