Charlie Gordon In Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

In Daniel Keyes’ novel, Flowers for Algernon, the main character, Charlie Gordon reflects on his desire to be smart. He writes, “now I can see where I got the unusual motivation for becoming smart that so amazed everyone at first. It was something Rose Gordon lived with day and night. Her fear, her guilt, her shame that Charlie was a moron” (144). Charlie’s mother viewed her son as a burden to society, sinister and sexual. Overall, Rose’s verbal and physical abuse towards Charlie had the greatest impact on his relationships with females, including his sister Norma, his teacher Alice, and his neighbor Fay.
At first, Rose was ashamed of Charlie’s retardation and refused to accept his disability. She constantly insisted that “he’s not a dummy. He’s normal. He’ll be just like everyone else” (73). Charlie remembers his mother arguing with his father, as well, about his mental state. In one of Charlie’s flashbacks, he is a young boy and asks his mom where they are going. She bluntly tells him “we’re going to the doctor who is going to help you get smart” (135). Charlie’s father disapproves of Rose’s constant reminders to Charlie that he is not intelligent, but she insists “he’s going to be normal, whatever we have to do,

whatever it costs” (135). For many years Charlie represses the memories of Rose’s constant nagging to Charlie’s father, and Charlie. However, her demands that Charlie be like all the other children stick with Charlie throughout the course of his life. It is most obvious in Charlie’s third progress report, where he writes “all my life I wantid to be smart and not dumb and my mom always tolld me to try and lern just like Miss Kinnian tells me but its very hard to be smart even when I lern something in Miss Kinnians class at the school I ferget alot” (4). In Charlie’s entry, it is clear he knows that his mom wants him to be smart and fit in.
After the birth of Norma, Rose completely turns her back on Charlie. She focuses all of her energy on her daughter, and routinely punishes Charlie for any sign of sexual interest. In one of Charlie’s memories from childhood, Rose threatens him “if you ever touch a girl, I’ll put you away in a cage, like an animal, for the rest of your life” (112). Charlie lived in fear that his mother would beat him for doing something wrong. One time, he wanted to try Norma’s dresses on, “but once when he did that his mother spanked him for it” (85). Her perpetual punishments towards Charlie affect him much later in life, like the one time a middle-aged woman exposed herself during one of Charlie’s bakery deliveries. “He tried to be good, he told her, and not look at women, because his mother used to beat him whenever that happened in his pants….” (112). Rose’s view of Charlie as sexual also leads to her view of Charlie as sinister. She would scare Charlie so much that he would wet his pants, and he would feel ashamed. Charlie remembers the way his mom made him feel, how “it frightens him when she says he makes her suffer, and when she cries and screams at him, he turns his face to the wall and moans softly to himself” (142). Rose couldn’t handle Charlie’s progressions towards adulthood and his lack of normalcy that she eventually kicked him out of the house.
Rose’s actions towards Charlie had a sweeping impact on Norma’s view of her brother as well. When she was younger, Norma begrudged Charlie for what she perceived as his inability to perform everyday tasks. He remembers one day when Norma came home from school proudly carrying her graded history test. She asked her parents if she could get a dog in turn for her good grades, but once Charlie joined in, she shrieked out, “No! Only mine! I’m the one who got the A in history- not him! He never gets good marks like me. Why should he help with the dog?” (118). Charlie’s father reprimanded Norma for not wanting to share, but Norma felt empowered by her mom, who interjected in Norma’s defense, “I promised her a dog if she did well in school” (117). Norma then threw a fit and shouted, “I hate school! I hate it! I’ll stop studying, and I’ll be a dummy like him” (118). Norma knew that her outburst would scare her mother, who ran after her screaming “Norma, stop that at once!” (118). Years later, Norma admits to Charlie “I hated you because they fussed over you all the time. They never spanked you for not doing your homework right, or for not bringing home the best marks” (273). As a little girl, Norma resented her brother for his incapability of performing everyday tasks. Unfortunately, her resentment turned into entitlement because she knew that her mom valued her more than her brother.
Fay is Charlie’s striking, carefree neighbor who lives across from his apartment.
Although she never knew about his handicap, she caught a glimpse of it one night after getting Charlie drunk.

She described how he “went all confused and silly. You know, as if a grown man starts acting like a kid. Talking about how you wanted to go to school and learn to read and write so you could be smart like everyone else. Crazy stuff like that” (194). She also tells Charlie “you kept saying you couldn’t play with me because your mother would take away your peanuts and put you in a cage” (195). The old Charlie’s goal to be smart and his fear of being with a woman are apparent through his drunken stupor. Fay, however, laughs off Charlie’s remarks, telling him “you were phenomenal. What an act! The weirdest. You’d be great on the stage”

(194).
Although Charlie acknowledges that Alice is the woman he loves, he consistently struggles with his feelings for her because of his unpleasant past with his mother. On his first date with Alice, Charlie admits “I wanted to put my arm around Miss Kinnian. Terrifying” (76). Rose’s past punishments towards Charlie prevent him from displaying a simple act of affection. A few weeks later, Charlie and Alice go to a concert in the park, where he works up the courage to touch her shoulder. He reflects in his progress report, “I saw, from some point in the darkness behind a tree, the two of us lying in each others arms” (100). Charlie also writes how he looked up from his spot with Miss Kinnian to “see a boy of fifteen or sixteen, crouching nearby” (100). It isn’t until Charlie meets Fay that he becomes aware “in spite of the operation Charlie was still with me” (196). After this realization, Charlie explains to Alice “you can’t put up a new building on site until you destroy the old one, and the old Charlie can’t be destroyed. He exists” (201). Charlie recognizes that the old Charlie is present, but he also questions why “the moment I came close to Alice, he panicked. Why was he afraid to let me love Alice?” (203). Charlie’s fears of his mothers punishments surface when he is around someone that he truly loves. Alice also struggles knowing that Charlie is regressing, so she decides to mentally keep Charlie separate from the rest of society and only spend time at his apartment. After a few weeks of bliss, Charlie remembers “the way it had been between Fay and myself, and I smiled. No wonder that had been easy. It had been only physical, this with Alice was a mystery” (294).
In conclusion, Rose Gordon had a profound affect on Charlie’s relationships with females. She looked down on her son as if he was a burden to society, she denied his sexuality, and she treated him like a sinister young boy. Her abusive nature towards Charlie as he was growing up resulted in his constant desire to be smart as well as his fear of his own sexuality. Even years later when Charlie visits, Rose sees him with Norma and screams out “I told you what I’d do to you if I ever caught you touching your sister again! Dirty mind! You don’t belong with normal people!” (275). It is clear that although Rose hadn’t seen Charlie for years, she still couldn’t get over her idea of what was normal.