Charles Attention Depicted In Shirley Jackson's Charles

Improved Essays
Laurie was a notorious troublemaker in his class, though he was acknowledged by a different name within his family. Shirley Jackson is the creative author behind the short story “Charles” which she had based off a personal experience. The 5-page passage takes place in the 1950s at a boy named Laurie’s house and his kindergarten class. Laurie took on the alias Charles and misbehaved to receive attention from his family, peers, and his teacher. Laurie can be delineated as a young boy who “just started kindergarten” (Jackson, 345), and a bit rude as he “regarded to his father coldly”. The overall problem was that Laurie did not adapt well to kindergarten, as he harmed classmates and caused mischief. The reasons as to why he behaved poorly was …show more content…
For example, he suggested that Charles could be ejected from school for his misdoings; as he said so, “Laurie shrugged elaborately” (347). One synonym of elaborately includes perfected, which points out that Laurie is trying to make an indirect hint that he feels bad behavior equals removed from the school. Charles unacceptable behavioral patterns were ultimately planned, therefore he was able to manipulate his parents and teacher to give him his desires without them even suspecting a thing.
The main conflict involves Laurie regulating inadequately to kindergarten, which leads to behavioral problems within his class. Charles’s misbehavior catches the attention of ‘his’ family everyday, as they were always eager to hear what Laurie had to say about him. Laurie figured out that boorishness could commence removal from school. Once he became ‘bored’ with all his punishments, he helped around the classroom to be rewarded with an apple and praise. This seemed to halt the delinquency for some time. Sooner or later, Laurie’s mother came to find out that the unconcerned mother of the infamous Charles was herself. The woman who thought she knew her son like the back of her hand, in reality had no idea her son was a naughty, disobedient rebel in school who directly and indirectly harmed others for

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