Shirley Jackson Childhood

Words: 932
Pages: 4

In many peoples’ thoughts about young children, most have believed that they are innocent and inexperienced. On the other hand, it was the complete opposite for a new adolescent boy named Laurie. In this short story, he pretends to be another boy named Charles, which happened to be the name of the story that was authored by a woman named Shirley Jackson. Growing up could be a struggle for some, as it was for Laurie. He had a strong desire for attention even though most of it came out to be negative and unwanted. His life already caused him to act in a mischievous way towards the others that were around him. Laurie was growing up as an older brother to an infant little sister, and had just begun his school years as a new kindergarten student. …show more content…
Charles’s arrogant-self caused another accident on the playground. It was said that “Charles bounced a see-saw on the head of a little girl” (346), which made a big commotion for everyone there. In addition, Charles was once again being disruptive and caused himself to be in trouble for not acting correct in the class during story time, and the teacher became quickly annoyed and finally sent him to the corner again. Even though he was being punished for each time he acted bad, he still progressed forward for more …show more content…
He mentioned that Charles was yelling and the other students had to tell the teacher on him. That made him have to stay after school a little later than the rest of the class had to, but yet the children stayed and watched him to see if he was going to do something again during that time. Soon this all started to decrease when there was a slight change in behavior. Charles started to be respectful at times and began to help out in the classroom almost every day. Along with all the stories that were brought home every day about the commanding and rude boy, these ones were actually more positive. Soon after, an opportunity came up that just could not have been passed down. On Monday night, the mother “set out for the PTA meeting” (349) to finally try and figure out who the Charles boy was, who his parents were, and why he was acting like this. At the end of the meeting, there was not a parent that stood out or just apologized for their son. The mother stopped the teacher to have a brief conversation to discuss the one child, Charles, and how they could solve the problem. Additionally, the mother soon found out surprising information. There was not actually a student named, Charles, but it turned out to really be her own son, Laurie. She was completely in