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Charles By Shirley Jackson Character Analysis

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Charles, written by Shirley Jackson, featured Lurie, a young boy who attended kindergarten in the 1950’s. He was the older brother to his infant sister. Laurie often got frustrated that his parents were not giving him much attention anymore because of his little sister. Laurie then decided if his parents were not going to give him attention at home, he would find a way to get it elsewhere, like at kindergarten. Laurie played the role of Charles, a misbehaved boy who did not want to listen to his teacher. At first, Laurie was rude in class. However, as time progressed, he gradually adjusted to kindergarten and became the teacher’s helper. Ultimately, throughout Laurie’s kindergarten year, he expressed his anger by misbehaving in class and blaming his actions on Charles. Laurie wanted attention. When he got home, he threw his hat on the floor and shouted, “isn’t anybody here?” (Jackson 345). He wanted his parents to pay attention to him when he arrived at home, so he shouted to force them to listen to him. When Laurie was telling his parents about his day, he told them that a boy named Charles had gotten spanked in class. When he lied to his parents about this, he had a big smile on his face because his parents were finally listening to him. This is when he …show more content…

He told his father about the time when Charles told a little girl to say a bad word. His father leaned his head towards Laurie and “Laurie whispered joyfully” (348) to his father. This shows that Laurie enjoyed having all the attention on him when he came home from school. Laurie made sure his parents still believed him, so he told them that his teacher had a friend who came to teach them exercises. Laurie told his parents that Charles kicked the teacher’s friend and was not allowed to participate in the activity. In other words, Laurie’s behavior was getting worse and blaming this on Charles made his parents give him more

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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

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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.

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In the book “The Misfortunes of Alonso Ramirez,” the author describes the adventures that a poor Spanish American carpenter had when he was captured by English Pirates. Alonso Ramirez pleads his case to judges to prove that he was in fact not a pirate working with the English and that he is indeed innocent. We will be considering different evidence that Alonso Ramirez states in order to prove that Alonso Ramirez was indeed a pirate, but just distorted his stories in order to make him seem a victim to the whole situation. People who commit piracy is defined as someone who commits crimes of robbery and violence in the seas. Alonso Ramirez fits into this description when he talks about Pirates taking treasures from Siamese people.

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Foreshadowing in “Charles” In the short story “Charles,” foreshadowing helps us realize that Charles is actually Laurie. For instance, everyday when Laurie came home from school he always had a terrible story to tell his parents about Charles. When Laurie tells his parents Charles hit the teacher his mother is concerned and asks for the child's name. In the text it states “Laurie thought. ‘It was Charles.”

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“Charles” Essay Shirley Jackson’s enticing story called “Charles” was filled with a plot twist and unforeseen outcomes. The story fixated on Laurie, a kindergartener and older sibling to his new infant sister. The setting took place in the 1950’s in Laurie’s home, school and kindergarten classroom. Laurie was extremely misbehaved during the beginning of his Kindergarten year.

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I say this because his life was very interesting it seemed to go up and down like a rollercoaster all the time, which then intrigued me to read the whole book as I was not interested in it in the beginning. I think the reason why Charlie had an up and down life is because of the lack of knowledge he had about sex and drugs, I say this because he was never told about the consequences and was just a teenager, trying out new things. This then led him to have an up and down rollercoaster life. I found Charlie, to be very mature for his age when he listened to advice which he was given by his english teacher Bill, and I quote”we accept the love we think we deserve, things change and friends leave, life doesn't stop for anybody. ”I found that I could relate to this quote, it means alot to me because I have experienced situations in my life that can relate to this quotes such as when I lost some friends who were very close, but I learnt that life goes on, and I made some new friends along the way.

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he began to laugh insanely”(1 and 2) Laurie is showing disrespect to his parents and they do not care that he is. His mother and father only care about this Charles kid causing a ruckus in school. This gives Laurie the chance to be lousy at home without his parents noticing. Laurie makes up Charles to benefit from getting in trouble, so that his parents focus on Charles and not him. “Laurie did Charles when he filled his wagon full of mud and pulled it through the kitchen”(3)

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Sometimes it’s good to give someone time to think by himself or herself a way of doing things especially when it comes to girls; you just have to give girls time to think of a new way of doing things. At first the sister never liked Charlie himself is a mystery. He has mental problems, gets angry, sees things and then passes out. Charlie is the main character and narrator who is fifteen years old and high school freshman

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He manage to stumble outside when a stranger saw him and took him to the nearest hospital. It did not take long for the nurse to discover he was a child of neglect. When asked what goes on at home Charlie answered, " his father is a decent man. He is just trying to teach me a lesson, a lesson I look forward to learning so I can be let out

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An experience that changes Charlie is when Charlie’s father dies. This experience changes him when he says, “When the undertakers came to wheel my father’s lifeless body out to the hearse, it was as if they took my childhood with them. Like other boys, I still wore ‘Knickerbockers’ in the schoolyard. I played ‘queenies’ and marbles too. But once the lessons were over, I returned home and stepped into the long pants of adulthood.

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With this mindset, Charlie begins to put the comfort and well-being of others before his own. As the movie progresses, Charlie becomes involved with Mary-Elizabeth and despite being unhappy in the relationship he refuses to break up with her for fear of hurting her. Growing up Charlie didn’t have many friends and therefore never really learned about what’s socially acceptable. Consequently this leads to Charlie breaking up with Mary-Elizabeth while also driving a wedge between him and his new found friends. Charlie’s relationship with his Aunt Helen is also a key factor in why he is the way he is.

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Throughout the book Charlie is constantly trying be someone else and does what he thinks other people would do. He becomes blind to what is actually right and it cost him friendships. He felt that he had be different in order for people to notice him and like him. At the end of the book, Charlie’s mistake is finally fading away and he begins to be himself again.

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For example, on page 299, “I felt sick inside as I looked at his dull, vacuous smile, the wide bright eyes of a child, uncertain but easy to please. And I had been laughing at him too. Suddenly, I was furious at myself and all those who were laughing at him.” Here, Charlie was realizing that people were mean and rude to people who weren’t like them. That people looked down to people who were different than them or not as smart.

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It’s a weird way to end a conflict but in the end it seemed like the only way to let him do what he wanted. Charlie is a persistent, adventurous dreamer; he will risk his life to do what he dreams of. He is persistent because he won’t let the school stop him from looking out the window. When he was looking out the window and his teacher called on him he “was [staring]

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Character traits help shape a person into what they are, there are ways to change them and become a better person. In the short story Charles, written by Shirley Jackson, a boy named Charles possessed many different negative character traits in which some include being, obnoxious, dangerous, and disrespectful. Charles displayed immature and unnecessary trouble for all the students and teachers. Being obnoxious means extremely unpleasant and Charles was just that in this short story. Charles possesses the trait obnoxious because all the children in the class were trying to listen to the story while the teacher would be unable to read due to the noise.

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