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 of the bakery workers, but is treated kindly by the others. He is "happy," in a way with all these people whom he considers "smart," and he enjoys laughing with them, even when mos…
