Mr. Gorf

— Narration in "Voices"

* Heitz
* McCauley

**Mr. Gorf** is a character in the *Wayside School* books. He does not appear in the cartoon. He appears in *Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger* as a substitute for Mrs. Jewls's class. He is the son of Mrs. Gorf, and attempts to earn revenge on the class by stealing the voices of the students, and calling their mothers to tell them how much he hates them.

## Appearance

Mr. Gorf is described as a handsome man with neatly combed brown hair and clean fingernails. He had a nose with three nostrils that flared up when he'd steal someone's voice, but as of "Nose," he has sneezed it off of his face. When he had his nose, he was able to tap it to switch his voice to that of anyone he's stolen the voice of.

## Personality

When Mr. Gorf first presents himself to Mrs. Jewls's class in "Voices," he appears to be a gentle and approachable person, taking a moment to introduce himself before allowing the students to introduce themselves. However, once the students start introducing themselves, he starts absorbing their voices through his nose. Mr. Gorf is shown to be a spiteful man; as revenge for what the students did to his mother, he steals their voices and uses them in attempt to separate them from their own mothers. He appears to be rude, frequently mocking the kids, joking about how quiet they are in "Voices," and laughing at Leslie's attempt to get help in "Nose." However, he is quick to put back on his gentle facade, as seen when Miss Mush interrupts their class. As his natural speaking voice is described as sounding like a French donkey with a sore throat, he uses the voice of a Scottish gentleman to make himself sound more presentable.

Mr. Gorf seems to speak highly of himself when using others' voices, as seen with his conversation with Miss Mush in "Voices," implying that he may be a narcissist, though this might also be him trying to get Miss Mush off his trail. As revealed at the end of "Nose," he has stolen many other voices before, including an old woman's, a dog's, and an Italian person's, though it is unknown why he had stolen these voices. However, he steals the voices of the children since he believes it's his chance to get even with them after they led to his mother's demise.

## Relationships

### Mrs. Jewls's class

After Mrs. Jewls's class ultimately lead to Mrs. Gorf being transformed into an apple and eaten by Louis, Mr. Gorf swears revenge on them as their substitute. As the substitute, he steals the voices of the children and calls their mothers, hoping to take their mothers away the same way they did to him. He seems to think lowly of the children, often mocking and berating them when they attempt to get help, though he doesn't seem to know much about them, as he uses Kathy's voice to wish Miss Mush a nice day.

### Mrs. Gorf

While Mrs. Gorf is Mr. Gorf's mother, little about their relationship is unknown, as Mrs. Gorf is dead by the time Mr. Gorf first appears. Mr. Gorf, however, seems to think highly of her, and swears revenge on Mrs. Jewls's class after learning about her death. Whether Mrs. Gorf cared about Mr. Gorf in return, however, is not known.

## Appearances

Mr. Gorf appears in a total of five chapters. Major appearances are in **bold**.

* "Something Different About Mrs. Jewls" (mentioned)
* "Mr. Gorf"
* "**Voices**"
* "**Nose**"
* "The New Teacher" (mentioned)

## Trivia

* Mr. Gorf's true voice is described as sounding like "If a donkey could talk, and if the donkey had a sore throat, and if it spoke with a French accent..." in "Voices."
* Mr. Gorf claims to have been born in Kathmandu, India, though it is misspelled in the books as "Katmandu."
* As revealed in "Voices," Mr. Gorf is a bachelor. This is likely because he is an awful person, and no one would ever like Mr. Gorf.
* Out of the three substitutes in *Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger*, Mr. Gorf was the teacher of Mrs. Jewls's class for the shortest, being only there for a single day and three chapters.

## Gallery

"Voices" (2004)"Nose" (2003)"Nose" (2004)"Nose" (2004)"Nose" (2019)
### Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)
## References

1. ↑ "Voices"