The Charmer By Budge Wilson Summary

The story “The Charmer” written by Budge Wilson depicts the life of a family who is brainwashed by their son, but the oldest daughter Winnifred goes from adoring Zach, to realizing his not so charming colours, and eventually educating her own child to not make the same mistakes as Zach. Winnifred adores Zach as children but never realizes that she is completely charmed by him and unintentionally becomes his slave. An example of that is when the narrator says, “Zach [sits] down and [eats] half [of] the cake… the three [sisters] wash up old baking dishes… and his plate and fork and glass” (4). Winnifred and her sisters willingly wash the dishes, not noticing how selfish Zach is being by not helping them out and eating the cake that was meant for the Church Bazaar. Only in a matter of

Winnifred shows how much she detests Zach because of his behavior, ’’’This is his way of coping. He’s probably suffering more than the rest of us’. Suffering my foot, [Winnifred] [thinks]’’ (5). This time, Winnifred already understands who Zach is and she concludes that he isn't suffering and he doesn’t care. Winnifred knows that Zach already gave up on his family as he never visits Lizzie. As years went on, Lizzie passes away, Zach left, and Winnifred has a new family to take care of, but one of her daughters (Stephanie) is behaving just like Zach, so Winnifred uses her past experiences with her brother to solve her problem with Stephanie. Winnifred learns not to be charmed by Stephanie, “[Stephanie] [pushes] her two sisters aside, and, [seizes] a jug of milk from the table, [hurling] it at the opposite wall" (8). When Stephanie causes trouble in the household, Winnifred scolds her daughter and she finally feels as if she has her closure with her brother, which is why she thanks him and can live on with her