4. When the mother discovers at the end of the story that there is no child named Charles in the class and that it is Laurie who has had trouble bending into kindergarten and has done all the bad things he credited to Charles, the reader no less than the mother is surprised. The mother’s reaction would be quite embarrassed since she is the mother of ‘Charles’.
Laurie creates a double of him to do “bad” so that he might stay good in the eyes of his parents. Loving but narrow-minded, the parents do not get involved. I think after realizing that Charles is indeed Laurie, this might affect the way his parents treat him from now on. Not only that, but I think their attitude towards their own unobservant behavior might change as well.
5. This story made me think of when I was younger and the kids who acted this way to get attention from their parents. This story shows the ways children invent shadow figures as a means of confronting problematic feelings while forming their identities. I know that a lot of young children are clever enough to do a lot of things, and some times they go unnoticed, like Laurie's travesty. In Laurie’s example mentioning Charles so much, the family's bound to make Charlie a part of daily conversation. Why was Laurie hinting to his parents instead of coming right out and telling them? Was it because he wants his parents to shape it out on their own little heads? I too indeed might’ve lied a couple of times as of way of being included and known. Although my parents were observant and I was quick to learn that it’s not good to lie.
6. Verbal irony – contrast between what is said and what is meant. In other words, sarcasm.
Dramatic irony –between what the character thinks to be true and what we (the reader) know to be true. For example: In the audience knows that 's character is not a millionaire, but the blind flower girl () is unaware and believes he's rich.
Situational irony – a certain fact is perhaps highlighted by an event that is in contrast to that fact. For example: An old man turned ninety-eight. He won the lottery and died the next day.
7. The point at which we the readers realize that Laurie is tricking his parents and from then on we also know— or suspect — more than the narrator about his misbehaving and amused the mothers lack of observance is an example of dramatic irony. Parents, by definition are thought to be mentally advanced than their children (when they are at such a young age such as Laurie) but are outsmarted by the imagination and creativity of a clever little nipper.
“Charles”
Shirley Jackson
Tree Map
Setting
Plot
Conflict
Characters
Point of View
Predictably set in the 1950’s in the United States (PTA)
Mother notices Charles bad behavior but regards him as ‘growing’
Laurie creates double named "Charles" and uses him to take all the flaws that Laurie has in kindergarten
Charles - a little boy who does all sorts of bad stuff in Laurie’s kindergarten
Comes from mainly Laurie’s mother
Actions mostly happened at the family dinner table at home
Laurie begins telling his parents stories about an ill-behaved boy in his class named Charles -
regularly
Charles goes from bad to worse. One day Laurie tells his parents he behaved but later reverts
Laurie-a little boy just starting kindergarten
He’s trying to get attention by changing. At the same time trying to not get in trouble
Revealed at the end of the story to be imaginary aka Laurie
Mother- Nice but unobservant
Father-
Similarly unobservant
Baby sister—Laurie’s little sister; merely referred to in passing
Laurie’s teacher - a teacher at Laurie’s kindergarten
Some of the story was also set in the school during the end
Charles throws things, yells, hits his teacher and classmates
Mother wonders if Charles' bad influence affects Laurie’s misbehaving/ using bad grammar
Laurie's mother can't wait to go to parent-teacher night to meet the child's mother.
After meeting the teacher, the mother finds out that all the trouble had been caused by Laurie
