Charles (short story)

2 References

Charles is a short story by Shirley Jackson, rst published in Mademoiselle in July 1948. It was later included
in her 1949 collection, The Lottery and Other Stories, and
her 1953 novel, Life Among the Savages. This story is a
prime example of dramatic irony where many times the
reader can gure out that Charles and Laurie are one and
the same but Lauries father and mother in this story don't
realize this until the ending.

[1] Jackson, Shirley (1949). The Lottery and Other Stories.

Farrar, Straus. pp. 9196.

Plot Summary

Young and free Laurie has recently started kindergarten,

and his mother (who also narrates the story) laments that
her sweet-voiced nursery-school tot is growing up. She
also notes changes in his behavior: he no longer waves
goodbye to her, slams the door when he comes home and
speaks insolently to his father.
During lunchtime conversations, Laurie begins telling his
parents stories about an ill-behaved boy in his class named
Charles, who yells and hits his teacher and classmates.
Though in a way fascinated by the strange boy, Lauries
mother wonders if Charles bad inuence is responsible
for Laurie misbehaving and using bad grammar.
Over the ensuing weeks Charles seems to be going from
bad to worse until one day at the beginning of the week
Laurie tells his parents that Charles behaved himself and
that the teacher made him her helper. By the end of the
week, however, Charles reverts to his old self when he
makes a girl in his class repeat a bad word to the teacher.
The next school day, Charles mumbles the word several
times to himself and throws chalk. Laurie also says that
he misbehaves quite often.
When the next PTA meeting rolls around, Lauries
mother is determined to meet Charles mother. She
closely examines the other parents and sees nothing but
pleasant faces and is surprised when Charles is not mentioned at all. After the meeting, she approaches the
teacher and introduces herself as Lauries mother. The
teacher says that once Laurie adjusted he became a ne
little helper. With occasional lapses, of course. Lauries
mother then mentions Charles and the teacher tells her
that there is no one named Charles in the class. (The
story thus implies that all the trouble has been caused by
Laurie.)[1]
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