Shirley Jackson's Charles: Dishonest Or Persuasion?

The issues in this case study involve Melinda Smith, a veteran special education teacher, Derrick Yate, a student with behavioral disorder, Greg, the school principal, Barba Cole, the school social worker, Mrs. Yates, Derrick’s mom and Mr. Douglas, a general education teacher. Besides being a student with behavioral disorder, Derrick was low achieving and had developed a notorious reputation around school. According to Karen, one of the fifth-grade teachers, “Derrick has terrorized everyone”. Despites all the putdowns on Derrick, Mrs. Smith decides to take on the challenge to straighten his behavior.

The short story Charles, by Shirley Jackson, revolves around the problem that a little boy named Charles has been misbehaving very badly at school. In the beginning of the story, it starts off as a little boy named Laurie’s first day of kindergarten and by the end of the day he comes home talking about a boy named Charles being bad in class. At the climax Laurie’s mother has had enough of this Charles kid and feels the need to meet his Charles’s mother at the PTA meeting. The story resolves with Laurie’s mother finding out that Charles was not real and instead Charles was Laurie. Jackson uses many literary devices in order to build the curiosity in the story. Specifically, Jackson uses foreshadowing, indirect characterization, and third person

Karen Russel’s “The Star-Gazer’s Log of Summer-Time Crime” accounts the story of a boy named Ollie as he attempts to fit in with a boy that leads the group to commit “Summer-time crimes”. Russel is successful in creating a memorable story through symbolism, unique characters, and a poignant ending.

The first Moore, the author, began his deviance in school through failing to do his assignments and performing extremely poorly in class. The second Moore, the prisoner, began through the use of a knife to solve conflicts as a child. Another case of defiance in the two children is evident when the first Moore, the author, started vandalizing public property. On the other hand, the other Moore was busy helping drug peddlers in supplying narcotics in the neighborhood. The mother of the first Moore became concerned of his son’s behavior and enrolled him to a prison school, where he would later become a leader of several cadets. It was while at this school that he gave his deviant behavior after several attempts to escape failed. The discipline levels in the school were extremely high, resulting in the young Moore changing his behavior for the better (Moore, 2011).

Humans behave in mysterious ways when they are put into challenging positions. This is especially true in Shirley Jackson short story The Lottery and Ray Bradbury’s short story All Summer in a Day. In both of these stories the characters raise hell for the protagonists, compelling the reader to ask themselves what the motivation behind these cruel actions is and why the characters are allowing themselves to act in this unjust manner. Protagonist Tessie Hutchinson of The Lottery is stoned to death by her own townspeople who looked upon her as their equal only moments prior to her death. Young Margot of All Summer in a Day is locked away inside of a closet by her own classmates; the same classmates who end up feeling shameful for their cruelty towards her. Why did the villagers stone Tessie and why was Margot locked away by her classmates? Analyzing the Milgram experiment helps us to understand why these characters behaved the way they did. Tessie was stoned to death and Margot was locked away because disgustingly evil actions were allowed to be committed under the shield of justice which each stories’ authority figures represent.

Childhood is an important time in a person’s life, a time where one can be carefree and do as they please without having to worry about what others think of them. During this stage of life, children are groomed and prepared for the transition between childhood and adulthood to be as smooth as possible. However, in Heather O’Neil’s novel, Lullabies for Little Criminals, Baby throws herself into the adult world without giving any second thought or even having the proper knowledge to survive or even to manage herself. This causes her to follow the wrong paths and trust the wrong people. Baby grows wise beyond her years, and soon becomes stuck in the middle of the two worlds, as she is too young for the adult world but too old for the child world. This traps her with her having nowhere else to go except continue on the path she is already heading. Baby’s loss of innocence at such a young age showcases that one cannot properly mature and be ready for the future without having a stable childhood. This loss is shown through Jules’ lack of parental ability, her exposure to the adult world at a young age, and her struggle with herself. Adding all three together causes damage to Baby that no one should experience.

