Cleverness In Shirley Jackson's Story 'Charles'

It's never easy to get out of a problem, but you have to try or make plan to get out of it. In Shirley Jackson’s story “Charles” she uses Laurie’s statements and action to describe his cleverness. Shirley Describes Laurie as clever because he invented an imaginary kid Charles to hide her misdeeds and misbehavior without getting in trouble. While on the other hand in Mark Twain's story ”The Glorious White washer” He explains that how Tom wants freedom from work so he invents a plan to get his work done by fooling other people and trading with people to get expensive and better stuff. Both Shirley Jackson and Mark Twain describes Laurie’s and Tom’s cleverness by using Their actions and statements.

Shirley Jackson uses Laurie’s statements and

After Laurie tells his mom about a boy getting in trouble at school, “What did he do?’ I asked. ‘Who was it?’ Laurie thought. ‘It was Charles... He was fresh”(545). Laurie behaves very badly at school, doing many inappropriate things and being punished by the teacher constantly. When he comes home, he wants to explain to tell his parents about his school day, but he realizes that if he tells them the truth, he will get punished for his actions. That is why at this moment, he cleverly makes up “Charles”. He has found a brilliant way to do the impossible. He can now tell his parents about his misdeeds during the day without fear of consequences by blaming them on “Charles”. This statement shows just how clever he is, because most five-year old would not be able to arrive at such a crafty solution. Shirley Jackson Also uses Laurie’s actions to show that he is clever. Shirley Jackson Also uses Laurie’s actions to show that he is clever. Laurie reports to his mom that even after Charles’s reformation, “He told a little girl to say a word and she said it and the teacher washed her mouth out with soap and Charles laughed... He was passing out the