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Bad Influences In Shirley Jackson's Charles

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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

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