Charles

I would argue that the main theme of this short story is parents' blindness to their children's flaws. Right from the outset, the little boy telling tall tales about a classmate called Charlie is...

In "Charles," we can describe Laurie as being very keen to assert his independence. This is shown clearly in the first paragraph when his mother says that he "renounced" (gave up) his corduroys in...

Foreshadowing is a literary device used by authors to hint at events that will come later in a story. Shirley Jackson uses foreshadowing masterfully in the short story "Charles." The very first...

Essentially, the message of the story is that the creation of a personal identity is a difficult and complicated process, regardless of age. This is shown clearly through the character of Laurie, a...

Dramatic irony is used in Shirley Jackson's "Charles" as the mother/narrator never suspects that the poorly-behaved boy about whom her son speaks is, in actuality, her own child, Laurie while...

Besides the internal and external conflicts the other respondent posted, there are some other angles to explore in Jackson’s ironic short story “Charles.” Another obvious external conflict is the...

Laurie speaks insolently to his parents, spills the baby’s milk, and calls his father names. Laurie’s parents seem to have no idea that the boy whose bad behavior he describes every day is...

In literature and cinema, point of view refers to the perspective from which we see and hear the action in a text. Generally, points of view are the first person, where an “I” narrates the story;...

There are numerous examples of "Charles's" bad behavior at school, which worry Laurie's parents. On the first day at school, Laurie mentions to his parents that the teacher spanked Charles and sent...

“Charles” has two main settings: the kitchen table, where Laurie talks to his parents, usually over lunch, about what has happened in school that day, and Laurie’s kindergarten classroom, in which...

The basic plot of Shirley Jackson's short story, "Charles," is as follows: Laurie is a boy who is beginning kindergarten. His mother is the narrator of this story. Laurie comes home with stories...

The biggest clue that Laurie is in fact Charles is how Laurie seems to change so quickly from his mother's "sweet-voiced nursery-school tot" to "a long-trousered, swaggering character who forgot to...

The opening paragraph of Shirley Jackson's short story "Charles" foreshadows the truth that is revealed in the end: Charles does not exist outside of Laurie's imagination. Laurie created Charles to...

The rising action in a story are the events which lead up to the climax, or turning point. In Shirley Jackson's "Charles," the rising action is the daily description of Charles's...

Shirley Jackson's classic short story "Charles" first appeared in Mademoiselle in 1948 and contains many examples of foreshadowing. The story is told in the first person point of view of the...

Laurie's behavior mirrors that of Charles in a number of ways. On his first day, for example, Laurie speaks to his father "coldly" when he tells him that he did not "learn nothing" at school. This...

In Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story, "Charles," the main character Laurie is proud of the fictional Charles's behavior. Laurie invents the character of Charles on his first day of kindergarten....

The irony is that Charles does not exist, and the family has been judging Laurie the entire time. Irony in literature is “the technique of indicating an intention or attitude opposed to what is...

In Shirley Jackson's short story "Charles," Laurie is a kindergartner who comes home starting on the first day of school with outrageous stories about a little boy in class. The little boy's name...

Shirley Jackson's short story “Charles” examines the difficulties both children and parents can have in adapting to a new situation, such as, in this story, the first few weeks of kindergarten. The...

Laurie's parents never make an effort to ascertain the real truth about their son's fictional classmate, Charles. Their complacency stems from their belief that he is telling the truth. Laurie...

Laurie's mother in the Shirley Jackson short story, "Charles," is undergoing a change in her mothering skills as her son simultaneously changes from cute little boy to misbehaving young terror....

The exposition to Shirley Jackon's short story "Charles" is full of foreshadowing. Laurie undergoes a transformation from "sweetvoiced nursery-school tot" into a "long-trousered, swaggering...

Each day when Laurie comes home from school, he elaborates on Charles's misbehavior and tells his mother about Charles's audacious and violent exploits. Laurie reacts like any concerned mother...

Laurie invented Charles because he is immature and unable to handle the socialization of kindergarten. Young children often want to tell their parents things, but are not sure how to tell them. So...

