Charles Character Analysis Essay

“Charles” Parents do not always know their children as well as they think. “Charles” is a short story by Shirley Jackson, a riveting tale that tells the story of Charles, a misbehaved boy in Laurie’s kindergarten class. Laurie dishonestly created a fictional character named Charles to take blame for his bad behavior. Laurie is a disruptive child he demonstrates this behavior with the way he arrives home. “He came home the same way, the front door slamming open, his cap on the floor, and his voice suddenly becoming raucous,” (Jackson 345). Laurie was a young boy starting kindergarten. He lived during the 1950s with his mother, father, and baby sister. The story takes place both at home and at school. At the end of the story, it was indirectly stated that Laurie is Charles. Laurie did not behave well in kindergarten. In other words, Laurie did not adjust well to kindergarten. During this time period there was no pre-school, it was plausibly Laurie’s first time away from home in a school setting. It had become a routine for Laurie to arrive home and share what Charles did wrong that day. Every day for the first week Charles misbehaved “The third day- it was Wednesday of the first week- Charles bounced a see-saw on the head of a little girl and made her bleed.” (346). Charles was disrespectful,
“During the third and fourth weeks it looked like a reformation in Charles,” (348) Charles passed out crayons, cleaned up the books, and he was rewarded with an apple. Laurie’s parents did not believe that Charles’s act had changed for good. Despite the fact that Charles had become the teacher’s helper his ill-mannered behavior returned. Often the children who behaved well received less attention from their teacher. Charles had begun to teach other children to act as he does. Charles told a little girl to say a bad word and the little girl had her mouth washed out with