Al Capone Does My Shirts Character Analysis

Moose Flanagan

Moose is the 12-year-old protagonist of the novel. He moves to Alcatraz with his parents, Mom and Dad, and his older sister Natalie, who has a severe disability and requires constant supervision. Moose… read analysis of Moose Flanagan

Natalie Flanagan

Natalie is Moose’s older sister, though Mom has insisted for years now that Natalie is 10 (Natalie is actually 15 and turns 16 at the end of the novel). She has a severe disability… read analysis of Natalie Flanagan

Mom/Helen Flanagan

Moose’s mom is a homemaker, though she also earns money teaching piano lessons to children. When she’s not teaching, she throws herself into caring for her daughter, Natalie, who is actually 16 but… read analysis of Mom/Helen Flanagan

Dad/Cam Flanagan

Moose’s dad is an electrician, though on Alcatraz, he also works as a prison guard. An honest and supportive man, Dad agrees to move the family to Alcatraz so that Natalie can attend… read analysis of Dad/Cam Flanagan

Al Capone

One of the most infamous real-life criminals of the 1930s, Capone is incarcerated on Alcatraz and is the prison’s highest-profile convict. Piper is intent on seeing and ideally meeting him, and many of her schemes… read analysis of Al Capone

Piper Williams

Piper is the scheming and domineering daughter of Warden Williams. She’s beautiful and Moose’s age, and it’s implied that Piper and Moose nurse mutual crushes throughout the novel. The ringleader of the children… read analysis of Piper Williams

Theresa Mattaman

Seven-year-old Theresa is Moose’s first friend on Alcatraz. She’s immediately accepting of Natalie and wants to make sure Moose is her friend before he befriends anyone else—so she only tells him later that her… read analysis of Theresa Mattaman

Jimmy Mattaman

Jimmy is Theresa’s older brother and one of Moose’s friends on Alcatraz. He’s about Moose’s age and Moose is initially hopeful that Jimmy will play baseball with him. But Jimmy is mostly… read analysis of Jimmy Mattaman

Annie

Annie is one of the band of kids on Alcatraz; her father is a guard. She’s stout, blond, and very focused on homework—so Moose is surprised that she’s also the only kid on Alcatraz… read analysis of Annie

Warden Williams

The frightening and powerful warden of Alcatraz is also Piper’s father. He’s the boss of every employee at the prison, and in addition to overseeing the convicts, he also demands complete obedience from his… read analysis of Warden Williams

Mrs. Carrie Kelly

Mrs. Kelly is the final expert that Mom consults about Natalie. At first, Moose isn’t impressed: Mrs. Kelly insists Natalie can’t have her beloved button box, and she also says it’s important that… read analysis of Mrs. Carrie Kelly

Rocky Mattaman

Rocky is the fifth Mattaman child; he’s born a few weeks after Moose’s family moves to Alcatraz. Theresa is extremely possessive of her baby brother, insisting before his birth that he’s her baby… read analysis of Rocky Mattaman

Teresina Capone

Al Capone’s mother, Mrs. Capone, comes to Alcatraz to visit her son one Sunday morning. Piper ropes as many kids as she can into riding the boat to San Francisco and back so they… read analysis of Teresina Capone

105/Onion

105 is a young convict at Alcatraz who forms a friendship—and perhaps a romantic relationship—with Natalie. He’s nicknamed Onion due to his slicked-back hairstyle. While Moose can verify nothing about the man, Piper insists… read analysis of 105/Onion

Scout

Scout is a kind and easygoing kid in Moose’s class and one of the after-school baseball game team captains. He tries to accommodate Moose’s schedule so Moose can play, though when Moose can’t make… read analysis of Scout

Gram

Moose’s grandmother never appears in person in the novel, but she’s cared for both Moose and Natalie at several points over the years. While Natalie spent a lot of time at Gram’s house in… read analysis of Gram

Minor Characters

Del

Del is a popular kid at Moose’s school and one of the after-school baseball game team captains. He’s very upset about Piper’s scheme to run classmates’ laundry through the Alcatraz laundry system, and so his father sends the warden a letter informing him of the scheme.

Mrs. McCraw

Mrs. McCraw is a distant relative of Mom’s. Some time before the events of the novel, she told Mom to put Natalie in an asylum—and Mom asked her to never come back.

Miss Bimp

Miss Bimp is Moose’s unsmiling and matronly Advanced English teacher.

Pete

Pete was Moose’s best friend in Santa Monica. Though Moose writes to Pete a few times after he moves, they gradually grow apart.

Mrs. Mattaman

Mrs. Mattaman is Theresa and Jimmy’s mother. She has her fifth child, a son named Rocky, a week or two after Moose’s family moves to Alcatraz.

Meeger

Meeger is a boy at school who plays baseball with Scout and Moose.

Mrs. Caconi

Mrs. Caconi lives in the apartment next to the phone, and as such, she’s the one to alert other residents when they have a phone call. Moose thinks she’s ill-suited to this job, as she’s overweight and struggles to climb the stairs to upstairs apartments.

Bea Trixle

Bea Trixle, Mr. Trixle’s wife, is one of Moose’s family’s neighbors. She gives perms in her kitchen and thus runs the only “beauty salon” on Alcatraz.

Mr. Trixle

Mr. Trixle is a guard on Alcatraz.

Weasel

Moose and Piper encounter Weasel, an Alcatraz inmate, on the boat headed to San Francisco for an appeal. Piper explains that he knows as much about the law as trained lawyers do.

Mr. Purdy

Mr. Purdy runs the Esther P. Marinoff School.