ipl-logo

Bad Influences In Shirley Jackson's Charles

471 Words2 Pages

Shirley Jacksons short story, “Charles” is about a kindergarten boy named Laurie, who tells his parents about a boy named Charles that does bad things to his teacher, classmates, and objects in the classroom. He tells other students to cuss at the teacher, he purposely hits a girl in the head with the seesaw, he throws chalk, and he hurts the teacher. But to his parents he is an innocent little boy who they don't want him to get any bad influences. In the end it turns out that Charles is the bad kid that Laurie made up so he wouldn't get in trouble by his parents, he tells them that a kid in his class, Charles, is doing all the bad things. One theme emerging in “Charles” is that you can't believe everything someone says, even the ones closest to you. In …show more content…

His mom says, “Do you think kindergarten is too unsettling for Laurie? All this toughness and bad grammar, and this Charles boy sounds like such a bad influence.” This shows how his mom thinks that since Laurie is coming home talking differently and acting more rude towards his parents that it’s Charles’s fault when it’s really Laurie acting up. His parents should be aware of everything that Laurie does at school but instead they blow it off because they believe him and everything he says. When Laurie comes home telling his mom and dad about Charles they seem a little suspicious about what he was saying but still believed him. Beacause Laurie lies about Charles he confuses his mom, his dad, and his teacher throughout the story. For example his teacher does not know that Laurie is lying about Charles until the end of the story and his parents are clueless until his mom asks the teacher about Charles. Laurie keeps up his lie for about 5 weeks without anyone catching on to it. His parents now have to regain his trust because he has lied to them about everything he does at

Show More
Related
489 Words | 2 Pages

To begin with, I’m going to tell you about a story that we are reading in Mrs. Gibson’s class. The name of this book called “Bad Boy” by Walter Dean Myers. I’m only going to tell you about chapter 5&6. First off, in the beginning of the chapter Walter and his friends shocked the pastor. “how did they do that?”

Read More
175 Words | 1 Pages

In

Read More
419 Words | 2 Pages

Dennis’s mother is used to having a hard time finding a babysitter because she states that they “never come back.” But when Laurie’s mom is talking to the teacher at Laurie’s school, she says “Laurie usually adjusts very quickly. I suppose this time it’s Charles's influence.” Another example of how these stories are different is when it comes to bad behavior

Read More
1107 Words | 5 Pages

Richard falls for the peer pressure and makes a horrible mistake which made him face the consequences while Jamal and his cousin did not. Grade 9 students should study this because it proves that falling for peer pressure always leads to something bad. However, Richard makes up for his actions when he is in jail, and he shows that he can be a good role model. When Richard was in jail, “He’d had no disciplinary violations and the staff at Chad had described him as motivated to participate in treatment programs and remorseful about his crime”.

Read More
124 Words | 1 Pages

Charles is a short story written by Shirley Jackson first published in 1948. Being a great example of dramatic irony, it tells the story of Laurie and his first few weeks of Kindergarten. Upon coming home from school on his first day, he recounts the tales of a poorly behaved boy named Charles who yelled at teachers and got spanked as a result. Every day, Laurie will recount similar tales to his parents of the misbehaving boy named Charles. At the PTA meeting however Laurie’s parents are surprised to not hear a single utterance of this Charles boy.

Read More
1199 Words | 5 Pages

In

Read More
1112 Words | 5 Pages

As discussed above the mother refuses to believe that her son is growing up and in turn, believes the stories of Charles which causes the narrator to be deemed unreliable. The first sign that the narrator is unreliable appears when the narrator compares Laurie to a well-behaved kid and then when the narrator describes Laurie’s behavior after school as disruptive and insolent. At this point, it is apparent that Laurie is not as well-behaved as his mother believes him to be. However, it is not apparent that Laurie has made up Charles even though he is displaying the same freshness as Charles was at school as it appears to be semi-normal behavior. For the rest of the first week, Laurie keeps displaying this insolent behavior at home and Charles keeps acting out at school.

Read More
592 Words | 3 Pages

What? Scuttlebutt? Wow, Ralph can’t believe it. A boy named Ralph got told that his mom is going to have a baby! But, he didn’t hear the news from his mom.

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

This is shown to be especially true when a child is misunderstood of why they have done something wrong. Many children are unaware of the harm they are doing to an individual because they are incapable of understanding why their action is a bad thing. Susan Perabo is able to show this to be true in her short story, “The Payoff” when she informs the reader of Anne and Louise’s situation with the principal. These characters’ analyses show how unwise and immature a young child is in their youth from even the simplest actions. The story’s evaluation led to a direct result in understanding the writing and the theme of the story.

Read More
146 Words | 1 Pages

Laurie learns to not judge people by their looks but by their actions and ends up helping Maurice. For instance, in “Invisible Thread” during Maurice’s toast to Laurie he talks about how she passed by him when they first met on the street, but then almost gets hit by a car to go back to him. This is very important because instead of leaving she turns around and goes back. She did judge him in the beginning but changed her mind. “I was a young boy on the street with barely nothing, and I very hungry that day and asked this lady ‘Miss, can you spare some change?’

Read More
508 Words | 3 Pages

“Charles” by Shirley Jackson is a realistic fiction cliffhanger about Laurie, his adjustment to kindergarten, and a kid Charles, who seems to be a dreadful influence on the kindergarteners. The story is set in Laurie 's home and at his school. Laurie, his mother, his father, and Charles are the characters in the story. The lesson in the story is that lying leads to more problems than it solves and the author uses foreshadowing and word choice to show the lesson.

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

Cullen couldn’t control his anger, and lacked a conscience which he demonstrated when he tried to fight against bullying by spiking drinks at a party with rat poison (Jennifer Hash, 2006, p.1). Charles believed that being victim of bullying justifies killing people. He justified killing people because he thought of himself as a victim. He was the target of bullying in school and in the Navy. Then, both his mother and brother died young.

Read More
480 Words | 2 Pages

The short story, “The Lottery” was written and published in 1948, three years after the end of the Second World War. During World War II, there was a system set up called the draft in which the government chooses groups of young men to fight at random. This was very scary and chosen at random for the young men. The draft, in a few ways, refers a lot to “The Lottery” and Shirley Jackson was surely influenced by the recent war in the making of this short story. It is a totally random and scary for the individuals called in both instances.

Read More
752 Words | 4 Pages

Miss Moore shows a high level of confidence towards the children. While they may talk behind her back and make many rude gestures, she still stands up for herself and give the children a the guidance she feels they deserve. The story portrays a town that is full of unfortunate children. The children may not have been shown proper way to do things or the correct social skills in life. Miss Moore makes them work hard and shows them how a respectable adult should behave.

Read More
742 Words | 3 Pages

In Mark Twain’s short story “The Story of the Good Little Boy” he describes a little boy being good by trying to make the bad little boys became good resulting in himself being bad. Twain's real name is Samuel Clemens and he worked at many jobs when he was eleven to help support his family when his father died. He was trained to be a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River and piloted boats professionally. This story is about Jacob Blivens who always obeys his parents and was a good boy who studies books and school. His Sunday-school book is his guide to became a good little boy when he tries to help the bad little boys to become good but it always got him in trouble.

Read More

More about Bad Influences In Shirley Jackson's Charles

Related Topics

Open Document