Charles by Shirley Jackson
•Who is narrating the short story?
Laurie’s Mom
-According to the narrator, how did Laurie change when he started kindergarten?
• He started talking all about this Charles kid in his class, and he dressed with long trousers, looking much older than he used to.
• When was Charles first mentioned in Laurie’s home? Explain what he had done.
• When Charles kicked the instructor.
• Explain how Charles became a household joke at Laurie’s home.
• Whenever someone made a small mistake, or was bad, Laurie’s family would say they did “a Charles”
• Why were Laurie’s parents looking forward to meeting his kindergarten teacher?
• They wanted to see who was raising such a bad kid.
• Why did Laurie’s parents take so long to find out the truth about Charles?
• Because Laurie’s mother couldn’t make it to the Parent-Teacher interviews.
• Why did Laurie create the imaginary boy Charles?
So he could get away with doing bad things in school.
• As the story comes to an end, most of us are very surprised to learn the identity of Charles. If you go back and read the story again you may notice that the author plants clues along the way to prepare you. What clue to the identity of Charles can you find in the opening paragraph of the story?
He all of a sudden became sightly rowdy, and dressed older than he used to.