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Charles By Shirley Jackson Foreshadowing Essay

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“Charles” by Shirley Jackson is a realistic fiction cliffhanger about Laurie, his adjustment to kindergarten, and a kid Charles, who seems to be a dreadful influence on the kindergarteners. The story is set in Laurie 's home and at his school. Laurie, his mother, his father, and Charles are the characters in the story. The lesson in the story is that lying leads to more problems than it solves and the author uses foreshadowing and word choice to show the lesson. The main issue in the story is that Laurie bends the truth to his parents about what happens in school. Laurie explains to his mom about this troublemaker named Charles who is causing all these problems during the school day. When his mother has the chance of meeting Charles’s mother, …show more content…

The author uses words choice and foreshadowing to show the lesson. “...”Look up,” he said to his father. “What?” his Father said, looking up.“Look down” Laurie said. “Look at my thumb, gee you’re dumb.” he began to laugh insanely”(1 and 2) Laurie is showing disrespect to his parents and they do not care that he is. His mother and father only care about this Charles kid causing a ruckus in school.This gives Laurie the chance to be lousy at home without his parents noticing.Laurie makes up Charles to benefit from getting in trouble, so that his parents focus on Charles and not him. “Laurie did Charles when he filled his wagon full of mud and pulled it through the kitchen”(3) As a result of Charles being the main attraction Laurie finds ways to be mischievous at home and at school while not getting caught. Their attention is always on Charles which lets them look past at all the atrocious stuff happening at home.
Lying leads to more problems then it solves is the overall theme in the story “ Charles” By Shirley Jackson. When someone is dishonest to their parents and other people they are causing more work for them to clean up in the end. This sets a stage for when the readers finally figure out there was no charles and laurie must confess up to his wrong-doings and start to be good in kindergarten

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