Gender psychology constitutes another theme in this story. Important to understanding Laurie, too, is his name, which is distinctly feminine, in contrast to the more formal and clearly masculine Charles, who does all the bad things. The child’s name suggests the mother’s desire to keep him close to her; boys, according to the ideology of the 1950s, should separate earlier and more decisively from their mothers than girls should. The child’s feminine name, then, provides a possible explanation for his desire to break away from that connection by creating the masculine, aggressive shadow of himself that is Charles. In acting out in the presence of the female teacher, a mother surrogate, Laurie can at once claim his masculine identity and show his hostility to a mother figure while preserving his bond with his real mother.