The Stressful Behavior In The Short Story Charles By Shirley Jackson

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“Charles”
Laurie’s dreadful behavior was a distraction to the class and needed to cease. The entertaining short story “Charles” by Shirley Jackson involves a magnificent turn of events. Laurie informed his parents that the child misbehaving was actually named Charles. Charles’ horrid behavior was a result of not receiving enough attention from his parents or his kindergarten teacher. Laurie was a kindergarten student, plus an older brother to an infant sibling. This short story takes place during the 1950s at school, kindergarten, and home. Laurie is misbehaving in class, then soon after telling his parents that the misbehaving was done by Charles. Moreover, this was because he did not receive sufficient attention. Laurie did not obtain enough attention, in a result, she misbehaved for attention. Laurie was trying to be cool and get attention so he misbehaved at school on the first day. He went home, then told his parents that Charles was bad that day and he was …show more content…

Charles hit the teacher on the second day of school. He was doing this for attention. While the teacher told everyone not to play with Charlie, they still did. On the fourth day, Charles would not stop pounding his feet. Charles would not stop and “he kept pounding his feet on the floor” (346). Laurie was oblivious to the fact that his parents would eventually find out he is lying. Meanwhile, Charles was acting differently. Charles obtained positive attention from his teacher, as a result, he behaved well. Charles received an apple from the teacher. The teacher let him be the helper, pass out crayons, and pick up books. Charles’ “teacher said he was her helper” (348). Laurie was misbehaved, otherwise he would behave well when given positive attention. Charles behaves poorly to gain attention when he is not given attention. Conclusively, Laurie will become in trouble for lying and doing all of the dreaded actions he

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