Discussion Topic

Indicators of Laurie's bad behavior in "Charles"

Summary:

Indicators of Laurie's bad behavior in "Charles" include his disrespectful attitude towards his parents, such as speaking insolently and disobeying their instructions. Additionally, Laurie’s actions at school, like hitting other children, causing disruptions, and lying about his conduct, reflect his misbehavior. These behaviors suggest Laurie’s struggle with authority and rules both at home and in school.

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What are three examples of Laurie's bad behavior at home in "Charles"?

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 actually him.  Laurie’s behavior at home clearly demonstrates that he is a handful, but his parents are distracted by the increasingly bizarre behavior he reports every day from his classmate Charles.

At home, Laurie often slams doors, yells, and treats his parents disrespectfully. His parents make no connection between this behavior and Charles’s school antics. They do not even seem to notice that their son is obnoxious at home. They have a new baby that often takes some of their attention.

On Laurie’s first day, he comes home slamming the door and yelling because no one instantly acknowledged his presence.

At lunch he spoke insolently to his father, spilled his baby sister’s milk, and remarked that...

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his teacher said we were not to take the name of the Lord in vain.

His parents do not seem to make the connection between this behavior and the descriptions of the behavior of Charles. Laurie goes seamlessly from his gleeful accounts of the fictional Charles’s bad behavior to being bad himself at home with his parents. His parents either ignore it or are distracted by Charles.

“What did he do?” I asked.

“He just sat there,” Laurie said, climbing into his chair at the table. “Hi, Pop, y’old dust mop.”

“Charles had to stay after school today,” I told my husband. “Everyone stayed with him.”

Laurie’s parents seem unaware that their son is struggling in school, and apparently the teacher thinks it is better to just sit back and wait until he settles down. He does begin to behave more appropriately as time goes on, and by the time Laurie’s mother finally makes it to a parent-teacher conference, he is no longer the Charles he has been describing for so long.

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What early indications suggest Laurie's bad behavior at school in "Charles"?

The bad behavior of Laurie in the exposition of the story "Charles" foreshadows the way in which he will conduct himself at school. For, it is apparent that he is undisciplined.

Laurie's willfulness and disrespect is suggested in the verbs renounced and swaggered when the mother narrates that the boy decides on his own to dress in blue jeans and a belt rather than his usual overalls with bibs. Then, too, he walks with an older girl to school without even waving good-by to his mother. After the school day is finished, Laurie returns home in "the same way" that he has departed. He lets the door slam behind him and in a "raucous" voice Laurie shouts, "Isn't anybody here?"
While the family has lunch, Laurie speaks "insolently to his father" and he knocks over his baby sister's milk. He tells his parents "not to take the name of the Lord in vain." This statement, of course, indicates that Laurie must have cursed and then excused himself to the teacher by saying that his parents do this at home.

It is quite apparent that Laurie's parents are permissive as the mother describes his behavior without mentioning any discipline having been given to her boy. For instance, she has not called to him to wave good-by, nor does she later scold him for slamming the door, or for  spilling his sister's milk, as well as for speaking in an insolent tone. Also, she does not ask him what words he has used at school to have caused the teacher to say that his parents must not use the name of the Lord.
Further, Laurie casually mentions "with his mouth full" that the teacher spanked "a boy" for "being fresh." When his father asks him what this boy has done, Laurie ignores the question; instead, he takes a cookie, and slides off his chair without his father's reprimanding him for not answering.

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