The short story, “Charles,” is an interesting tale about a boy who makes up a story about another child causing trouble, when in reality, he is the one causing mischief. The author, Shirley Jackson, uses the characters’ interactions to create irony. The unexpected outcomes make the story more interesting to read, as well as move it along. She creates this by using dialogue and suspense throughout the short story.
In the passage, the author uses dialogue to convey the irony shown throughout. The author demonstrates this when the characters start using Charles as a word, or description. Towards the end of the story, the boy, Laurie, his dad accidentally knocks over some objects clumsily, and Laurie’s mom says, “Looks like Charles.” This shows how Charles’ misbehavior and influence has affected all of Laurie’s family, to the point where they’re so used to it, they use Charles’ name in everyday life as a term to mean something bad. And when Laurie describes Charles’ behavior getting better, his parents are
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Throughout the whole of the passage, Charles' behavior gets worse and worse, making it more interesting and suspenseful to see what happens next. The build up of suspense at the beginning leads to the big ironic reveal at the end. This reveal is built up by Laurie’s mother, who is the narrator. She is at a PTA meeting looking for Charles’ mom and says, “At the meeting I sat restlessly, scanning each comfortable matronly face, trying to determine which one hid the secret of Charles. None of them looked to me haggard enough. No one stood up in the meeting and apologized for the way her son had been acting. No one mentioned Charles.” The author is making such a big deal out of this one moment, which is because it is the pinnacle of both the plot and the suspense. However, it is unraveled and shown that Laurie is