Shirley Jackson's narrator in "Charles" is apparently a deluded mother. Her thinking that her child has transformed on the day he goes off to school, before ever entering the kindergarten...

The mood of "Charles" is darkly humorous. At the beginning of the story, readers are sympathetic to the narrator, Laurie's mother, as she adjusts to her son's newfound independence and confidence...

At the beginning of the story, Laurie's mother mentions that the day her son attended his first day of kindergarten was the day he changed from being her sweet-voiced tot to a confident, swaggering...

The narrator of the story is Laurie’s mother. This story describes a little boy starting kindergarten from the point of view of his well-meaning but generally clueless mother. She tends to take...

In Shirley Jackson's short story "Charles," the main character is a kindergarten-aged boy named Laurie. The antagonist would be "Charles," a child that Laurie makes up in his imagination. This...

Like the other Educator response states, exposition is defined as the part of the plot in which the author tells the reader necessary information they need in order to understand what is happening...

"Charles" tells the story of Laurie, a young boy who is just beginning kindergarten. The story is told from the perspective of Laurie's mother, who witnesses incredible changes in her son during...

The main idea that Shirley Jackson examines throughout the short story concerns the construction and formation of a child's identity. Laurie is initially described by his mother as being a...

Laurie’s mom is sad and a little overwhelmed that her oldest son is growing up. The first thing that Laurie’s mom notices is that Laurie has renounced his little boy clothes and started wearing...

"Charles" is a short story often used in upper elementary to middle school classes to teach about character or as a humorous short story example. Keeping this in mind, here are some vocabulary...

The climax of a story, also sometimes referred to as the crisis in literary terms, refers to the turning point of the story that informs the reader of the general way the story is going to end....

"Charles," like Shirley Jackson's most well-known short story, "The Lottery," has a few surprises and, certainly, a surprising ending. Within the story, however, Jackson has left a fair number of...

I was actually pretty clueless before the surprise ending was revealed by Shirley Jackson in her short story, "Charles." I wondered about the imaginary Charles and why he had never been seen by...

At the P.T.A. meeting Laurie's mother is looking for the mother of Charles, the horrid little brat who's supposed to have been causing all kinds of trouble at the kindergarten. She'd like to have a...

In my opinion, Laurie's parents are in denial about what their son has become. Laurie displays the characteristics of Charles at home, and his parents ignore the behavior. Laurie is quite proud of...

Young Laurie begins school, in Shirley Jackson's "Charles," and immediately comes home to regale the family with daily reports about Charles. Charles seems like a total monster, and it raises...

Laurie adjusts to kindergarten’s expectations and begins to behave better when the teacher asks him to help her. When Laurie first starts kindergarten, he is a real terror. His parents have no...

One example of symbolism in "Charles" by Shirley Jackson is the way Laurie speaks when he gets home the first day. Although his parents don't realize it at the time, a savvy reader can see the...

In the short story, "Charles" by Shirley Jackson, a number of things can be inferred from the character's actions and interactions with others, such as that with each story Laurie tells about...

Really Laurie misbehaves for attention. If you look at Charles's behavior at school, it closely mirrors that of Laurie's behavior at home. At school he hits children, kicks the teacher, does not...

The settings in the story are the home and the school. Laurie is a little boy who lives in a house with his parents. The story takes place during his first year of school. Almost all the action...

In the ironic short story "Charles," Laurie's mother misses the first P.T.A. meeting because the baby sister has a cold and the mother stays home with her. The mother/narrator is very disappointed...

Though personification in literature usually refers to animals or inanimate objects taking on human traits, personification can also mean "an imaginary person that represents a thing or idea." If...

The answer would seem to be yes and no. In one way they are good parents. They provide food, shelter, love and caring for their children. It is evident when Laurie "swaggers off" to school how...

The change in Laurie's clothing is described in the first paragraph of Shirley Jackson's short story, "Charles." It foreshadows the behavioral changes in Laurie, as manifested through the character...