Charles By Shirley Jackson Response

In the short story Charles, Shirley Jackson is trying to deliver a clear message: If lenient parents don't provide guidance, it can lead to a child's misbehavior. In the story, there are many instances, in where Charles (aka Laurie) does something bad, and then his parents don't correct him. Over time, this behavior got even worse, to the point where he hit the teacher. In this short story, we see what happens when parents fail to provide adequate guidance. One epitome of bad parenting is on the first page. "What did he do?" I asked again, but Laurie slid off his chair, took a cookie, and left, while his father was still saying, "Look here, young man." This small act was very rude and disrespectful. It's not okay to walk away while someone is talking to you, especially if your parents are talking to you. They need to tell him that. They just let him walk away. Instead of calling him back and correcting his behavior. Since they were too lenient and didn't correct him, he misbehaved.

"Look at my thumb, gee your dumb", and later, "Hi pop, y'old dust mop!" Insulting people is not okay, especially when you insult someone older than you. Not only is that disrespectful, it can also irritate someone, who can came back and hurt you. When Laurie said these things, the parents need to correct him. They need to react to show Laurie that his behavior isn't acceptable. They need to teach him politeness and good manners. Furthermore, they need to think, if he says these things at home, in front of us, what does he say outside when we are not there? If they had ruminated about this question, they would be less lenient therefor, developing better