Foreshadowing is a literary technique in which events or outcomes that will occur later in the text are hinted at. In the short story "Charles" by Shirley Jackson, the author foreshadows the twist at the end of the story. She uses irony, ambiguity, and the structure of the text to create a sense of anticipation and tension that builds toward the story's surprising end. A key way in which Shirley foreshadows the twist is the use of irony. Throughout the story, Charles’s misbehaviour is shown as a source of frustration and concern for his teacher and even the parents, since Laurie talks about Charles a lot. However, the reader soon realizes that the parents are oblivious to the fact that Laurie is Charles the very troublesome kid they have been talking about is actually their son. This irony is hinted at, in the text by some comments from Laurie's mother, such as when she says, "this Charles boy sounds like such a bad influence.” (Jackson, 2) and when she shows disbelief that Laurie would do some of the things that Charles had done. This is ironic since at the end of the short story, the reader finds out Charles is Laurie. By …show more content…
At first, it is not explained whether Charles is a real person or Laurie's imagination since we never hear from him directly. This makes it so that the reader is left wondering whether Laurie is lying to his parents about Charles's misbehaviour, or whether he is projecting his behaviour onto an imaginary friend. Furthermore, by Laurie's lack of specificity and vagueness when describing Charles's behaviour, and the fact that the parents never meet him, the ambiguity grows, For example in the text it says, “What does this Charles look like?” my husband asked Laurie. “What’s his other name?” (Jackson, 3). The ambiguity foreshadows the twist since it demonstrates Laurie's power to alter the truth. This creates a sense of tension and unease throughout the