Character files
Who is The White Mouse Charlie is Racing Against
Who is Algernon
Category: Plot Points
Charlie writes these every day to track his progress for the doctors.
What are Progress Reports?
This item represents Charlie’s intelligence and his "rivalry" throughout the book.
What is the Maze?
At the start of the book, Charlie’s writing is full of these types of errors.
What are Spelling/Punctuation errors?
Charlie’s teacher at the adult night school who he eventually falls in love with.
Who is Miss Kinnian?
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Category: Plot Points
This is Charlie’s job at the beginning of the story.
What is a Janitor/Bakery worker
Before the surgery, Charlie thinks being "smart" will automatically make him have more of these.
What are Friends?
To "pull a Charlie Gordon" meant to do something.
What is Stupid or Clumsy?
These two "friends" at the bakery often made fun of Charlie before his surgery.
Who are Joe Carp and Frank Reilly
The inkblot test that Charlie fails to understand early on.
What is the Rorschach Test?
This object/location represents Charlie’s isolation and his childhood trauma.
What is the Window/The Bakery?
This word means the ability to see or understand something clearly
Charlie gains this after surgery What is Insight?
Charlie’s sister who he visits later in the book.
Who is Norma?
This is the name of the scientific theory Charlie develops to explain his decline.
What is the Algernon-Gordon Effect?
The story is told from this "point of view."
What is First Person?
The medical term for the type of surgery Charlie had.
What is Neurosurgery?
The two doctors who perform the surgery on Charlie.
Who are Dr. Strauss and Dr. Nemur?
Charlie realizes the surgery is failing when this happens to Algernon.
What is Algernon loses his intelligence/dies?
The ending of the story, where Charlie returns to his original state, is an example of this literary structure.
What is a Full Circle or Cyclical Plot?
This word describes a state of decreasing in quality or power
What is Deterioration?