Cunning. Crafty. Creative. Cruel. “Charles”, written by Shirley Jackson in 1948, is a rather chilling short story about the vulnerability of a young child’s imagination, about the fantasies of the human mind, about the manipulation of humans, and about the insidious dangers of change. Jackson’s horrific tale stealthy kidnaps the oblivious reader from their seat and takes him or her on a non-stop ride that begins in a simple family home and ends in the darkest corner of the human imagination. By manipulating the innocent thoughts as a young boy into those of a grim reality, by employing innocence to camouflage hypocrisy and duplicity and by hiding behind the faultless nature of a young imagination to hide the insidious nature he possesses,

In all stories there is someone who changes after something happens and it turns them into someone they aren't. An example is a person turn into someone you never expected them to be because they are hiding themselves. Its also important to think before everything you do because the aftermath can be unreal. The characters in the“ Possibility of Evil” by Shirley Jackson and the short story,” Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl could have learned their lessons. In the story, “ Possibility of Evil” Miss.Strangeworth takes her hate out to an family by writing letters to them. In “Lamb to the Slaughter” Mary makes a bad decision after finding out her husband is leaving her. These stories tell the reader that people around you have a side they don't show, but sooner or later it will come out of them.

Imagine a South Central fourteen-year-old who is a multiple offender that faked a kidnapping then shot at the police officers trying to stop him. Now imagine a young boy growing up in a violent area always fearful of his life and going through traumatic experiences such as getting shot, seeing his brother killed, and being abused. This same young man, unknowingly, shot at undercover cops. In this instance, a general audience would be more likely to sympathize with the young boy that went through the many hardships. Bryan Stevenson tells this story of Antonio Nuñez with descriptive language in order to justify his argument of Nuñez by appealing strongly to the audience's emotions. Because of sympathy that humans naturally feel, the young boy

Laurie, at first, did not seem at all interested. But when Laurie’s father and I both said that we knew that he was Charles, he just stared at us. “Laurie, or should I say Charles,” said Laurie’s father, “Your mother and I are very upset at your behavior.” “Lying to us is never the right thing to do. Not to talk about all the other trouble you have caused. Kicking the teacher, yelling in the classroom, being fresh, and telling other kids to say swear words is absolutely not ok Laurie!” I could see that Laurie felt a sense of fear. “Laurie,” I said, “Your father and I are going to have to punish you for what you have done. But first, we need you to apologize to your teacher and all of the students for your behavior during the past couple weeks. Do you know what it means to apologize?” “It means to say sorry,” said Laurie. “Correct,” I said. “So when you go to school today, I will ask your teacher to give you a chance to have a word

In the stories ‘’Seventh Grade’’ by Gary Soto and ‘’Charles’’ by Shirley Jackson, both discuss and identify how the settings helps develop the plot in each story. The setting in the story ‘’Seventh Grade’’ is the First day of school, Modern times, Middle school, French class. The story setting in the story ‘’Charles’’ is Kindergarten, 1948, PTA meeting, At home after school. These are the stories and authors and the settings of which are important to the plot. These settings affect the plot because without them Victor would not be able to get Teresa to be his girl on the first day of school and not get to talk to her in the French classes he will give her.

“Thirteen-year-old boy throws a brick at a city man” read the white, black, and newly printed newspaper. And this boy’s name is Arthur Owens or Artie. This book is called The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall. One positive influence that he taught me was, to be honest, and have courage. Also, he has taught me to always help others.

Threats to the conformity of a society often leads to the targeting of an individual as a scapegoat figure as demonstrated in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury. Societies often function on foundations such as authority or tradition. When the principles of a community are endangered, it is often deemed necessary to eliminate the threat for the welfare of the community. The urge to preserve ways of life or fulfil a purpose often transcends coherence. The devotion of individuals to the well-being of a group can become volatile. Though changes in a society may be beneficial, the disruption to the equilibrium can cause further feelings of vulnerability.

While she was clearly intrigued by the story, as many would be, she wanted to accomplish so much more than just writing an interesting, page turning novel. With her lengthy research she was able to educate herself on the true events leading up to an innocent woman’s murder, as well as the disturbingly tangled web a Saskatchewan Police Officer wove himself. Since then, the novel has helped students in their Grade 12 curriculum and in writing the ELA30A Departmental. Each reader who picks up the book is sent back into the past with Simmie’s impeccable attention to detail, and are able to imagine a time that John Wilson hid behind a trusting badge in an attempt to hide an awful crime that he committed. The novel leaves an impression on the reader’s mind and one cannot help but question, how many more of these secrets lie hidden in the dark and when should we be expecting the

The school he attends when he is a little older is a school by any means, but there is great turmoil. Often the older boys pick on the younger ones and while this may be brought to the attention of the director (the principle, headmaster etc.) the older boys would be punished but it would be so overlooked that as soon as they were finished being punished, they would return from their beatings and give them back tenfold to the young boys who told on them. This section is actually one of my favorite parts.