Charles Shirley Jackson Analysis

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Recommended: Analysis of "Charles" by Shirley Jackson

“Charles”

How would it feel like to be the mother of a mischievous child? “Charles” is a fictional story by the author Shirley Jackson. The misconduct of this young boy named Laurie had been provoked by his inability to adjust well to kindergarten. Due to him not accommodating to school, Laurie’s behavior became unruly. The story’s time period was in the 1950’s, taking place at Laurie’s home and his school, in kindergarten. Laure is the older brother of his infant sister; moreover, he had just begun kindergarten. Laurie arrived home from his first day at school obtrusively, yelling loudly and obnoxiously inside the house. Subsequently, he acted disrespectful to his family. When Laurie was politely asked what he learned in school by his dad, he “regarded his father coldly” (Jackson 345). In addition, Laurie made a mess and purposely spilled the milk of his baby sister. Laurie’s misbehavior came right after his first experience at kindergarten. …show more content…

Furthermore, Charles threw chalk and was no longer allowed to use the blackboard. Charles was continuously “pounding his feet on the floor” (346), resulting in his punishment: he stood in a corner while missing story time. Charles repeated his improper acts no matter how the teacher disciplined him. Charles’ behavior was stealthy; while he passed out crayons, he whispered an impolite word to a little girl, who repeated the word and ended up in trouble. Charles became an assistant, for “each day he handed things out and he picked things up” (348) to aid the teacher, yet eventually misbehaved once again. He repeated the impolite word again to himself and had to be punished by washing his mouth with soap and water. Charles became obliging to the teacher; however, he had sporadic failures while trying to be

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