How do Charlie’s landlady and co-workers react to him now?

In Flowers for Algernon, a novel by Daniel Keyes, Charlie Gordon is a mentally challenged man who undergoes a scientific experiment to make him more intelligent. Prior to the operation, he works at a factory. The men in the factory treat him like a joke and use him for their entertainment. For example, they laugh when he makes mistakes. They take him out drinking in order to laugh at his behavior, and when problems arise, they abandon him. Charlie doesn't talk much about his landlady prior to the changes that occur in him as a result of the operation, but he mentions that she seems frightened of him as he starts to progress in intelligence. 
Before the operation, Charlie assumed that the people at the factory who were making fun of him were his friends and that they were not laughing at him, but with him. Once he begins to progress, he realizes that they are not being friendly, but cruel. He feels ashamed that he has been an object of ridicule without realizing it. 

"Mrs. Flynn looks at me very funny lately like she's scared of me. I think it's a good thing about finding out how everybody laughs at me. I thought about it a lot. It's because I'm so dumb and I don't even know when I'm doing something dumb. People think it's funny when a dumb person can't do things the same way they can. Anyway, now I know I'm getting smarter every day." 

Here is a quote from just shortly after the operation when Charlie was still under the delusion that the men at the factory were his friends. 

"We had a lot of fun at the factery today. Joe Carp said hey look where Charlie had his operashun what did they do Charlie put some brains in. I was going to tell him but I remembered Dr Strauss said no. Then Frank Reilly said what did you do Charlie forget your key and open your door the hard way. That made me laft. Their really my friends and they like me. Sometimes somebody will say hey look at Joe or Frank or George he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I dont know why they say that but they always laft. This morning Amos Borg who is the 4 man at Donnegans used my name when he shouted at Ernie the office boy. Ernie lost a packige. He said Ernie for god sake what are you trying to be a Charlie Gordon. I dont understand why he said that. I never lost any packiges."

Once Charlie starts to progress, and becomes more intelligent, he figures out a system to make the factory run more efficiently. The foreman praises him, saying how much money his idea will save, and gives him a $25 bonus. He wants to go out with Joe and Frank to celebrate, but they both decline. Charlie is beginning to realize that people are treating him differently. 

"I wanted to take Joe Carp and Frank Reilly out to lunch to celebrate, but Joe said he had to buy some things for his wife, and Frank said he was meeting his cousin for lunch. I guess it'll take a little time for them to get used to the changes in me. Everybody seems to be frightened of me. When I went over to Amos Borg and tapped him on the shoulder, he jumped up in the air. People don't talk to me much any more or kid around the way they used to. It makes the job kind of lonely."

 

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